On the weekend of this past Thanksgiving, veteran trainer Kenny Adams, who had being feeling weak for the past month, was taken to the hospital on November 26th by manager Cameron Dunkin from his home in Las Vegas. It would not be a short visit to Summerlin Hospital. For over a week, he was hooked up to tubes and catheters as tests run were on the 70-year-old Adams, who it turns out was going through kidney failure.
Dunkin, who stayed with him for much of that Friday, said simply, “He looked horrible.”
Adams, who is still feisty and as stubborn as they come, believed he wasn?t all that ill throughout this whole ordeal. This man, who spent over three decades in the Army, is from the generation where you walked things off, didn?t complain and went about his business. His medical coverage, for the most part, consisted of him being just a tough S.O.B.
“You know what?s amazing; he really thought he didn?t need a doctor,” Dunkin marveled with some disbelief. “He really didn?t think it was serious. When I took him in, I mean, I literally had to help him in the car and out of the car. He could hardly walk.”
Adams eventually walked out with a clean bill of health and is back working with his fighters. But that?s not the amazing part of this saga; the astonishing aspect in all this was that it was Dunkin who took Adams to the emergency room. Just about anyone in the boxing world would?ve told you that this was an impossibility not too long ago. These two guys, who once worked closely together in developing and training world champions, hadn?t talked for much of this past decade.
Simply put, they hated each other and they seemed to have more irreconcilable differences than Frank and Jamie McCourt. But imagine this; boxing?s ebony and ivory have gone all ?Peaches and Herb.? Reunited and it feels so good. Adams admits he could have never foreseen this. “Honestly, I didn?t and Cameron knows it, too. I couldn?t stand Cameron. I wanted to hurt him. Really, truthfully, I wanted to hurt him.”
Years ago, the duo worked together with the likes of Diego Corrales, Freddie Norwood, Stevie Johnston and ?Bones? Adams and somewhere along the way, disagreements popped up.
But Adams admitted to Maxboxing, “Once again, Cameron was right in a sense and what I?ve learned about boxing- as long as I?ve been in this damn game- you know what I?ve learned about it? I do my job. My thought was, before, that I would always take the fighters side, instead of the manager. I?d tell them, ?Man, you ain?t doing it right? and this and that. But now I?ve learned a lesson; hey, the manager is the manager. He does his job; I do mine. He don?t tell me how to train; I don?t tell him how to manage. That was my big mistake I made.”
Now, they are working together again. Dunkin says, “Hey, listen, in my opinion, he?s the best trainer in boxing and through all of our arguments and things we?ve had through the years, it?s never been because he isn?t the best trainer and the best I?ve ever seen- because he is. So I just thought about it a year-and-a-half ago; he had approached me a couple of times in the last couple of years and about a year ago, I said, ?Y? know what? We need to make peace and we need to get this going. So I approached him and it worked out.”
Reconciliation was long overdue.
“Definitely, definitely, that?s the way we think,” said Adams. “He?s the best manager in the world and I?m the best trainer in the world. We figured, ?Let?s hook up together; let?s blow things up.? So far, it?s working well.”
Back in the ?90s, Adams was nearly unstoppable in the corner. In addition to Dunkin?s clients, he had successful runs with Frankie Liles, Kennedy McKinney, Alfred Cole and Vince Phillips. He went for years without losing a championship fight. Now working with prospects Bastie Samir, Terence Crawford, Michael Finney, Leti Leti and soon, James Kirkland, along with some more talent that Dunkin says he will send over to Adams, they could be headed for another roll in the near future. “We are in the process of that,” said Adams with confidence. “You look at the guys we have, we?re making a move now and this is a good group of guys and talented. They listen very well and they?re very attentive and training?s going very well. So, definitely, this is another big run.”
To this day, what Adams- who was an assistant on the historic 1984 U.S. Olympic boxing team and led the 1988 edition, after heading up the Army boxing team throughout most of that decade- enjoys is developing young, raw talent and taking them all the way to the top.
“More than ever,” he says, “and I really believe that because – and I?m not bragging about it- but myself more than any other trainer that I know, I have done that. I have taken guys- like Al Cole is one- I took him from his very start. He was an overachiever. Kennedy McKinney, you had Eddie Cook, he fought just a little before them. But all these guys I brought up and then I bought them to Top Rank. When I first came out here in ?88, every guy I bought them, Ray Mercer, Cole, Charles Murray, every last guy became a world champion.
“And this is what I love; this is my passion,? Adams added. ?As a matter of fact, what I?m enjoying more now, since I?ve been in the hospital and I was weak for two or three days or so, but I am more driven and I just love this. I just love to teach and teach. I know that?s my calling.”
In many respects, the choice to make amends with Adams was an easy one for Dunkin. The reality is that there aren?t a lot of quality trainers he trusts with his blue-chippers.
“Everybody thinks they?re a good trainer and the sad part is that a lot of these kids, they come up and they win in the amateurs and stuff with who got them there,” explained the manager. “Whether it be a father, whether it be an amateur coach and you want to take him to the next level and I always tell people, ?Look, I?ve won a lot of titles with fathers?- Danny Romero?s father, he [Romero] became a champion of the world. Jack Loew, an amateur coach without a name, took Kelly Pavlik all the way. If you?ve got a thoroughbred, it?ll happen.
“But I always say this; how much better would they have been with a great trainer and how much with that coach, if they would?ve thrown their ego aside and gone?? Dunkin asked, rhetorically. ?When I got in the business, I just kept my mouth shut and I listened to people. I listened to the Bruce Tramplers of the world, the Bob Arums of the world, everybody, Don King, Rafael Mendoza from Mexico, genius people in the business. And I just kept my mouth shut; I didn?t know anything. I still don?t know anything; I?m still learning and that?s what you gotta do. And I always say, if they could get around to Kenny Adams or the way Robert Garcia is with his father, Eduardo, not only was he a world champion but he?s still learning from him and he still works around him and learns from him. I wish more trainers would just say, ?Look, there?s so much to learn and I?ve got this kid this far but how much better could he be?
“If he hadn?t gotten hit that 20 times to win that fight or if he hadn?t lost those two rounds when it was hard on him. It could?ve made that fight that much easier. There?s winning and there?s also how you win and a guy like Kenny Adams can make things so much easier for your fighter.”
While there is this quaint notion of a fighter being guided to a championship and beyond by those he started with, in other sports, the athletes, as they move up the food chain, automatically receive more advanced teaching. You don?t see Peyton Manning getting coached by the staff at Isidore Newman High School in the NFL.
“Isn?t that amazing,” said Dunkin, contemplating the analogy, “he would still be taught by his high school coach and a talent like that would have made it? Probably. He would?ve made a lot more mistakes and would?ve taken a lot longer for him to hit and miss and it might have taken two or three more years for him to become what he has become. But probably, he would?ve made it, too.”
For Dunkin, it?s really about reaching your ultimate ceiling as a fighter.
“I look at it like, ?How good could this guy have been?? Well, he won the title but again, how good could this guy have been? When you see guys that are not only God-gifted but they come along with good training and stuff, you can really, really see the difference.”
Dunkin recalls years ago, as he started in this business, “I had Danny Romero on a show and we were in the dressing room with Tim Littles.” It was then a professor of prizefighting walked in. “All of a sudden, George Benton comes over and opens his hands, stands Littles up, starts talking about changing speeds and angles, ?Go here if he goes here.? My mouth just dropped. I just shot up and stood there, just in awe at how great and how smart he was. And that?s Kenny Adams.” When this newest crop of boxers works with Adams, according to Dunkin, “They come in and work with Kenny for 30 minutes; they look at me and they go, ?I?ve never seen anything like this.? They all say it. They all say, ?I?ve never been taught this stuff.?”
But working with Adams isn?t easy. Simply put, the term ?player?s coach? will never be associated with him. It truly is his way or the highway. In the past, you could?ve named an interstate in his honor.
“Well, he?s really softened up through the years,” Dunkin stated. “He really has, I remember Kenny the way he was with Diego Corrales and I remember Corrales walking in the gym and chewing gum and Kenny slaps his face, grabs his mouth and say, ?Spit out the gum? and he opens his hand. I?m going, ?What the hell is he doing to this guy?!? And Kenny goes, ?I know you?ve been smoking that weed; I know you?ve been smoking cigarettes; I know you?ve been drinking. What are you trying to hide?? I?m like, ?Wow,? and it was true; he had done all of it. Now, Kenny?s a little different. He?ll walk over to them if that happens and Kenny told me how he would handle it now. He?d walk over and just tell the kid to have a seat and say, ?Son, do you really want to do this? Because if you don?t want to do this, you?re wasting my time; you?re wasting yours.? It?s a little different than slapping a guy?s face.”
Dunkin laughs as he says the last part but Adams admits he has mellowed, “Yeah, I would say so. I would think that I live and let live, in a sense where I don?t jump at a quick spot.” Adams, who worked with the late Edwin Valero, says that the stuff he went through with him would have driven him mad in the past but he has learned to let certain things go. In this day and age with athletes, you can?t always be Woody Hayes. Adams understands this dynamic.
“You have to kinda back off them because fighters are not geared as much to take that abuse that you could give fighters in the past. It?s not that I want to abuse somebody; the point of it all is, I knew what it takes to become a champion,” said Adams, who himself had a successful amateur career. “You gotta make a guy move to that next level and all it was was tough love. But a lot of people were not able to deal in that manner. So now, I?ve learned to smooth things over and just do it in a manner of trying to teach.”
But there are still principles he will not bend on- his military roots wouldn?t allow any other way.
“I?m a believer in being on time, being at appointed places when you should be and I got kids who are 18, 19, 20 years old and they?re a good bunch of kids. They?re great kids,” he says. Adams is who he is at his core. And why should anyone expect anything different? You don?t expect a man who was in the Army for over three decades, serving in Vietnam, was an Airborne Ranger and for five years was a drill sergeant, to become all soft, touchy and feely, do you?
He is who he is. A hard, tough, demanding taskmaster but one that is fair.
“I think I?m very fair and in boxing, it?s like this, and I?ve learned this lesson: I tell people like it is and people don?t want to hear the truth in most cases. Everybody wants to be a yes-man; they want to go along with the get-along. I don?t believe in that and I still haven?t changed that way. But I kinda live and let live, now. You know, they call me an ?angry black man?; I?m not an angry black man. I?m just a man who takes no sh*t; that?s all,” he says.
So there you have it; a black guy who?s a life-long military guy and a white guy, who before getting into this racket, was a finance manager in the car business, together again. They truly are boxing?s odd couple. And they wouldn?t have it any other way.
“Yeah, you could say that,” agreed Dunkin. “Listen, we?re nothing alike, I don?t think. But with boxing, we see everything eye-to-eye and he?s got a lot of the same beliefs and morals I have. And we get along; we want to treat each other right and be fair with everybody, be fair to our fighters and we enjoy that.
“We?re getting along great.”
THANK YOU
Adams wanted to pass along these thoughts to those who reached out to him while infirmed, “I want to say I?m very appreciative for all the love I got from all the people all over the world and the people that have called me from different countries and stuff. Emanuel Steward called me from Austria about two or three times, checking to see how I was doing. And that?s really appreciated. I just really appreciate all the love that people have shown.”
IDES OF MARCH
There is a lot of talk of Miguel Cotto?s return taking place on March 12th, with the leading contenders being Vanes Martirosyan and Pawel Wolak facing him. But Lou DiBella tweeted (@loudibella) about the possibility of matching Andy Lee and John Duddy at the Theater of Madison Square Garden around St. Patrick?s Day (March 12th) with middleweight champion Sergio Martinez headlining that card.
(Wonder which card HBO prefers?)
But DiBella?s plan is for Martinez- who will most likely face his WBC mandatory, Sebastian Zbik next- to face WBA beltholder Felix Sturm after that and then eventually the winner of the rematch between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito.
Ya? know, that sounds like a decent plan.
DICKERSON FLURRIES
Todd duBoef tweeted (@ToddDuboef) that Manny Pacquiao?s next fight will probably take place on May 7th…It looks more and more like Brandon Rios will face WBA lightweight beltholder Miguel Acosta on Feb. 26th at the Palms in Las Vegas on Showtime…March 19th might be the date for Lucian Bute?s 2011 debut on Showtime. Not sure who he will take on; a name I was told was Brian Magee, which quite honestly doesn?t do all that much for me…January 29th is the date being kicked around for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to fight in Mexico. Uhhh, OK…Anyone see ?Pony Excess? on the latest installment of ?30 for 30? on ESPN? I loved it. Eric Dickerson was my all-time favorite Ram. To me, he is still the most elegant and graceful runner ever…When it?s all said and done, the Houston Texans? Andre Johnson will go down as one of the greatest wide receivers to ever play. But will he ever get to perform in the playoffs?…New Hurricane coach Al Golden not only had me at ?Hello? but he really had me at his answer to why he took this gig- “Are you kidding me?” I like this hire; the man won at Bill Cosby U, for Pete?s sake…I can be reached at [email protected] and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.
