Rob Boag’s latest offering to these pages is about boxing, and Dundee has a mention.
Not the city, but the surname.
“Angelo Dundee was the greatest trainer and greatest cornerman in the history of boxing, and was Muhammad Ali’s cornerman for 21 years,” he opened.
“Other world champions such as Sugar Ray Leonard and Willie Pastrano were also managed by Dundee.”
However, as Rob reveals, Dundee was not his birth name.
He continued: “He was born Angelo Mirena in 1921 in south Philadelphia.
“He once recalled his birthplace — ‘It’s not a town, it’s a jungle, they don’t have gyms there, they have zoos. They don’t have sparring sessions, they have wars’.
“When I read that, I thought Angelo was describing the Lochee of my youth.
“Angelo had an older brother named Joe, a boxer who changed his surname to Dundee as a tribute to honour the former featherweight and junior lightweight world champion Johnny Dundee. Angelo followed suit and the name Dundee replaced Mirena.
“Johnny Dundee, the boxer who inspired the Mirena brothers, was the first of the great Italian American fighters.
“Born Giuseppe Carrora in Sicily, he emigrated with his family in the 1890s to New York.
“So, how did Giuseppe Carrora land a name like Johnny Dundee?”
Rob revealed: “Enter a lad called Scotty Menteith, who had emigrated as a youth to New York from Dundee.
“Scotty took out a license as a professional boxer, but, after one fight, he realised he could make more money outside the ropes than climbing through them.
“And so Scotty Menteith became a boxing manager and promoter.
“Always on the lookout for young talent, Scotty would visit the New York slums that jammed in the non-stop flow of immigrants to America.
“And in Hell’s Kitchen, Scotty saw this young Italian lad in a street fight.
“He had all the natural talents of a boxer — balance, coordination, quick feet and fast hands.
“Menteith asked his name, and the reply was ‘Giuseppe Carrora’.
“Scotty met the lad’s parents and told them their son had every talent required to become a professional fighter.
“And, under Menteith’s training, he would earn money and get out of the slums.
“Giuseppe’s parents agreed, but there was one thing that definitely had to change.
“All the great fighters at that time were Irish, and the punters who paid money to watch the fights were Scots and Irish.
“The name Giuseppe Carrora on a fight card wouldn’t bring in the dollars.
“They needed a name change, so Giuseppe became Johnny, and the surname would be Scotty’s family ancestral home – Dundee. ‘You will be known as Johnny Dundee’, the fighter was told.”
History now shows success for that boxer.
Rob finished with: “Johnny Dundee became a world champion, an inspiration and hero to Italian immigrants.
“He fought 330 bouts and his moniker was, the ‘Scotch Wop’. Brothers Sam and Vince Lazzaro became world welterweight and middleweight champions under their adopted names of Sam and Vince Dundee. Other Italian boxers were Ace Dundee and Baltimore Dundee.
“Then, of course, thanks to Scotty Menteith’s ancestral home, the boxing world witnessed the greatest cornerman of all time, the legendary Angelo Dundee.”
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.