Cruz Gaining Steam

BAM on Boxing The One and Only Dundee As we all know Angelo Dundee, the Philadelphia native, died recently. Dundee was best-known for his work training the greatest, Muhammad Ali. Dundee was possibly the nicest person ever involved with this sport. It’s amazes me how so many Philadelphians never knew Dundee was from here. As time went by, Florida became Dundee’s home. Boxing is full of ups and downs and often a fighter looks to his trainer for answers. Dundee was well-known for his positive spin on every situation that arose. He was a trainer who had 15 world champions spread across six decades, including Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Jimmy Ellis, George Foreman, Carmen Basilio and Jose Napoles. Dundee’s classroom was the Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach, FL. That was his home and where he was known as the best trainer-manager around. He held that reputation throughout the country and he was a good-will ambassador for the sport. Times change and when Dundee was active training fighters he was considered a modern trainer who could adapt to different situations. I wish our modern trainers were even a portion of Dundee. He had the right amount of knowledge to go along with his nice-guy attitude to attract the media to his prospects. He was, what every great trainer aspires to be. Nobody will ever be able to fill his shoes. Ronald Cruz Gaining Steam On Saturday evening, Feb. 25, Bethlehem’s welterweight Ronald Cruz (left) will be headlining for the first time in Atlantic City at Bally’s. Cruz continues to test himself time and time again, stepping it up this time with Allen Conyers from the Bronx, NY. Conyers is coined the Dream Shatterer. Cruz will come in strong as always and lead with what he is known for—his body punching. The young mule-like fighter has added something new into the mix in the last two years. That something is slowly becoming much more noticeable. He has been switching from orthodox to southpaw and looks quite comfortable in both positions. Cruz (15-0, 12 K0s) will seem like the favorite because of his strong fan base and loyal following. On paper, though, it may not be as evident. Conyers (12-5, 9K0s) has faced resilient opposition. Four out of five of Conyers losses are to well-known prospects or contenders--Delvin Rodriguez, James Kirkland, Carlos Molina and Said Ouali. This fight will be a war! Conyers has stopped Philadelphia’s Derek Ennis when Ennis was 10-0-1 and last year earned a unanimous 10-round decision over Mexico’s James De la Rosa, who was 20-0. Deam Shatterer, perhaps, but only time will tell. Where it started Every person should remember where he or she came from and what they have gone through. When looking for the new facility for my second promotion on Friday, March 9, that is exactly what I did. I went up to the Front Street Gym (right) and sat on the bench over in the corner from owner Frank Kubach’s office. It was a Wednesday afternoon and it was active and I felt like the world was on my shoulders. I knew I needed to do something and every time I looked for advice I seemed to find myself talking to Mr. Sonny, who is no longer hanging around the old gym. The next day I was back in the same gym this time getting a workout in alongside lightweight Angel Ocasio and his team. It was then I realized that I had to adapt to the situation put in front of me and needed to change my show around to fit my time frame. I decided to put together a pro-am card at the Front Street gym for my second promotion because that is where I started. It is also where most fighters in this city in the last 50 years started, either through training, amateur tournaments or simply a local fight night. For more information please visit www.bamboxingpromotions.com. The author is a Temple University graduate who is now a part of Peltz Boxing. Follow us on twitter @Peltzboxing and our intern @bamonboxing.

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