Muhammad Ali didn’t need anyone to tell him how to box. He came by it so naturally that there wasn’t much Dundee was going to teach him in the ring to help him become a legendary fighter.What he needed was someone in his corner shouting motivation, someone in his corner who always had his back.

“There was a time you couldn’t tell Ali anything, but Angelo knew how to motivate Ali,” promoter Bob Arum said. “Without Angelo, Ali doesn’t get out of the “Thrilla in Manila.” Without Angelo I think Joe Frazier destroys him. He needed someone like that in his corner.”

So did Leonard, who was taking a beating in his epic first fight with Hearns in 1981. His face was swollen by the thunderous right hands landed by Hearns and he seemed baffled when Hearns began boxing him from the outside instead of trying to slug it out as he had in the early rounds.