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"Through all those days of controversy, and the many that followed, Angelo never got involved," Ali wrote in the foreword to Dundee's book. "He let me be exactly who I wanted to be, and he was loyal. That is the reason I love Angelo." Born Angelo Mirena on Aug. 30, 1921, in south Philadelphia, Dundee's boxing career was propelled largely by his older brother, Chris, a promoter. After returning from World War II
-- "We won, but not because of anything I did" -- he joined Chris in the boxing game in New York, serving as his "go-fer" and getting the tag "Chris' kid brother." Angelo and Chris followed another brother Joe, who was a fighter, in changing their surname to Dundee so their parents wouldn't know they worked in boxing. 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 for trainers like Chickie Ferrara, Charlie Goldman and Ray Arcel, among others. Word of Dundee's expertise spread, and seasoned fighters lined up to have him in their corner. He worked major boxing scenes with Chris, with stops at the famed Stillman's Gym in New York and Miami Beach's 5th Street Gym. Dundee's fun-loving attitude, combined with his powerful Philly accent, made him a joy to be around. His lifelong love and respect for the sport earned him praise from those across the boxing world. "He is the only man in boxing to whom I would entrust my own son," the late sportscaster Howard Cosell once said of Dundee. In the late 1970s, with Ali nearing retirement, Dundee quickly jumped into the corner for an emerging star named Sugar Ray Leonard, whom Dundee called "a smaller Ali." Dundee trained Leonard for many of his biggest fights
-- including bouts against Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns
-- and helped him become one of the most recognized welterweight champions in history. Dundee later teamed with Foreman in 1994 to help him become the oldest heavyweight champion at age 45 when he beat Michael Moorer. In one last attempt to help a big fighter win a big fight, Dundee helped train Oscar De La Hoya for his Dec. 6, 2008, fight with pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao. Dundee did not work the corner on fight night; perhaps the 35-year-old "Golden Boy" could have used him. De La Hoya declined to answer the bell for the ninth round. Always a slick strategist and fierce competitor, Dundee developed countless tricks to help his fighters win. If he thought a referee might stop a fight because of a gash on his fighter, Dundee would stretch his butt so the referee couldn't peek into the corner, allowing him to conceal the wound before the bell. If a fighter was tired, Dundee would do anything he could to buy time, once untying a boxer's shoes after every round only to slowly retie the laces each time. Dundee also went well beyond the usual tricks of smelling salts to revive fighters. If his man was dazed, Dundee would often drop ice down the fighter's shorts to take their attention off injuries. During Ali's 1963 fight against Henry Cooper, Dundee pulled off a stunt that took him decades to publicly acknowledge. After Cooper dropped Ali and left him dizzy at the end of the fourth round, 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. Dundee never held back the one-liners in the corner, either, saying anything he could to get his fighters charged. Dundee also loved to tell the story of the night he was in the corner for a little-known heavyweight named Johnny Holman. Remembering that Holman's dream was to buy a house, Dundee tried to motivate Holman when he said, "This guy's taking away your house from you. He's taking away those shutters from you. He's taking away that television set from you." Holman would come back to win
-- and get that house. 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.
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