Ray Arcel

Growing Up

Ray Arcel was born on August 30, 1899 in Terre Haute, Indiana, into a Russia-Jewish family. As Arcel recalled it, his family was the only one of Jewish descent in the neighbourhood and drew much unwanted attention: ‘You had to fight in those days,” Arcel told Ronald K. Fried in Corner Men. “You lived in a neighborhood where you were challenged every day. We were the only Jewish family there, but that’s an old story. Of course, fighting in the street meant nothing. Wherever you’d go, you’d see two guys fighting. If you didn’t fight you were yellow.”

Early Fight Dreams

A young Arcel trained to be a fighter himself at Grupp’s gym on 116th Street and Eighth Avenue in New York, after the family relocated the Manhattan. Arcel wasn’t sure if he’d achieve the world championship dream, but he always acknowledged that the most important gift that boxing offered young kids, was the attempt to achieve a dream:  “The important part of boxing is not that youngsters realize their dreams, but that they can dream,” he said. “Every day in the gym they’re something special. They’re a fighter.”

Handling Greats

Arcel learned the game under Dai Dollings and Frank ‘Doc’ Bagley, who worked with Harry Wills, Jack Britton, Johnny Dundee and Ted Kid Lewis, and Jack Dempsey conqueror Gene Tunney. Still in his 20, Arcel trained his first world champion, flyweight Frankie Genaro who defeated the great Pancho Villa in 1923. The very next year, Arcel worked with his second champion, Abe Goldstein, who won the bantamweight title after defeating Joe Lynch. Arcel would then go onto train a number of legends, compiling a resume of fighters that any trainer in boxing history would be jealous of. Among the fighters he seconded, included Henry Armstrong, Barney Ross, Tony Zale, Jackie ‘Kid’ Berg and many more.

Arcel vs Joe Louis

Arcel also was on the opposing corner a many number of times against the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis( the heavyweight champion from 1936-1948) so much so that when he took one of his fighters to the centre of the ring for prematch instructions against Louis, Louis looked at him and said ‘You here again?’, to which Arcel burst out laughing. He finally trained a fighter to actually beat the great heavyweight champion (albeit when Joe was old), through Ezzard Charles. Arcel was also one of the trainers that taught Angelo Dundee (Ali’s trainer) the trade. After getting crossed with the notorious IBC (the criminal organisation that controlled boxing in the 50’s), Arcel was lucky to escape death after being struck in the head, and retired temporarily for nearly 2 decades.

Arcel & Roberto Duran

After returning to boxing in 1972, with Freddie Brown, another mater trainer at the time, Arcel began working with Panama’s Roberto Duran. Duran won his first title against the lightweight champion Ken Buchanan. Arcel would leave Roberto Duran however, after Manos de Piedra quit against Sugar Ray Leonard in the ‘No Mas’ match. After the fight, Arcel said ‘nobody quits in my corner.’ The last fighter Arcel worked with was Larry Holmes, assisted by Eddie Futch and the last fight he seconded was Holmes’ fight against white hope Gerry Cooney.

Final Days

Arcel died in 1994, at the age of 93. Arcel had trained over 20 fighters who would become world champions, achieving a historical record. Ray trained over two thousands boxers and you’d find it a tough challenge to find any reports of negativity against Arcel. He was one of the most likeable characters in boxing history, and was well respected by everyone in the sport.