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"FacebookPinterestAli&amp;amp;Angelo 2.jpg \n\nBack in 2003, Taschen unveiled a glistening, 75-pound photographic history of Muhammad Ali in GOAT: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali. Like most things Benedikt Taschen conjures up, it was over the top\u2014in this case, that includes its massive $15,000 price tag (for the limited edition). This week Taschen is finally releasing the everyman version of GOAT\u2014a scaled-down, affordable tribute to the boxing legend that costs a mere $150. To mark its release, as well as this month\u2019s 50th anniversary of Ali\u2019s gold medal victory at the Olympics in Rome, GQ spoke with the guy who witnessed it all during his two decades spent in the champ\u2019s corner. Angelo Dundee, who Ali has called &amp;quot;one of the best in the world,&amp;quot; is still going strong after a 62-year career in the corner of 15 world championship fighters. He reminisced about 15-year-old Cassius Clay, the lessons he learned from the guy in the ring, and the single most crucial thing in boxing.\n\nTell me about the first time you met Cassius Clay.\n\n It was 1957, and I was in Louisville with Willie Pastrano when he was fighting Johnny Holman. We were just relaxing in the hotel room, and a kid calls from the lobby and says \u2019My name is Cassius Marcellus Clay and I\u2019m the Golden Gloves champion of Louisville, and I\u2019m gonna win the Olympics!\u2019 I put my hand over the phone and said \u2019Willie, there\u2019s some sort of a nut downstairs who wants to talk to us.\u2019 He said there was nothin\u2019 on TV anyway, why not send him up. So he came up to the room, and this nut was Cassius Clay.\n\nRead the full interview after the jump.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\n He was this nice kid, a real student of boxing. He wanted to know everything about it. Wanted to know how my fighters trained, how long did they run, how much did they spar. I talked to him for about three hours, and I had a ball.\n\nWhen was the next time you saw him?\n\n Anytime we were in Louisville, he would always find out which gym we\u2019d be at, and he\u2019d be there waiting, smacking the heavy bag. He\u2019d always say &amp;quot;Hey Ange! Let me work with your fighters!&amp;quot; One time I was there with Willie for another fight, and he kept pestering me, &amp;quot;Let me work with your fighter! Let me work with your fighter!&amp;quot; So finally, about four days before the fight, I figured, heck, what can a couple rounds do? And I had him spar with Willie. After two rounds I said &amp;quot;Willie, you\u2019re stale! No more sparring for you.&amp;quot; And he says, &amp;quot;No, it\u2019s that kid! I couldn\u2019t hit him!&amp;quot; He was fast. The kid with that style developed into the heavyweight champion of the world. He promised himself to be a good fighter.\n\nSo later he wins gold at the Olympics, and he comes to train with you in Miami? \n\n Right. At first he used to come to the 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach. He didn\u2019t have a car, and if he couldn\u2019t get a ride, he would just run. One day I got a call from the police saying, &amp;quot;There\u2019s a tall skinny kid runnin\u2019 across the causeway who says he\u2019s your fighter.&amp;quot; The police knew us and they were nice enough to call. He was just that kind of a kid. The first guy in the gym, the last guy to leave. He loved it. And he had a great time there. The gym was his stage. He was 182 pounds when he started with me, and he grew into a 212-pounder.\n\nIt must have been strange for him to come back to the segregated South after winning gold in the Olympics.\n\n Never bothered him. Nothing bothered Muhammad\u2014everybody should have the attitude this kid had. He did come to Miami in the time when there was still segregation; I got him an apartment right next to a restaurant where I knew the owner, and arranged so he could come sign and have his meals there. This way I didn\u2019t have to worry about him eating. I would give him $5. He used to call it &amp;quot;5 dollees.&amp;quot;\n\nYou spent years training him at the 5th Street Gym. What was the scene there like? \n\n Oh, every day was like a party. It was where he performed and prepared himself. Everyone came through there: the Beatles, Sinatra, Burt Lancaster. Joe Namath came in before the big game, the 1969 Super Bowl, telling everyone he was gonna win. People from every walk of life came to see him.\n\nDo you think any other fighter has matched him?\n\n Oh, no, no, there\u2019ll never be another Ali. In fact, I\u2019ve told my other fighters: &amp;quot;Be yourself, don\u2019t try to be him.&amp;quot; You can\u2019t do what another person does. You gotta take what you got and develop it. I even tell my kids, &amp;quot;Be yourself.&amp;quot; And it don\u2019t cost nothing to be nice\u2014in fact, it pays off.\n\nWhat do you think it was that made Ali so unique? Was it just about athletic ability? \n\n What people have to realize about Muhammad is, he was the first superstar who talked. He wasn\u2019t a talkative guy, but I made him talk. Before him, to get to a fighter you had to get through the trainer, the manager, the uncle, the cousin\u2014it was a hassle and they didn\u2019t wanna talk anyhow. Joe Louis made that famous. He said, &amp;quot;I do my talking in the ring.&amp;quot; But without people writing or talking, you\u2019re zero. Muhammad was aware of that. And he made boxing fun. The way he carried himself, the way he lit up the gym, he got along with everybody. Wherever we went, people adopted us. Like in Zaire\u2014they greeted us like heroes.\n\nYou were the trainer, but what did he teach you over the years?\n\n I learned patience, not to let things bother you, to handle them as you go along. There\u2019s nothing too important in life, as long as you\u2019re there. The WBA president who tried to take away his title, Ed Lassman\u2014Muhammad went up and shook hands with the guy! He don\u2019t get mad about nothing. Holds no misgivings, no grudges, nothing. Remarkable human being.\n\nWhat does it mean for you to be a trainer? \n\n A lot of people said I was like a psychologist in the way I approached things. You just gotta find what key you need to bring out the most in the guy. If he wants it, it can be done. And if you have fun doing what you\u2019re doing, you can excel at it.\n\nBut how do you deal with a fighter\u2019s inevitable weak point? \n\n You make it a strength. Ali was the best at that. He could change gears, which is the mark of a great fighter. He could pick up his speed, slow it down, utilize things in the ring. The rope-a-dope in Zaire was him, not me\u2014I thought he was a dope being on the rope. I was worried he\u2019d fall out of the ring and break his back.\n\nGeorge Foreman told me last week that you\u2019re &amp;quot;the most diplomatic genius boxing has ever known.&amp;quot;\n\n Well, he\u2019s my friend. We had a great time together, we had fun together, I didn\u2019t push or shove\u2014I just was there if he needed me. I stay in touch with these guys\u2014I compulsively stay in touch with friends.\n\nYou\u2019ve said that no two fighters are alike. But for all of them, is there any single most important thing in boxing?\n\n Don\u2019t get hit! Only fools like to get hit.\n\nAny thoughts on Ultimate Fighting?\n\n I go to it. You know why? To find out what the spark is that\u2019s drawing the young kids. I go to see what makes the crowd tick. I wanna apply that spark to boxing. For us in boxing, we need a good Olympic team, where the fighters are recognizable and the public knows them. Nowadays, if you don\u2019t speak Russian, you\u2019re in trouble. We had the luxury of Muhammad being around for a long time, and boxing was in great shape on account of him. Now, a lot of times you turn on a fight, you don\u2019t know who the guys are. There\u2019s no drumbeat.\n\nWe did a profile of Manny Pacquiao in our April issue\u2014you were in Oscar de la Hoya\u2019s corner for his 2008 fight against Pacquiao, right?\n\n Yea, I was his adviser. I went up there to Bear Mountain in California and watched the kid work out. Before I left, I told him, &amp;quot;Please don\u2019t leave it all up in the mountain.&amp;quot; And he did, the poor kid. He was a 35-year-old guy working like a 21-year-old. You don\u2019t do that.\n\nAnd Manny?\n\n Manny\u2019s a remarkable fighter. To beat Manny, you gotta be durable. I think he\u2019s the best around today. I\u2019d like to see him fight Mayweather. Then we\u2019ll really know who\u2019s the best.\n\nSo 15 world champions, and how long did you spend with Ali? Nineteen years?\n\n Well, we started in 1960, so... 19, 20, 21 years... Who knows? Who keeps track of time? It was so much fun. He was at my house four weeks ago. That stinking Parkinson\u2019s robbed his voice, so he has a hard time talking when he takes his medication.\n\n A lot of people have said the Parkinson\u2019s is from boxing...\n\n Naturally. There are a lot of gravediggers in this world. They don\u2019t got nothin\u2019 nice to say. So you take that with a grain of salt. The kid did with his life what he wanted to do. And he gets more out of a wink and a smile then we do out of a whole conversation.\n\n\u2014Nurit Zunger"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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