| Legendary Hall of Fame trainer Angelo Dundee took time to talk to WithinTheRing during the recent HOF Weekend in Canastota, NY. |
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| 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. |
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| 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! |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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! |
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| 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! |
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| 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. |
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| 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! |
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| 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! |
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| 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. |
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| WithinTheRing thanks Angelo for taking the time during a very hectic weekend to talk with us. |
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