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by: Jeff Julian on June 27,
2004 |
 Legendary Hall of Fame trainer Angelo Dundee took time to talk
to WithinTheRing during the recent HOF Weekend in Canastota, NY. |
|
| WTR:You’ve attended many of these Hall of Fame
Weekends. What does it mean to you to come back to Canastota? |
| AD:This is like a reunion for all the people in the
profession. Canastota is a historical, wonderful place. The people here couldn’t
be nicer - they do all these things from the heart. |
|
| WTR:You've been coming here since before there was a
Hall of Fame? |
| AD:I’ve been coming here since before the Hall of
Fame, when I was with Carmen Basilio. I know these people and they welcome me
with open arms. It’s just a wonderful situation - I love it! |
|
| WTR:You spent some time this past winter in Australia
training Russell Crowe for his portrayal of James Braddock in the upcoming movie
“Cinderella Man”. What was it like working with Crowe? |
| AD:It went really well. Russell is a nice, easy human
being and a great athlete. He runs and rides mountain bike up in the mountains
in Australia. He has a nice big ranch with an olympic swimming
pool. |
|
| WTR:What's it like working with the movie
industry? |
| AD:Right now we’re in Toronto where they are shooting
the movie. You know, all this movie stuff is a new experience for me. I have a
new respect for the people in the movie business because they work hard. Ron
Howard is the director and he is a super guy. He got me there as a technical
advisor for the boxing scenes. I’ll tell you, this is a great story - a love
story. Russell Crowe is a great actor. He loves boxing and is really putting
himself into the role. He is in great physical shape, so it’s easy to get him
into fistic shape. There’s little differentiation there. That’s why Leonard beat
Hagler - because he was a great athlete. He was in good physical shape all the
time. We converted that into boxing shape for the Hagler fight. Everybody said
he couldn’t do it, but I knew he was trained. |
|
| WTR:You also worked with Will Smith for the Michael
Mann movie “Ali”. |
| AD:Yes, he’s another great actor and athlete. People
ask me, what did you do with Will Smith? Not very much, just trained him like
any other fighter. He got in shape like a fighter. It was very natural. He
really injected himself into the role of Ali. We had such a great time together.
You know, he grew up in Philly, same as me. He did a helluva job portraying Ali!
The fistic scenes were great! |
|
| WTR:Howard Bingham, Ali’s photographer and closest
friend, told me about the trip you all took to Germany to promote the new
Taschen book “G.O.A.T”. What was that like and what are your impressions of this
massive book? |
| AD:We had a great time! This book is amazing. It’s
huge - weighs 75 pounds and costs like $3000! Howard’s wonderful - a great guy
and funny as all get out! That’s the kind of people boxing draws. I’m always
amazed how boxing draws fantastic people, geniuses. You got a guy here this
weekend, author and screenwriter Budd Schulberg. He’s a genius. I was with him
in Zaire from day one. We used to play cards and use matchsticks for money. You
want a good take on Zaire, talk to him. Great time! |
|
| WTR:What do you think of the news that welterweight
contender, Kermit Cintron, will be training at Ali’s old training camp at Deer
Lake, the first fighter to do so since Ali last trained there in
1981? |
| AD:That’s great! There’s a lot of nostalgia and a lot
of warmth there. Just look at the people who were there. But you know, I never
really liked the camp for the simple reason that Muhammad was a bit of a captive
there. But that was Muhammad. People would come at six in the morning and stay
all day. Muhammad was such a great guy, he’d want to entertain people and it
would take away from his training. That’s the part of it I didn’t like. But he
was that kind of guy - just a warm human being, and it was real. |
|
| WTR:You must have a lot of fond memories of the old
camp? |
| AD:A lot of fond memories! That place was unique. Ali
loved the camp! |
|
| WTR:You have been involved with boxing for many years
and have been associated with some of its biggest names. Do you feel boxing has
changed much over the years, or is it still basically the same? |
| AD:I think it is still basically the same. It gets to
be a little hi tech, but it still comes down to the individual. The basic thing
is they got to train. Fighters are the best trained athletes of all. They got to
want to be a fighter, and the basic stuff is the important stuff. First of all,
you got to see if a guy wants to be a fighter. I don’t care how hard you work,
how good you are, if they don’t want to fight - forget about it! |
|
| WTR:What keeps your interest in staying in the fight
game? |
| AD:If I get a kid and I think he wants to be a
fighter and he has a future, I’ll work with him, why not? Working with young
fighters keeps me young. |
|
| WithinTheRing thanks Angelo for taking the time
during a very hectic weekend to talk with us. |
