LOUISVILLE--They are 20 years apart in age and still have the unique rapport built while teaming up to capture the world heavyweight championship a record three times.
Trainer Angelo Dundee is 90 and often confined to a wheelchair. His main man, his greatest champion Muhammad Ali, turns age 70 on Tuesday and Saturday night they held an evocative lovefest of a birthday bash for him at the nifty Muhammad Ali Center on the shores of the Ohio River in this, the champion's hometown.
Dundee came to the event, mentally sharp and still with the chipper personality which always made him a favorite of sports journalists, but his son, Jimmy Dundee, and his "minder," a nice fellow named Mark Grismer, had to transport the Hall Of Fame trainer from his Galt House hotel quarters nearby to the All Muhammad, All The Time museum with the wheelchair.
I'm not sure if my idol and longtime friend Ali walked into the facility under his own power but I doubt it as he departed the too long tribute in a wheelchair also.
Earlier in the day, I chatted with the sagacious boxing head about the abject failure of the Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. camps to put their big fight together.
Not surprisingly, Dundee is just as disgusted as so many Manny and Floyd fans worldwide are.
"It is foolish," Clearwater, Fl., resident Dundee said. "They're talking each fighter getting something like $40 million and they cannot come to terms?
"I just don't get it, that's what boxing is all about, what Muhammad was all about. Muhammad did not run way from Frazier or Foreman, he ran to them even when everyone thoughty Big George was an unbeatable, unstoppable monster.
"I think both of these camps are making a mistake. They may be misreading the boxing public and it could cost them. That fight has been a hot topic, a fight the fans really want, for a long time, for a few years now.
"But the public can be fickle. Maybe some new fighter or fighters come along and catch the public interest. Where does that leave Mayweather and Pacquiao?
"They need to sign the fight up and get it done. Six months from now, maybe the public won't care so much about them. That would be terrible but it's a risk they are taking. Again, I just think it's stupid and it hurts the whole sport."
Oddly, despite his mental acuity and public charm, Dundee was not asked to speak at the tribute which Ali's wife, Lonnie Ali, presided over in magnificent fashion.
But those paying $1,000 per plate, including this former president of the International Cassius Clay Fan Club (begun when I was 12 years old and never officially disbanded), were subjected to well meaning but pedestrian comments by a succession of Kentucky politicians including the mayor, the governor and one starry-eyed Congressman.
The biggest "hits" at the affair, and you could even read this in Ali's eyes, was an Israeli magician named Shimshi (Ali used to levitate and has always done his own magic tricks) and rock music icon John Cougar who crossed the river from his home in adjoining Indiana.
Unfortunately, there were also some third rate signers, including one woman who, it was duly noted, was a "ninth place finisher" on "American Idol."
One of the most poignant speakers of the evening was a guy who calls Ali "my best friend" and is accurate in saying so, the champ's personal photographer since 1962, Howard Bingham.
Bingham choked up in speaking of his affection for Ali and said he learned about compassion and forgiveness when he saw how a succession of shysters and conmen ripped the too trusting fighter off over the years.
"But Ali always forgave these kinds of people," Bingham said. "He told me like it was like in the Bible when the father forgives the Prodigal Son."
Louisville can be proud of the rousing tribute it gave to its most famous figure.
I was gratified to be there and, in a nice bit of serendipity, I wound up sitting with Ali's younger brother Rahman, born Rudolph Valentino Clay. "I remember you as a teenager following my brother around," Rahman said.
Rahman, now 68, said he finally beat his overachieving brother in one category.
He attended the dinner with Wife Number Six while his older brother, who has nine children, has only been married four times.
Despite the last few entertainers, who made it "Amateur Night In Dixie," this was a magical night honoring a one of a kind, always magical man.
Some superheroes don't need to supply us with any words, they can rely on their record.
So it is with Muhammad Ali.
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