Cameron Dunkin, who managed dozens of champions, dies at 67
Plus: A bunch of quick hits to catch you up on news over New Years
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Longtime boxing manager Cameron Dunkin, who was known for his keen eye for talent and worked with more than 30 world champions, often bringing them from 0-0 to a title, died on Tuesday, his family announced on social media. He was 67.
Dunkin, a longtime Las Vegas resident, who several years ago switched from managing to promoting, battled cancer in recent years and had a variety of health problems.
He was less active lately, partly due to his health, but began working in boxing in the 1980s and for much of the 1990s into the 2010s he consistently had one of the deepest stables of talent in the sport and cranked out champion after champion as one of the top managers.
Among the world champions he managed, most from early in their careers to titles and stardom, were Hall of Famers Johnny Tapia, Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson, Diego Corrales and Timothy Bradley Jr. as well as probable Hall of Famers Terence Crawford and Nonito Donaire.
Other champions he managed included Jaron “Boots” Ennis, Kelly Pavlik, Brandon Rios, Mikey Garcia, Jessie Vargas, Steven Luevano, Stevie Johnston, Danny Romero and Freddie Norwood. He also managed Leo Santa Cruz and Victor Ortiz on their way up but before they won world titles.
“With a heavy heart we now say goodbye to my father-in-law Cameron M. Dunkin,” daughter-in-law Antonina Dunkin, who is married to his son, Mike Dunkin, posted on Facebook. “We are thankful knowing he will be with the Lord. Thank you for your prayers and thinking of our family.”
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Dunkin had a close relationship for many years with renowned trainer Robert Garcia, who he liked for his fighters to train with.
“RIP to my good friend and mentor Cameron Dunkin,” Garcia posted to social media. “The first person in boxing that believed in me as a trainer. Met Cameron in 2004 at the (Junior) Olympics when I was starting as a trainer. He saw something in me and believed in my work and even as an inexperienced coach he trusted (me).”
Dunkin was Corrales’ manager when he knocked out Garcia in the seventh round to take his IBF junior lightweight world title in 1999.
“Goes to show how crazy life is,” Garcia wrote. “He managed Corrales who took my world title away. Then helped me become the trainer I am today.”
Unbeaten junior welterweight contender Brandun Lee also paid tribute to Dunkin.
“RIP Cameron Dunkin. He was the first boxing manager who gave me an opportunity to be great,” Lee wrote on social media.
WBO president Paco Valcarcel, who knew Dunkin for decades, added, “My old time friend Cameron Dunkin passed away today at 67. He always had a good eye for champions. May his soul rest in peace.”
Dunkin had his detractors and was embroiled in a variety of lawsuits with promoters and former clients through the years but few could match his eye for talent and deep knowledge of amateur boxing.
He did not have the deep pockets to sign the obvious top-tier amateurs and Olympic medal winners so he instead scouted, signed and nurtured diamonds in the rough such as Pavlik, who went on to become the unified and lineal middleweight champion, and Rios, who won a lightweight title. Both of them became attractions and were involved in several lucrative bouts while with promoter Top Rank, which Dunkin did a tremendous amount of business with for many years.
In 2007, the Boxing Writers Association of America voted him winner of the Cus D’Amato Manager of the Year award.
“I am saddened by the news of Cameron Dunkin passing,” Rios wrote on social media. “He along with my coach & good friend Robert Garcia were the ones that brought me to California to train with (Robert). Cameron always believed in me as a fighter. May he rest in peace. Much love and respect for Cameron.”
Quick hits
Lineal/WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs), 35, of England, apparently is taking his fight with three-belt titlist Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs), 36, a Ukrainian southpaw, for the undisputed crown quite seriously after a near-disaster versus MMA star Francis Ngannou on Oct. 28, when he got dropped in the third round and eked out a split decision. Last week Fury relocated to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, six weeks before facing Usyk there Feb. 17 (ESPN+ PPV). The winner will be the first four-belt undisputed champion in division history and first since Lennox Lewis outpointed Evander Holyfield in 1999 to become undisputed in the three-belt era.
With representatives for Bakhram Murtazaliev (21-0, 15 KOs), 30, of Russia, and Jack Culcay (33-4, 14 KOs), 38, of Germany, unable to make a deal by a Dec. 29 deadline, the IBF on Tuesday notified its registered promoters that it has scheduled a purse bid for the vacant junior middleweight title bout on Jan. 11 at 12 p.m. ET. The sides can make a deal up to 15 minutes before bids are unsealed. Promoters seeking to bid must pay a $5,000 nonrefundable participation fee. The fighters will split the winning bid 50-50. Jermell Charlo vacated the title hours before a Nov. 21 purse bid rather than fulfill a long-standing mandatory obligation to Murtazaliev, who took multiple step-aside deals to allow Charlo to engage in other bouts.
WBA lightweight titlist Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KOs), 29, of Baltimore, converted to Islam and has taken the name Abdul Wahid (“The Servant of The One”) in a ceremony, the video of which was posted online. According to the Baltimore Banner, the ceremony was on Dec. 24 and he has not yet legally changed his name. “The humility I get from him — and I was surprised meeting him, because I knew who he was but I wasn’t familiar to what extent — he was a very down-to-earth person,” Imam Hassan Abdi was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “The conversation was about being the best version of what we can be as human beings.”
Three-time middleweight title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko (14-5, 10 KOs), 38, a Ukrainian fighting out of Brooklyn, New York, suffered an injury and won’t fight as scheduled on the undercard of Vergil Ortiz Jr.’s return at junior middleweight against Fredrick Lawson on Saturday (DAZN) at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. He was slated to face D’Mitrius Ballard at super middleweight before Ballard was forced out with an elbow injury and replaced Rowdy Montgomery. Now Derevyanchenko is out also. He is coming off a wildly violent and close decision loss to Jaime Munguia on June 10 in one of 2023’s best fights.
An IBF purse bid for a junior welterweight final eliminator between Richardson Hitchins (17-0, 7 KOs), 26, of New York, and British southpaw Jack Catterall (28-1, 13 KOs), 31, a former world title challenger, has been postponed until Jan. 11. The purse bid was scheduled for Tuesday. If the fight takes place the winner will become the mandatory challenger for titlist Subriel Matias. Matchroom Boxing promotes both fighters but has been unable to reach a deal with both sides.
Former cruiserweight titlist Krzysztof Glowacki (32-4, 20 KOs), 37, a Polish southpaw, has been banned for four years, UK Anti-Doping announced Tuesday. Glowacki tested positive for the banned steroid boldenone in a urine test after a fourth-round knockout loss to Richard Riakporhe on Jan. 21 in Manchester, England. UKAD said it notified Glowacki of the failed test on April 6 and formally charged him June 2. Glowacki denied taking a banned substance and had a hearing before the independent National Anti-Doping Panel on Oct. 31. It issued a decision on Nov. 21 which made Glowacki ineligible from the ban commencement on April 6 through April 5, 2027.
In the final world title bout of 2023, Kazuto Ioka (31-2-1, 16 KOs), 34, of Japan, retained the WBA junior bantamweight title in his first defense by knocking out Josber Perez (20-4, 18 KOs), 28, of Venezuela, in the seventh round on Sunday at Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo. It was the 12th New Year’s Eve fight for Ioka, who dropped Perez three times in a one-sided fight. He put him down with a body shot in the fifth round and again in the round with a right hand. Another right ended it in the seventh as referee Janny Guzman counted him out at 2 minutes, 44 seconds. Ioka, who has won titles in four divisions from strawweight to junior bantamweight, had been negotiating a unification fight with lineal/WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada, but when they could not come to terms Perez got the opportunity.
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Photo: Dunkin: Mike Dunkin Facebook
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When is the ring magazine announcement for Fighter of the year ???