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For young boxers in St. Pete, Ali's legacy lives on

 
Dan Birmingham, who trained local champions like Winky Wright and Jeff Lacy, said he loved Ali’s style and confidence.
Dan Birmingham, who trained local champions like Winky Wright and Jeff Lacy, said he loved Ali’s style and confidence.
Published June 5, 2016

ST. PETERSBURG — Sweat flew in every direction in Dan Birmingham's boxing gym on Saturday afternoon, as young fighters sparred under worn photographs of the greats.

Inside the St. Pete Boxing Club, a venerable institution known for training some of the most gifted boxers in the country, it was a typical day. There in the ring was Keith "One Time" Thurman, WBA welterweight champion, preparing for his big fight next month against Shawn Porter. Edner Cherry, 33, a two-time world title challenger, ripped into a heavy bag while, in the back of the room, 22-year-old My'cheal Teal — "the top amateur prospect in this area," Birmingham said — did sit ups in front of a mirror.

"Nice! Nice! Nice!" yelled Thurman's father each time his son landed a blow.

But outside the ring, the conversation among coaches and fathers centered on the death of their hero: 74-year-old three-time world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, a man their sons knew from YouTube videos, but whose every pronouncement they could quote from memory. For this generation, Ali's death is astonishing only in that, as younger men, they assumed he was immortal.

"I lived through that era of watching him," said Birmingham, 64, who grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, where he saw Ali when the boxer came through on a publicity tour. Birmingham took his first boxing lesson a year later.

With his younger brother, he went on to train decorated local fighters like Winky Wright and Jeff Lacy, who sparred under the same poster of Ali pitted against Sonny Liston that currently hangs on the wall.

"I loved his style, I loved his confidence," Birmingham said of Ali, whom he credits with reviving the sport of boxing. "He had more confidence than any fighter I've ever known."

Without Ali, boxing would not have become explosively popular and fighters would not be as well paid as they are today, said another St. Petersburg-based trainer, Jim McLoughlin, 67, who works at the Main Event Boxing gym. McLoughlin has been training boxers for more than 45 years.

Ali "turned a slugfest into the art of boxing," McLoughlin said. "He was just so light on his feet and these big . . . heavy-weight guys, they learned a lot from his feet, his timing and his distance."

He said he's watched the outpouring of love, remorse and respect spread throughout the boxing community since news of Ali's death broke Friday night.

"People expected it . . . because he's been sick for so long," McLoughlin said. "But everybody thinks of him as being unstoppable and everyone took the news as such. I don't know a fighter alive who didn't look up to him as their hero."

At the St. Pete Boxing Club, young fighters are given regular homework: video after video of Ali's fights to watch and absorb. You can't teach that kind of agility, the coaches agree, you can only show young fighters what it looked like.

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At any given time, trainer Billy Tavake, 58, has about 10 amateur fighters under his tutelage. For these boxers, who range in age from 9 year olds to men in their early 20s, their contemporary heroes are men like Floyd Mayweather and Adrien Broner, a four-weight world champion. But Tavake said fighters who are serious about their craft still study Ali.

"You want to be like him," said Cherry, who lives in Wauchula, but travels to St. Petersburg to train. "When I was coming up, that was my motivation, was looking up to guys like him."

Phil Alessi, a longtime Tampa boxing promoter and owner of the 100-year-old Alessi Bakery, recalled another side of Ali's persona — the entertainer who delighted in commanding an audience outside of the ring. Ali visited Alessi's father's market twice, he said, and each time the place was packed with people who got to watch the great boxer perform magic tricks.

"He always stopped to talk to people, be with them," Alessi said. "You don't get that with every athlete, especially these days. He was the most important athlete in the world and he took the time, always."

Contact Sara DiNatale at sdinatale@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3400. Follow @sara_dinatale. Contact Anna M. Phillips at aphillips@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3354.