Boxing : Ring Should Be Out of Bounds for Football Players, Dundee Says

Angelo Dundee was talking the other day about football and basketball players trying to become boxers. He was laughing a lot.

“Remember when Wilt Chamberlain was talking about a one-fight deal with Ali? Hey, the smartest thing Wilt ever did was not go through with that,” said Dundee, longtime boxing trainer of Muhammad Ali and other champions.

“Ali would have made him look foolish. Ali made experienced boxers look foolish.”

The subject arises because a 315-pound football player, Tony Mandarich of Michigan State, the top draft pick of the Green Bay Packers, is talking about fighting heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. So far, no one except Sports Illustrated is taking him seriously.

“Athletically, boxing is the toughest profession in the world,” Dundee said.

“Just because you’re big and strong and in great football or basketball shape has nothing to do with it. I’ve seen it many times over the years, football players walking into my gym, asking me to turn them into boxers. It never works.

“I always try to talk them out of it, but they never take ‘no’ for an answer. About 15 years ago a lineman from the University of Miami, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound guy, wanted me to turn him into a pro.

“I tried to talk him out of it, to get him to start in the amateurs, but he wouldn’t listen. In a few weeks, I got him in decent boxing shape and put him in the ring against a very ordinary guy, who tapped him on the noggin and knocked him cold.”

As athletes, boxers are a breed apart, Dundee said from Miami.

“Other athletes are seeing only these huge paydays guys like Leonard and Tyson are pulling down and they don’t see the years and years of gym work, the degree of difficulty, all the learning, all the sacrifice,” he said.

“The qualities that a boxer has to have to be really good are different than in any other sport. . . . It’s a special kind of balance, a special feeling in there.

“Somebody said with Mandarich’s reach (he’s 6-6), Tyson wouldn’t be able to reach his chin. That’s ludicrous. He wouldn’t have to. Tyson would go downstairs and break him in half.”

It’s also possible, according to Dundee’s Law, that after a couple of rounds, Mandarich would simply fall down . . . and crawl away to the National Football League.

“A year ago, a 29-year-old former Auburn linebacker begged me to work with him,” Dundee said. “I didn’t want to, and told him. He begged me. He was convinced he could knock out heavyweights. Same deal. He got in good shape, went in the ring, fell down after a round and a half . . . and I never saw him again.”

Best example: Ed (Too Tall) Jones, the 6-9 defensive end of the Dallas Cowboys, who took a sabbatical in 1979, went into the gym and tried to become a heavyweight contender. Jones went 6-0 against ordinary heavyweights, didn’t impress anyone, hung up the gloves and went back to the Cowboys.

“That’s a great example of how tough boxing is,” Dundee said. “Too Tall was a very good athlete, exceptionally strong guy, and he gave it a real shot. He went in the gym with good trainers and really worked hard. And he still couldn’t do it.

“Now if Jones had gone into boxing when he was a teen-ager, in the amateurs, instead of football, maybe it would’ve turned out OK.

“I’m a football fan. I’d much rather watch Mandarich play football.”

Murphy Griffith, now training boxers in San Diego, was Jones’ trainer a decade ago. It was a noble experiment, he said.

“Jones worked very hard with me and he was progressing as a fighter when he gave it up to go back to football,” he said. “See, Jones was under a lot of pressure to return to football from the Cowboys, his family, his teammates.

“If it wasn’t for football, he’d have progressed to big-money fights, but a year isn’t enough time. You need a lot of schooling to be a fighter. He got in very good shape, worked very hard and eventually would have become a good heavyweight.

“But he never got that timing and rhythm you get with years of experience. If I ever get hold of another football player who has the right attitude, the desire and the motivation and the character of Ed Jones, I’d give it 100% again--providing he’d stick with it for more than a year.”

Mandarich and Tyson? Good for a laugh, Griffith said.

“That’s a joke. That’s bad for boxing. To even suggest . . . that Mandarich would have a chance is a joke. I mean, there are guys out there who’ve been boxing for years dying for a title shot.”

There’s an old boxing man in Las Vegas, Johnny Tocco, who has been waiting all his life for that one, great heavyweight prospect to walk into his Ringside Gym on Charleston Street.

A few years ago, a 6-7 basketball player asked Tocco to turn him into a boxer.

“I liked the kid. He was a very good athlete, very quick and strong, a fast learner and he really worked hard,” Tocco recalled several months ago.

“I took it slow and easy with him. He came to the gym three, four times a week, and all we did was fundamentals for months. I was starting to get excited, because the kid was really looking good and he was so eager to work hard. He had no quit in him.

“Then he was ready to spar. I put him in the ring with James (Broad Axe) Broad. For a round or two, the kid looked super, moving good and sticking Broad Axe with a good jab. Then Broad Axe gave him a shot in the gut. The kid kind of screamed, doubled up on the floor and that was it.

“He got up, walked out and never came back.”

Boxing Notes

The USA-Soviet Union amateur boxing series, the longest-running uninterrupted sports exchange between the countries, begins its 20th year next Saturday in Atlantic City, N.J. Soviet teams lead the series, 32-7. A second dual meet is set for Orlando, Fla., June 13. . . . Oscar De Lajoya of Los Angeles won the featherweight championship in the national Golden Gloves tournament at Knoxville, Tenn., recently.

Frank Mastro, boxing writer for the Chicago Tribune for 39 years--1930-69--died recently at 85. . . . If Thomas Hearns was right when he said Sugar Ray Leonard “is more shot than I am,” then the undercard of the June 12 Leonard-Hearns Las Vegas biggie could be better than the main event. Unbeaten Olympic medalists Michael Carbajal, Kennedy McKinney, Robert Wangila, Andrew Maynard and Ray Mercer all are scheduled for six-rounders.

The schedule: At the Forum, Gilberto Roman defends the World Boxing Council super-lightweight title when he meets Juan Carazo Monday. . . . June 24, Light-heavyweights Donny LaLonde and Dennis Andries at Atlantic City (ABC). . . . June 25, Prince Charles Williams and Bobby Czyz at Atlantic City (ABC). . . . July 15: Heavyweights Evander Holyfield and Adilson Rodrigues at Lake Tahoe (Showtime). Holyfield recently signed a two-fight contract with Showtime. . . . Rodolfo Aguilar and Sammy Fuentes will meet again at the Forum Aug. 14 in a rematch of their draw May 15 in the $225,000 Forum super-lightweight tournament championship bout. . . . Also Aug. 14: middleweight champion Michael Nunn and Iran Barkley at Reno (HBO).