He was born Cassius Clay, later became known to the world as Muhammad Ali and represents yet another great fighter from the 1970s about whom much has been said and written.
Few people discuss where Ali acquired his fighting acumen. It is fairly well-known that while Angelo Dundee was one of the game’s greatest cornermen, he was an average technical trainer. As such, one would be hard-pressed to find a fighter Dundee built from the ground up. The two men for whom Dundee was best known were Willie Pastrano and Ralph Dupas. Both were built by New Orleans-based trainer Ernest “Whitey” Ensault, who churned out a number of champions from the French Quarter, including Bernard and Maxie Docusen, Freddie Little and Tony Licata.