Angelo Dundee

ANGELO Dundee, who has died aged 90 of a heart attack, was the brilliant boxing motivator who worked the corner for Muhammad Ali in his greatest fights, willed Sugar Ray Leonard to victory in his biggest bout and coached hundreds of young men in the art of a left jab and an overhand right.

Dundee was best known for being in Ali's corner for almost his entire career, urging him on in his first fight against Sonny Liston to the legendary fights with Joe Frazier and beyond. He was a corner man, but he was much more, serving as a motivator for fighters not so great and for The Greatest.

A master motivator and a clever corner man, Dundee was regarded as one of the sport's great ambassadors. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994 after a career that spanned six decades, training 15 world champions, including Leonard, George Foreman, pictured, Carmen Basilio and Jose Napoles.

Born Angelo Mirena in south Philadelphia, Dundee's boxing career was propelled largely by his older brother, Chris, a promoter. After returning from war service with the US Air Force he joined Chris in the boxing game in New York. They followed another brother Joe, who was a fighter, in changing their surname to Dundee so their parents would not know they worked in boxing.

That change has been credited to Dundee boxer Scotty Menteith, who emigrated to the US and became a boxing manager, gave his surname to several of his fighters then had it adopted by the Mirenas. In his 1985 autobiography, Dundee commented: "Need I tell you – Italy is quite a way from Scotland.''

He learned to tape hands and handle cuts as a corner man in the late 1940s, building his knowledge by watching and learning as a bucket boy in New York and as word of his expertise spread fighters lined up to have him in their corner.

The partnership with Ali began in Louisville, Ali's hometown, in 1959. Dundee was there with light heavyweight Willie Pastrano when the young Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, called their room from a hotel phone to ask if he could have five minutes. Clay, a local Golden Gloves champion, kept asking the men boxing questions in a conversation that lasted more than three hours.

After Clay returned from Rome with a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics, Dundee ran into him in Louisville and invited him to come to Miami Beach to train. Clay declined. But that December, Dundee got a call from one of Clay's handlers, seeking to hire Dundee. After Clay won his first pro fight, Dundee accepted.

In September 1960, Scottish light heavyweight Chic Calderwood narrowly defeated Dundee charge, future world champion Willie Pastrano, in Paisley. Later Dundee claimed both he and Pastrano were victims of west of Scotland sectarianism.

Three years later Dundee was back in Scotland, this time with Clay for an exhibition bout fronted by promoter Peter Keenan. Clay did not enjoy the trip, which was notable for ex-bantamweight Keenan slapping the fighter during a heated verbal exchange in a Paisley dressing room. But Keenan later described Dundee as "a great wee guy – great company and as wily as a fox when it came to his boxers''.

Dundee helped Clay claim the heavyweight title for the first time on February 25, 1964, when Sonny Liston quit on his stool after the sixth round during their fight in Miami Beach. In an age of boxing when fighter-manager relationships rarely last, Dundee and Clay would never split.

When Clay angered white America by joining the Black Muslims and become Muhammad Ali, Dundee never wavered. When Ali defied the draft at the height of the Vietnam war, losing years from the prime of his career, Dundee was there waiting for the heavyweight's return.

Dundee was also credited with persuading Ali to continue in his third fight against Joe Frazier when Frazier was coming on strong in the "Thrilla in Manilla". Without Dundee, Ali may not have had the strength to come back and stop Frazier after the 14th round in what became an iconic fight.

In the late 1970s, with Ali nearing retirement, Dundee quickly jumped into the corner for an emerging welterweight star named Sugar Ray Leonard and trained him for many of his biggest fights – including bouts against Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns.

When Leonard fell behind in his 1981 epic fight with Tommy Hearns he rallied to win by a knockout after Dundee famously exhorted: "You're blowing it, son. You're blowing it."

Dundee later teamed with Ali's old Rumble in the Jungle victim George Foreman in 1994 and helped him become the oldest heavyweight champion at the age of 45 when he beat Michael Moorer.

Always a slick strategist and a fierce competitor, he developed countless tricks to help his fighters win. If his man was dazed, Dundee would often drop ice down the fighter's shorts to take their attention off their injuries.

When Ali was floored by Henry Cooper during their famous encounter in 1963, Dundee alerted the referee to a small rip on Ali's gloves – a split Dundee would later admit he noticed before the fight – and the search for replacement gloves that never came gave Ali a few extra seconds to recover. Ali pounded Cooper's cuts in the fifth and the fight was stopped, keeping Ali's title shot alive. Many boxing commissions would soon require extra gloves to be kept at every fight.

"To me, he was the greatest ambassador for boxing, the greatest goodwill ambassador in a sport where there's so much animosity and enemies," said promoter Bruce Trampler. "The guy didn't have an enemy in the world."

After living in the Miami area for decades, Dundee moved to the Tampa suburb of Oldsmar in 2007 to be closer to his two children after his wife of more than 50 years, Helen, fell ill. She died three years later.