Bert Sugar
SOME MEMORIES ARE PRICELESS!
San Francisco, CA– The landscape that is the sport and business of professional boxing has changed so much in the last couple of years. Once the most powerful man in the land, incredibly promoter Don King is now a tiny bleep on the pugilistic radar screen. Some say it is his age (82) and health, but I can tell you if King Donald could procure some AAA talent, be it by “hook or crook,” you’d be seeing him more often than throwing a couple of B cards with maybe an A name a year. The problem with Don is he won’t share his toys, er his knowledge, thus look for DK to take it all with him when he goes.
CAN’T CALL THESE GUYS NO MORE!
In a time span that seems like one or two rounds, Bert “The Hat” Sugar had checked out due to health issues, but he was 74 and had lived one hell of an adult life. Working a TV series with Bert in Las Vegas, being on the road with him in various states/countries, I’ll never forget the time promoter Lou Falcigno’s drunk and 40 years younger than Lou, pulled his hat off while we were at a private party the Riviera Hotel had thrown for the promotion. But what still brings a smile was when Hall of Fame writer Jack Fiske, owed monies for writing for Ring Magazine, of which Bert was the Editor, walked into the Ring offices and took pictures and drawings off the walls in lieu of compensation that Bert had promised him for two years!
ANGELO DUNDEE: GREAT OR IN RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME!
Some guys you fall out of touch with and in his last couple of years Angelo Dundee and I didn’t converse on a regular basis. When he passed at
90, he was frail and
to me that was hard to accept seeing this man was a television God to boxing fans of past generations. I remember referring to his wife as “Barbara” as we tore through an entire one-hour radio show live from the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Not only was Mrs. Dundee sitting alongside Angelo during the interview, her NAME was Helen! Always thought Angelo was a great cornerman and motivator, but a trainer? Some say he was in the right place at the right time. Regardless, he and his promoter brother Chris Dundee are historically, probably the two most powerful one-two brother combo long before the era of the Klitschko’s, Wlad & Vitali.
“Goldfather” Emanuel Steward
LOSS OF GOLDFATHER STILL DAUNTING
Emanuel Steward, the Kronk Gym Goldfather and HBO analyst, Emanuel when he passed late in 2012, left an indelible mark on the sport historically. One time I was staying at his house in Detroit and we were going to do a show in Pontiac, MI that night. Emanuel opens up the garage and parked there, just as “Sugar Ray” Robinson had a pink Cadillac, the Goldfather Emanuel Steward had a gold Cadillac semi-limo with a “spoiler” on the trunk. This was the stuff of the 1970s and the Superfly movie. With a driver so big you couldn’t see much road we piled in for the ride to the fights, but not before my breaking the fiberglass spoiler fin on the trunk. Oops!
Pedro Fernandez