Despite its often cruel and twisting nature, at the end of the day the odyssey that a fighter experiences in the sport of boxing is ultimately worth it. Just as great is the fact that through all of their struggles and accomplishments, the fighters are doing something special by taking those closest to them along for the ride. Boxing is far from a solo sport, and the individuals who make up a fighter’s team experience a great amount of gratification through seeing their charge achieve success.
During his time as a manager in the sport of boxing, Cameron Dunkin has gotten to experience a journey all his own. Dunkin would start from scratch in 1986 and learn the managerial ropes along the way, eventually carving out quite a niche as he guided some excellent champions such as Danny Romero, the late Diego ‘Chico’ Corrales, and Steve Forbes. Today Dunkin is involved with Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, WBO Jr. Welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, multi-talented Nonito Donaire, and many others.
Currently living in Las Vegas, Dunkin is always involved in the sport and can often be found at the fights and in the gym, soaking up the buzz and atmosphere of the sport while keeping a lookout for the next breakout star. While recently in TKO Boxing Gym, Dunkin soon found himself a part of a hotly contested debate pertaining to the upcoming Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto fight. Dunkin had initially favored the Filipino to emerge victorious, but little did he know what he was getting into.
“I was in the gym and everybody was talking about the fight,” Dunking recalls. “Demetrius Hopkins was there and the room was full of fighters and trainers. Somebody asked me what my thought was on the fight and I said it’s hard to vote against Manny Pacquiao and everybody just turned on me. I was shocked because everybody stopped doing what they were doing and they proceeded to explain to me why they feel Miguel Cotto is going to just bully Manny Pacquiao. I am now feeling that Miguel Cotto is going to get it done with body work, and strength. I guess they convinced me.”
Strength and power are two words that will be linked to Cotto for as long as he continues fighting. His physical strength and ability to break opponents down are two of his biggest assets and he poses a serious threat to anyone near his weight class. For Dunkin, the only question remains, which Cotto will we see on November 14th?
“I think a big question is which Cotto is going to show up,” a curious Dunkin continues. “He’s always good because he’s a great fighter but is the really great Cotto going to show up? If the Cotto would beat Mosley shows up then I think he’ll be alright but if he has flashbacks to the Margarito fight he could be in trouble.”
As a manager Dunkin has a great responsibility towards his fighters and he must keep a keen eye on the way their careers are maneuvered. One of the keys towards any rising prospect is to guide them through the right steps that will introduce them to the proper learning curves that come with the sport. In looking at how Pacquiao and Cotto’s time in the fight game has been guided, Dunkin tips his hat.
“I think there careers have both been terrific,” Dunkin says of the two elite fighters. “I think the thing that I like about both of them is that they fight everybody. They’ve been guided along through their careers almost perfectly. Both guys have been in a lot of tough fights and I even questioned Cotto before a lot of his fights. I was 100% sure he wasn’t going to beat Mosley. It was very close but you have to give him a lot of credit because he pulled out the win. The guys that he has fought, like Margarito and Clottey, are just guys who nobody wants to fight.”
Currently Pacquiao has taken the sport on his back in many regards, drawing mainstream attention for rising up in weight to face the challenge of upending former champions Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton. In dominating both men in a way that has never been seen before, the General Santos City fighter has turned heads, opened up eyes, and changed the way some people look at smaller fighters in the sport.
“Pacquiao is just an amazing story and I don’t think anybody could have seen this coming,” an almost baffled Dunkin continues on. “For him to start out at Flyweight and do the things he has accomplished is just incredible. He’s really changing people’s perceptions of not only who he is, but the sport as a whole.”
When continuing on about the change of opinion that Pacquiao has introduced, Dunkin is taken back to a time when he himself had a great deal of fighters in lower weight classes. While always one to choose skill over size, Dunkin never would have imagined the impact that Pacquiao would have through rising up in weight and tearing through his recent victims.
“I’ll tell you this, I recruit all the time,” Dunkin says frankly. “I’ve worked with a lot of little guys from Mark ‘Too Sharp’ Johnson, Johnny Tapia, Danny Romero, Eric Morel, and they were all great little fighters and now Nonito Donaire is a sensational fighter. Bit Pacquiao has done something different and he has changed the way people perceive smaller fighters just because of the way he has been able to rise in weight. People are looking at 112 lb. fighters differently because of it.”
To show just how unforeseen Pacquiao’s current situation is, all one has to do is take a trip back in time between 2003 and 2004 and put the careers of the two fighters in perspective. When Pacquiao was fighting at featherweight against the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez, Cotto was going to war with tested veterans and fellow prospects three divisions higher at Jr. Welterweight. Very few could have imagined that the two men’s careers would cross paths in such fashion, Dunkin included.
“Of course I didn’t see this coming,” Dunkin says of the highly anticipated encounter. “I don’t think anybody did. The fight itself and everything surrounding the two fighters is something you just can’t script. It’s just a weird turn of events for these two fighters to be facing each other in the ring. Who would have saw it coming?”
While Dunkin is quick to give Pacquiao credit for his accomplishments in the ring, he is just as quick to point that praise towards Cotto for his demeanor outside of the ropes. Through his time in the sport Dunkin has gotten the chance to be around the mild mannered Puerto Rican on many occasions and in doing so he has seen a man with much class and dignity.
“Miguel Cotto is a gentleman,” Dunkin says respectfully. “I remember on two separate occasions I was in New York with Kelly Pavlik and Cotto was there because he was involved in the fight also. I remember we got into a tough situation and we didn’t really know how we were going to get to our hotel. Cotto came forward in a way that really surprised me and he insisted that we take a ride on his personal bus. We told him that we wouldn’t have minded taking a cab but he insisted that we go with him. That’s just the type of person he is.”
On another occasion in which Dunkin crossed paths with Miguel was in early 2005 when he was working with Featherweight Zahir Raheem, who was fighting on the undercard of the Cotto-DeMarcus Corley bout in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. At the time Dunkin again found himself in a difficult situation as he was in new territory with his fighter and unsure of where to set up shop.
“I remember that card pretty well,” Dunkin recalls. “Zahir was fighting in an off-TV eight rounder. We had nowhere to go, everybody was speaking Spanish, and we didn’t have a dressing room and didn’t really know what to do. Cotto came out himself and got us, not his assistant or trainer, and he guided us to our room. He didn’t owe it to us but he took it upon himself to help us out. I just think the world of Miguel Cotto. He’s a real man and just a terrific person.”
Dunkin speaks with both objectivity and admiration when looking at the careers of Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto. In doing so you get a sense for the type of manager he is, as he is quick to point out the physical gifts of Pacquiao while also making a point to speak of Miguel Cotto the man and not just the fighter. As a manager Dunkin has had to get to know his fighters on an extremely personal level and there has been much care and respect that has stemmed from his relationships. It has allowed him to appreciate the sport all the more, while also helping keep his mind open towards the Pacquiao-Cotto encounter.
