Ray Arcel Tribute
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Published: August 30, 2023
Ray Arcel was born on August 30, 1899, in Terre Haute, Indiana, to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents.
Arcel's mother passed away when he was only four years old, and Ray was brought up by his father. Before passing away, Ray's mother, born in Brooklyn, wanted to leave the Midwest and return to her New York roots. The Arcels subsequently relocated to Manhattan, first to the Lower East Side and then to West 106th Street in Harlem.
Growing up in New York in those days, Arcel told Ronald K. Fried in Corner Men: "You had to fight in those days. You lived in a neighbourhood where you were challenged every day. We were the only Jewish family there, but that's an old story. Wherever you go they tell you the same story." Arcel continued to say: "If you didn't fight you were yellow."
While training to be a boxer at Grupp's Gymnasium on 116th Street and Eighth Avenue, Arcel was under the tutelage of two great trainers in Dai Dolling and Frank "Doc" Bagley. Bagley once managed the great Gene Tunney and taught Ray the art of being a Cutman. Dolling was a Welshman who had trained the likes of Tunney, Al Brown, Jimmy McLarnin, Jack Britton, Ted Kid Lewis, and Johnny Dundee. Dolling taught Arcel about the individuality of each fighter and the need to train them accordingly.
After a short career as a fighter, Arcel became a trainer, and that is when he established his greatness.
Arcel's first world champion was Frankie Genaro, who won the Flyweight world title in 1923. In 1924, Ray led Abe Goldstein to victory against Joe Lynch for the bantamweight title.
This was only the start. Arcel's subsequent success with numerous all-time greats cemented him as arguably the greatest trainer in boxing history.
Arcel's beginnings as a trainer were during the days when boxing was the sport of all sports—when Jack Dempsey was the heavyweight champion.
"A Dempsey fight was magic. The minute he walked into the ring you could see smoke rising from the canvas," said Arcel when reminiscing decades later on the heyday of Dempsey in the ring. "You knew you were going to see a tiger let loose."
Arcel's career as a renowned boxing trainer spanned from the 1920s, training Benny Leonard, all the way to the '80s, when perhaps most famously, he trained Roberto Duran.
Arcel was the oracle of boxing. A man who saw Jack Dempsey fight in 1916; befriended and trained Benny Leonard; was in Barney Ross' corner the night Henry Armstrong became welterweight champion in 1938 and was with Ross in the following days while tending to his wounds; worked opposite Joe Louis on countless occasions, including the night Louis first became heavyweight champion in 1937 against James J. Braddock, and the night Ezzard Charles defeated Louis in Louis' final title fight in 1950. Arcel was then in Duran's corner in 1980 in both historic fights against Sugar Ray Leonard and then in Larry Holmes' corner in 1982 in the momentous heavyweight showdown against Gerry Cooney.
Between the '20s and '80s, the only full decade Arcel did not train fighters was the 60's.
For nearly twenty years, from 1954, Arcel had quit boxing and was working as a purchasing agent for a metal company. Then, in 1972, Arcel received a call from boxing manager Carlos Eleta Almarán. Arcel returned to work with Alfonso (Peppermint) Frazer, who won the title under Arcel's training from Nicolino Loche on March 10, 1972. The relationship between Arcel and Eleta developed further, and Eleta had a wild kid from the slums of Panama City, Panama, whom he wanted Arcel to train. Arcel's link-up with this kid from Panama cemented his legend, as Duran became arguably the greatest lightweight in history, rivaling another great 135-pounder, Arcel's previous student, Benny Leonard.
No other trainer has ever arguably worked with as many all-time greats, with names that Arcel trained including Benny Leonard, Ross, Armstrong, Kid Gavilan, Freddie Steele, Tony Zale, John Henry Louis, Charles, Holmes, and Duran.
In a sport of toughness and meanness, Arcel was an anomaly. He was a very humble, polite, and respectful man. Arcel was described by sportswriter "Red" Smith as "the first gentleman of fistfighting."
Just like great trainers typically do, Ray always gave credit to the fighters, saying the trainer would be nothing without the fighter. He would merely give them pointers.
As Arcel told Ronald K. Fried in Corner Men, "Nobody had to teach Duran how to fight. The first day I saw him - not in New York, I saw him in Panama - I told everybody around him, 'Don't change his style. Leave him alone. I don't want anybody to ever tell him what to do. Let him fight."
Of course, Arcel did have a real impact on Duran's boxing. Alongside an old friend, Freddie Brown, a former cut-man of Rocky Marciano, they molded a young Duran into an all-time great champion. They fine-tuned Duran's style, with this power-punching brawler becoming a very defensively acute fighter while applying that pressure, boxing unlike any lightweight had for years. Under the tutelage of Arcel and Brown, Duran became one of the best and most crafty fighters in history.
An insight into Arcel's involvement in the career of his fighters can be seen through his handling of Charley Phil Rosenberg, who won the bantamweight title in 1925. Rosenberg, preparing for a title fight against Cannonball Martin on March 20, 1925, had three months to shed 37 pounds and meet the 118 pounds limit after having ballooned up to 155 pounds. Arcel went everywhere Rosenberg went and did everything Rosenberg did. Arcel did roadwork with him, prepared his meals, and slept in the adjoining bed.
In Ray Arcel: a Boxing Biography by Donald Dewey, Arcel spoke of the nights leading up to Rosenberg's fight against Martin. "I always had to sleep with one eye open. Charlie would get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and I would stand there with the door open. He kept cussing me. 'I just want to gargle,' he'd say. And I'd tell him, 'I'm watching your Adam's apple, Charlie. Don't swallow that water.'"
"After this fight is over," Rosenberg told Arcel, "I'm going to kill you."
Rosenberg beat Martin via a 15-round decision, and Arcel lived for another 69 years.
Arcel's wisdom was the stuff of legend.
"Ring sense is an art, a gift from God that flows out of a fighter like a great painting flows out of an artist, or a great book flows out of an author," Arcel once said. "Ring sense is a natural ability to cope with any situation in a fight. It cannot be taught."
Arcel's last appearance in the ring was in the corner of Holmes when the "Easton Assassin" stopped Cooney in 1982. Arcel worked alongside long-time friend Eddie Futch on this night.
Arcel trained three men who can be regarded as the greatest in the entire history of their divisions. Benny Leonard and Duran are regarded as two of the greatest lightweights ever. Ezzard Charles is arguably the greatest light heavyweight ever. To create such great fighters, Arcel's greatness as a trainer is evident.
Nobody taught boxing better while carrying them-self with the same sincerity and humility as the great Ray Arcel.
(Featured Photo: The Ring Magazine via Getty Images)
