Before He Died, Angelo Dundee Finally Named The 2 Boxers He Regretted Training

Before He Died, Angelo Dundee Finally Named The 2 Boxers He Regretted Training Angelo Dundee trained fifteen world champions across six decades, from Muhammad Ali to Sugar Ray Leonard, and earned Howard Cosell's ultimate endorsement as a man of true character. But before he died in 2012 at ninety, Dundee carried a private weight the public record never showed. Two fighters haunted him: José "Mantequilla" Nápoles, the complete welterweight champion whose career unraveled in a brutal sixth-round knockout at thirty-five, and Luis Manuel "Fillo" Rodríguez, whose staggering 107-fight career left damage that surfaced only after retirement. This is the story of boxing's quiet cruelty — the trainer's guilt that comes from watching a fighter absorb punishment over years, and wondering, too late, if you should have said stop sooner. Two champions. Two regrets. One honest man's final reckoning with the sport that made him.