Angelo Dundee

[Hawkins]

How big of an impact did Angelo Dundee have on the overall career of Ali? Did having him as the trainer allow Muhammad Ali to truly blossom the way he did because he didn't mess with what was already there?

I heard Angelo say that when training with Ali you had to approach it abit different..if Ali wasn't throwing the left enough instead of telling him 'Ali you need to throw it more'..You had to say it in a way that made Ali think he was the one doing it 'Ali you are really throwing that left alot, beautifully and on target'. Sure enough the next round the left would be there.

So my question is, do you think Ali would have reached the heights he did with any other trainer? From the split glove, to making him go out and avoid Liston even though he could not see, to his unorthodox but effective training methods....how big of an impact did Angelo have? Would Ali have become The Greatest?

[Jim Jeffries]

How big of an impact did Angelo Dundee have on the overall career of Ali? Did having him as the trainer allow Muhammad Ali to truly blossom the way he did because he didn't mess with what was already there?

I heard Angelo say that when training with Ali you had to approach it abit different..if Ali wasn't throwing the left enough instead of telling him 'Ali you need to throw it more'..You had to say it in a way that made Ali think he was the one doing it 'Ali you are really throwing that left alot, beautifully and on target'. Sure enough the next round the left would be there.

So my question is, do you think Ali would have reached the heights he did with any other trainer? From the split glove, to making him go out and avoid Liston even though he could not see, to his unorthodox but effective training methods....how big of an impact did Angelo have? Would Ali have become The Greatest?

I think no question Ali wouldn't have been quite as great as he was without Dundee in his corner. Look at what Emanuel Steward was able to do with a decent club fighter like Oliver McCall (helped him beat Lewis.) And then he was able to make Lewis better in his 30s than he ever was in his 20s. And now look what Steward has done with a weak jawed Klitschko. A great trainer can make all the difference, I just wish George Foreman would have had one when he was young.