Arcel Knows Sweet, Sour Sides

A first impression of 86-year-old Ray Arcel, his white hair thinning, eyes sparkling, bearing erect, is that of a man who has soaked up knowledge along the way.

But the area of his expertise might not be as readily apparent.

Ray Arcel knows about the Sweet Science, as few men do, and has spent most of a lifetime imparting that knowledge to fighters who didn’t have the tools to make it as well as those who did.

Wednesday, the teacher in the school of hard knocks will be honored by Gov. Mario M. Cuomo during a special citation ceremony.

Arcel estimates he has worked with between 1,500 and 2,000 boxers. He also has been associated with more than 20 world champions, including Bennie Leonard, Sixto Escabar, Tony Zale, Barney Ross, Ezzard Charles, James J. Braddock, Roberto Duran and Larry Holmes.

He also worked with great boxing teachers such as Whitey Bimstein, Freddy Brown and Charlie Goldman in the 20s, 30s and 40s “when there were eight or nine clubs (in New York) in existence and a lot of kids boxed three or four times a week in four-rounders. We didn’t throw a kid into a main event.”

Arcel was involved in the promotional end of boxing in the 1950s, an especially unsavory period when James D. Norris’ International Boxing Club and men like Frankie Carbo and Blinky Palermo held sway.

He recalled producing 104 shows in 1953-54, and once being hit on the head with a lead pipe in an incident apparently related to a television boxing contract. After losing his TV contract, he continued to promote shows in 1955, then got out of the game.

“I could see the handwriting on the wall,” he said. “I could see the small clubs going out of existence. It looked like there was no hope.”

Arcel joined the Catering Materials Co., owned by the late referee Harry Kessler, in January 1956 and worked for it until 1982.

In 1971, he got involved in boxing again.

“I came back when Carlos Eleta asked me to work with Peppermint Frazier (junior welterweight champion). I had worked with fighters for Carlos Eleta during the (World War II) years,” Arcel said.

By renewing his relationship with Eleta, Arcel came into contact with another one of Eleta’s fighters--Roberto Duran. He stayed with Duran until 1982, and while Duran dominated the lightweight division as champion for most of the 1970s and won a piece of the welterweight title from Sugar Ray Leonard.

Now Arcel just talks about boxing. People interested in the game should listen, even boxing critics.

--On Safety: “The biggest safety factor in boxing is if your fighter is taught to think, to avoid punishment.

--On the power base and economics of boxing: “Television controls the destiny of the business. Today, if you’re an amateur champion, you can sign for a fight for $1 million. Because of the money, fighters don’t work at their business.”

--On the fighter of the pre-TV era: “The gymnasium was his school. He learned his lessons there. In boxing, it’s brains over brawn.

“Barney Ross (welterweight champion) was fighting Ceferino Garcia (Sept. 23, 1937), one of the toughest opponents you could think of and he broke his right thumb two days before the fight.

“We wanted to call the fight off, but he said, ‘You kept hollering at me to use that left jab and left hook and I’m going to show you what I learned.’ ” Ross won a 15-round decision.

“It’s brains over brawn,” Arcel said.

--On old-school trainers like Eddie Futch, Angelo Dundee and Jackie McCoy: “The trainer was the strongest link between a fighter and his career. He was the strongest link between a fighter and his manager.

“We learned our trade. We had to think. We had to train and know our fighters.

“The first thing one of my fighters did in the morning when he got out of bed was walk in front of a mirror and shadow box, and it was the last thing he did before he went to bed.

“In boxing, it’s brains over brawn.”