{{short description|American boxing manager and fight promoter (1908–1998)}} {{Infobox person | name = Chris Dundee | image = | caption = | birth_name = Cristofo Mirena | birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|2|23}} | birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|1998|11|16|1908|11|16}} | death_place = Miami, Florida, US | pseudonym = | occupation = Boxing manager<br>Boxing promoter | signature = | website = }} '''Chris Dundee''' (born '''Cristofo Mirena'''; February 23, 1908 – November 16, 1998) was an Italian-American boxing manager and fight promoter for 63 years. He was an older brother of Angelo Dundee.<ref name="Miami New Times">{{cite web|url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/requiem-for-a-heavyweight-6359409|title=Requiem for a Heavyweight|year=1998|author=Kathy Glasgow|website=miaminewtimes.com|access-date=2025-04-02}}</ref>
==Early life== Cristofo (Christopher) Mirena was born on February 23, 1908, in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.<ref name="The New York Times">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/19/sports/chris-dundee-91-a-promoter-of-hundreds-of-boxing-bouts.html|title=Chris Dundee, 91, a Promoter of Hundreds of Boxing Bouts|year=1998|author=Charlie Nobles|website=The New York Times|access-date=2025-04-02}}</ref> He was the second eldest son of Philomena and Angelo Mirenda who had 11 children.<ref name="The Evening Sun. (1990)">{{cite news|title=Fighting off the ropes|author=Chris Lazzarino|newspaper=The Evening Sun|date =1990|page=68|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/367665008/?match=1&terms=chris%20dundee|access-date =2025-04-03}}</ref>
As a young boy, he sold candy and newspapers on trains running from Philadelphia to New York.<ref name="Daily News. (1998)">{{cite news|title=Boxing promoter Dundee dead at 91|newspaper=Daily News|date =1998|page=86|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/478628860/?match=1&terms=chris%20dundee|access-date =2025-04-03}}</ref> Dundee dropped out of school and left home at 13.<ref name="The New York Times"/><ref name="The Evening Sun. (1990)"/> He later worked for a streetcar company alongside Frank Palermo, who became known as an associate of the Philadelphia crime family.<ref name="The Miami Herald. (1957)"/>
He changed his last name to Dundee as a teenager, following the lead of his older brother, Joe, who had taken the name of their boxing hero Johnny Dundee.<ref name="The New York Times"/> To avoid revealing his boxing career to his parents, Joe adopted the name Dundee.<ref name="Daily News. (1998)"/>
==Career== Inspired by his older brother, a South Philadelphia club fighter, he entered boxing in 1926.<ref name="National Museum of African American History & Culture">{{cite web|url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2011.56.3.6|title=Document of a biographical sketch of Chris Dundee|website=nmaahc.si.edu|access-date=2025-04-02}}</ref> Chris Dundee started managing and promoting boxers in 1928.<ref name="Herald And Times Archive">{{cite web|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12021195.chris-dundee/|year=1998|title=Chris Dundee|website=heraldscotland.com|access-date=2025-04-02}}</ref> Flyweight Midget Wolgast was his first world champion, whom he managed in 1930.<ref name="ibhof"/> Between 1932 and 1950, he promoted fights in Richmond, Washington, and New York.<ref name="The New York Times"/>
He moved to Norfolk, Virginia, in 1932, discovering Ken Overlin. Overlin became world middleweight champion in 1940, giving Dundee his first national exposure.<ref name="The New York Times"/> His stable of fighters in Norfolk included Phil Furr, Izzy Jannazzo, Irish Jimmy Webb, and Jimmy Bell.<ref name="Brief. (1944)">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j82to_obiGcC|title=Brief|website=books.google.ca|access-date=2025-03-22|year=1944}}</ref> Shortly after World War II, he pulled out of Norfolk.<ref name="The Washington Daily News. (1972)"/>
His brothers joined him in the boxing business after returning from the war in the mid-1940s.<ref name="The Washington Daily News. (1972)">{{cite news|title=Dundee out, not down|newspaper=The Washington Daily News|date =1972|page=66|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1043658434/?match=1&terms=chris%20dundee|access-date =2025-04-01}}</ref> Angelo went to work for Chris in 1947, sleeping in his office at the Capital Hotel in New York.<ref name="Daily News. (1998)"/>
His entry into South Florida boxing began in 1946 with two shows at the Coral Gables Coliseum (now Miami Coliseum).<ref name="National Museum of African American History & Culture"/>
He managed American boxer Georgie Abrams until his last fight in 1948.<ref name="Blady, K. (1988)">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sO2pBT9g9lwC|title=The Jewish Boxers Hall of Fame|publisher=Shapolsky Publishers|access-date=2025-04-03|year=1988|isbn=978-0-933503-87-8 }}</ref> Dundee also managed Ezzard Charles, world heavyweight champion in the 1950s.<ref name="UPI"/> Dundee helped Charles claim a historic world title victory over Joe Louis in 1950.<ref name="Herald And Times Archive"/>
===Miami Beach Auditorium=== In 1950, he moved from Philadelphia and established a headquarters in Miami Beach to make matches and promote boxing.<ref name="The New York Times"/> That year, he began staging Tuesday night boxing cards at the old Miami Beach Auditorium (Jackie Gleason Theater), where he held exclusive promotional rights of boxing and wrestling.<ref name="National Museum of African American History & Culture"/> His cubicle in the auditorium had two desks, two telephones, and a wall covered in pictures.<ref name="Chicago Tribune. (1968)"/>
===5th Street Gym=== Chris Dundee opened the 5th Street Gym in 1951 in Miami Beach, Florida.<ref name="Herald And Times Archive"/> Less than two miles from the auditorium, he turned the second floor of 501 Washington Ave into a gymnasium.<ref name="The Miami Herald. (2000)">{{cite news|title=Fighting for a comeback|newspaper=The Miami Herald|date =2000|page=51|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/643813941/?match=1&terms=chris%20dundee|access-date =2025-04-03}}</ref> The gym had a bare plywood floor, one ring, a few heavy bags, a light bag, and rubbing tables.<ref name="Chicago Tribune. (1968)"/>
Dundee promoted 43 boxing events at the Miami Beach Auditorium in 1955 and arranged fights in Cuba, selling tickets with airfare and hotel accommodations in Havana.<ref name="The Miami Herald. (1990)"/> By 1957, he had promoted 256 fights since 1950 and was making more than $20,000 a year, becoming one of two U.S. promoters with a consistent weekly program. Dundee credited James D. Norris of the International Boxing Club for "saving Beach boxing" by assigning 23 televised bouts to the venue.<ref name="The Miami Herald. (1957)">{{cite news|title=Chris Dundee: A Successful Fixture In The Tough, Transient Fight Game|newspaper=The Miami Herald|author=Edwin Pope|date =1957|page=78|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/618844453/?match=1&terms=chris%20dundee|access-date =2025-04-04}}</ref>
His younger brother Angelo moved to Miami after spending four years in New York.<ref name="The Washington Daily News. (1972)"/> Angelo handled the development, training, and management of most talent on Chris's weekly cards.<ref name="Herald And Times Archive"/>
===General Manager of Ali=== Chris Dundee negotiated a deal with businessmen from Louisville to bring Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, to train and fight in Miami.<ref name="The Miami Herald. (1990)"/> In the winter of 1960, Ali started training at Dundee's 5th Street Gym.<ref name="Cottrell, J. (1968)">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BtiBAAAAMAAJ&q=chris%20dundee|title=Muhammad Ali, who Once was Cassius Clay|publisher= Funk & Wagnalls|website=books.google.ca|access-date=2025-04-03|year=1968}}</ref> In the 1960s, the Miami Beach boxing promoter became the general manager of Muhammad Ali.
In 1961, Dundee promoted Floyd Patterson vs. Ingemar Johansson III held at the Convention Center.<ref name="Edmonton Journal. (1980)">{{cite news|title=Sports Journal Section H - Saturday, September 20, 1980|author=Terry Jones|newspaper=Edmonton Journal|date =1980|page=95|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/471670469/?match=1&terms=chris%20dundee|access-date =2025-04-04}}</ref> He would also promote Sonny Liston vs. Cassius Clay, held at the 8,000-seat Miami Beach Convention Hall on February 25, 1964. The no. 1 contender, Ali, won the world heavyweight title with a knockout.<ref name="The New York Times"/> The fight drew Miami into the national spotlight for boxing.<ref name="The Miami Herald. (1990)">{{cite news|title=Miami's Fading Fight Game|newspaper=The Miami Herald|date =1990|page=164|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/635681881/?match=1&terms=chris%20dundee|access-date =2025-04-03}}</ref> At the time, Dundee had promoted close to 400 shows, including 50 nationally televised cards.<ref name="National Museum of African American History & Culture"/>
Chris Dundee convinced American trainer and matchmaker Moe Fleischer to relocate to Miami, Florida and join him in the 1960s.<ref name="The Montreal Star. (1977)">{{cite news|title=Trainer Moe has age on ropes|newspaper=The Montreal Star|date =1977|page=9|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/742325179/?match=1&terms=moe%20fleischer|access-date =2025-03-29}}</ref>
For years, Dundee's successful wrestling events kept him afloat as a boxing promoter.<ref name="Daily News. (1998)"/> In 1967, he promoted 34 boxing events in Miami Beach.<ref name="Chicago Tribune. (1968)">{{cite news|title=The Dundee Boys Are Big in Miami Beach|author=Robert Markus|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date =1968|page=56|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/376673404/?match=1&terms=chris%20dundee|access-date =2025-04-03}}</ref><ref name="Daily News. (1998)"/>
When Jack Kent Cooke, then owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, and entertainment mogul Jerry Perenchio sponsored the "Fight of the Century" in 1971. The fight was sold, and broadcast by closed circuit. Dundee, the long-time boxing promoter, secured the Miami-area closed-circuit rights from Chartwell Artists Inc.<ref name="Daily News. (1971)">{{cite news|title=Ward to the Wise|author=Gene Ward|newspaper=Daily News|date =1971|page=88|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/463934596/?match=1&terms=chris%20dundee|access-date =2025-04-03}}</ref>
In the 1970s, Elisha Obed, the junior middleweight world champion, was under Dundee's management.<ref name="UPI"/> By the late 1970s, Dundee was Miami's leading boxing promoter. Dundee, alongside Madison Square Garden, co-promoted South Africa's Kallie Knoetze, the second-ranked heavyweight in the WBA, for his U.S. debut.<ref name="NY Times. (1978)">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/23/archives/knoetzes-outofring-record-in-south-africa-stirs-protest-visa.html|year=1978|title=Knoetze's Out-of-Ring Record in South Africa Stirs Protest|author=Al Harvin|website=The New York Times|access-date=2025-04-03}}</ref>
In January 1972, the Miami Beach City Council denied Dundee's request for a 5-year extension to his exclusive boxing and wrestling contract at the Miami Beach Auditorium.<ref name="The Miami Herald. (1971)">{{cite news|title=Beach Rejects Dundee Contract Renewal|author=Fred Barger|newspaper=The Miami Herald|date =1971|page=107|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/625798602/?match=1&terms=chris%20dundee|access-date =2025-04-03}}</ref> His contract expired on November 30 and he was replaced as the venue's promoter after 21 years, with Mel Ziegler outbidding him for the exclusive license. He and his brother rented office space in a Miami Beach bank building but continued handling bookings for Ali, wrestlers, and the 5th Street Gym.<ref name="The Washington Daily News. (1972)"/>
After losing his license, he toured through Canada, Europe, and the Caribbean, as general manager and financial coordinator for Muhammad Ali.<ref name="The Miami News. (1972)">{{cite news|title=Dundee body shop still in business|author=John Crittenden|newspaper=The Miami News|date =1972|page=35|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/302607424/?match=1&terms=chris%20dundee|access-date =2025-04-03}}</ref>
In the mid-1970s, the Miami Beach Auditorium closed and Dundee moved his cards to the Miami Beach Convention Center.<ref name="The Miami Herald. (2000)"/>
He recovered from throat cancer around 1978 after undergoing 34 cobalt treatments and resumed promoting a wide range of events. He even staged wrestling and boxing events on a barge until Dusty Rhodes fell into Biscayne Bay.<ref name="The Washington Daily News. (1972)"/>
Dundee later sold the once-famed 5th Street Gym to promoter Felix "Tutu" Zabala in 1982 but remained as its operator. He had been forced to make the sale and scale back his fight promotions in Miami.<ref name="UPI">{{cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/09/26/Chris-Dundee-Stays-Active-in-Boxing/1059401860800/|year=1998|title=Chris Dundee Stays Active in Boxing|website=upi.com|access-date=2025-04-02}}</ref>
In the 1970s and 1980s, Chris Dundee Enterprises promoted Championship Wrestling from Florida at the city's convention center. Dundee, who had promoted pro wrestling on Miami Beach since 1951, began to gross over $300,000-$400,000 a year from wrestling by 1977.<ref name="The Miami News. (1977)">{{cite news|title=Pro wrestling's real to its millions of fans|newspaper=The Miami News|date =1977|page=16|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/302365943/?match=1&terms=chris%20dundee%20dusty%20rhodes|access-date =2025-04-03}}</ref> Among his local promotions was an April 7, 1976, exhibition at Miami-Dade Community College's North Campus featuring Dusty Rhodes. After the show, a fan filed a lawsuit alleging assault by Rhodes, naming Dundee as a co-defendant.<ref name="The Miami Herald. (1977)">{{cite news|title='Gentleman' Wrestler Dusty Not Too Gentle, Fan Claims|author=Joe Crankshaw|newspaper=The Miami Herald|date =1977|page=99|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/627352218/?match=1&terms=dundee%20dusty%20rhodes%20miami|access-date =2025-04-03}}</ref>
As Ray Minus's sponsor, Dundee played a key role in his 1989 and 1990 title defenses and traveled with the Commonwealth bantamweight champion to Glasgow's Bellahouston Sports Centre in June 1989.<ref name="Herald And Times Archive"/>
Dundee remained active in boxing until he suffered a stroke in January 1990 at 83 years old.<ref name="Miami New Times"/> The stroke struck as he drove to a dinner in Miami Beach, causing him to veer off the road. It affected the left side of his brain, impairing his speech and mobility.<ref name="The Washington Daily News. (1972)"/>
Dundee's iconic 5th Street Gym was torn down in 1993.<ref name="The Miami Herald. (2000)"/>
==Personal life== Chris Dundee was among the four older brothers of the famous trainer Angelo Dundee, who was 15 years younger.<ref name="Miami New Times"/> In the 1940s, he and his wife, Geraldine Dundee, had a son Michael, and a daughter, Suzanne Dundee Bonner.<ref name="Herald And Times Archive"/><ref name="Daily News. (1998)"/>
==Death== Chris Dundee died on November 16, 1998, in Miami, Florida, U.S.<ref name="Miami New Times"/> He died at the Miami Jewish Home at 90 years old.<ref name="The New York Times"/>
==Legacy== Dundee promoted eight world championship fights, managed nearly 300 fighters, and staged more than 1000 bouts over four decades.<ref name="Herald And Times Archive"/> Among the renowned boxers Dundee promoted were George Foreman, Sugar Ray Robinson, Archie Moore, Jake LaMotta, Sugar Ray Leonard, Kid Gavilan, and Ezzard Charles.<ref name="The New York Times"/>
Chris Dundee was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994.<ref name="ibhof">{{cite web|url=http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/nonparticipant/dundeechris.html|title=Chris Dundee|website=ibhof.com|access-date=2025-04-02}}</ref>
His leather Everlast portfolio is preserved in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.<ref name="Smithsonian">{{cite web|url=https://www.si.edu/object/portfolio-owned-chris-dundee%3Anmaahc_2012.123.6|title=Portfolio owned by Chris Dundee|publisher= Smithsonian|website=books.google.ca|access-date=2025-04-03}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dundee, Chris}} Category:1908 births Category:1998 deaths Category:People from Philadelphia Category:American boxing promoters Category:American boxing managers Category:American people of Italian descent Category:International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Category:20th-century American people