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Tis the season, thankfully it happens just once a century, when the 'all-this' and 'all-that' teams are published for all to see. Instead of assembling a list of all-time greats from boxing writers and historians, CBS SportsLine and the International Boxing Hall of Fame contacted four Hall of Fame trainers to give us their lists, from their rare vantage point, a championship corner, with over the course of 150 combined years in the ring.
Gil Clancy began training fighters in the 1950s. His most noteworthy champion was five-time champion Emile Griffith. Clancy is also regarded as a top ringside commentator for televised fights. Angelo Dundee got started as an apprentice for legendary trainers such as Ray Arcel, shortly after WWII. The Philadelphia native, who moved to Miami and made the Fifth Street Gym famous, guided the likes of Carmen Basilio, Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard. Lou Duva worked on the periphery of the sport for several decades before starting a family business in the 1970s. With his son, Dan, Duva founded Main Events, Inc. and honed the careers of more than a dozen world champions, including Evander Holyfield and Pernell Whitaker. Emanuel Steward ran a successful amateur program out of Detroit's Kronk Gym. By the late-70s some of his prized protégés turned pro and soon Steward was working with champions such as Hilmer Kenty and Thomas Hearns.
Each trainer listed his choice for the best fighters, the best fighter that he ever worked with, the best boxing venue and the greatest fights that he worked the corner. This is not the list to end all lists. But it is the perspective of experts, and you won't find it anywhere else.
| HALL OF FAME TRAINERS |
|---|
Clancy |
Dundee |
Duva |
Steward |
| Greatest Fighters Ever | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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1. Willie Pep 2. Sugar Ray Robinson 3. Joe Louis 4. Archie Moore 5. Muhammad Ali 6. Rocky Marciano 7. Harry Greb 8. Roberto Duran 9. Sugar Ray Leonard 10. Harold Johnson |
1. Muhammad Ali 2. Sugar Ray Leonard 3. Sugar Ray Robinson 4. Willie Pep 5. Joe Louis 6. Rocky Marciano 7. George Foreman 8. Carmen Basilio 9. Luis Rodriguez 10. Marcel Cerdan |
1. Sugar Ray Robinson 2. Joe Louis 3. Rocky Marciano 4. Muhammad Ali 5. Sandy Saddler 6. Willie Pep 7. Joey Giardello 8. Jake LaMotta 9. Sugar Ray Leonard 10. Pernell Whitaker |
1. Muhammad Ali 2. Sugar Ray Robinson 3. Henry Armstrong 4. Joe Louis 5. Willie Pep 6. Sam Langford 7. Roberto Duran 8. George Foreman 9. Marvin Hagler 10. Thomas Hearns |
| Best Boxing Venue | |||
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Clancy: The old Madison Square Garden on 50th Street.
"It was built high so you weren't too far from the ring no matter
what seat you had. Even in the balcony, you were right over the
ring." Steward: The Joe Louis Arena in Detroit and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. "The crowd at the Joe Louis Arena is wild and exciting all the time. Just for sheer excitement it's the Joe Louis Arena. Detroit is still a hardworking, blue collar fight town. They like boxing and they like hockey. And Caesars Palace, there have been so many great fights at Caesars and they always treat us well there." Dundee: Madison Square Garden. "There is no place like it in the world." Duva: Best Fight Venue: Ice World in Totowa City, New Jersey. "It was family. I knew everyone who attended the fights. My kids worked the fights. In a five- or six-year span we must have done around 50 to 75 boxing shows. That was my incubator for champions. Rocky Lockridge, Johnny Bumphus, Bobby Czyz and Vinny Pazienza fought there." |
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| Greatest Fighters They Worked With | |||
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1. Muhammad Ali 2. George Foreman 3. Joe Frazier 4. Emile Griffith 5. Rodrigo Valdes 6. Ken Buchanan 7. Oscar De La Hoya 8. Jerry Quarry 9. Johnny Persol 10. Gerry Cooney |
1. Muhammad Ali 2. Sugar Ray Leonard 3. Carmen Basilio 4. Willie Pastrano 5. Sugar Ramos 6. Luis Rodriguez 7. Jose Napoles 8. George Foreman 9. Jimmy Ellis 10. Ralph Dupas |
1. Evander Holyfield 2. Pernell Whitaker 3. Rocky Lockridge 4. Johnny Bumphus 5. Joey Giardello 6. Tony Ayala 7. Meldrick Taylor 8. Zab Judah 9. Mike McCallum 10 Fernando Vargas |
1. Thomas Hearns 2. Julio Cesar Chavez 3. Evander Holyfield 4. Mike McCallum 5. Lennox Lewis 6. Aaron Pryor 7. Mark Breland 8. Michael Moorer 9. Oscar De La Hoya 10. Milton McCrory |
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Did You Know: Clancy worked with Cooney for his
comeback bout against Foreman ... Fraizer's corner for his first
fight with Ali, and Ali's corner in his first fight in New York ... Steward worked with Pryor as an amateur and in his rematch with Arguello |
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| Greatest Fights They Worked | |||
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Clancy: 1. Joe Frazier W15 Muhammad, "It wasn't just the
fight of the century, it was the sporting event of the century. I
don't think there was ever an event that had the same electricity
in the crowd that that fight had." 2. All of Emile
Griffith's fights with Luis Rodriguez; 3. Jimmy Young W12 George
Foreman; 4. Jerry Quarry vs. Ron Lyle; 5. George Foreman KO 4 Ron
Lyle and Carlos Monzon KO 14 Emile Griffith. Dundee 1. Muhammad Ali KO 8 George Foreman; 2. Muhammad Ali TKO 14 Joe Frazier "I don't know how they did it. To fight the way they did under those conditions is remarkable. But nothing surprises me when it comes to fighters" 3. Sugar Ray Leonard W12 Marvin Hagler; 4. Carmen Basilio W15 Sugar Ray Robinson; 5. Luis Rodriguez W15 Emile Griffith and Sugar Ramos TKO 11 Davey Moore, "I had two challengers who won world titles on the same night." Duva 1. Evander Holyfield KO Buster Douglas "Evander was my first heavyweight champion."; 2. Joey Giardello W 15 Dick Tiger; 3. Tony Ayala KO Maldanado; 4. Riddick Bowe-Andrew Golota, I "It was just so crazy." 5. Julio Cesar Chavez TKO12 Meldrick Taylor. Steward 1. Hilmer Kenty KO 9 Ernesto Espana. "That was our first world title for Kronk." 2. Thomas Hearns KO 2 Pipino Cuevas; 3. Thomas Hearns KO Juan Roldan; 4. Both of the Leonard-Hearns fights; 5. Evander Holyfield W12 Riddick Bowe, "I'd also want to add Hearns-Hagler, Hearns-Duran and Duane Thomas knocking out John 'The Beast' Mugabi. That was quite an upset. When we got to Las Vegas they didn't even have Thomas's name on the poster. It was 'The Beast is Back.'" |
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