// Workers AI · dad joke modeWho's Ray Arcel? A boxer's corner man, he's an arc-el of support.
Ray Arcel | |
|---|---|
 Arcel at 43, circa 1942 | |
| Born | 30 August 1899 Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | 7 March 1994 (aged 94) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | boxing trainer |
| Years active | 1920s–1950s, 1970s–1980s |
| Spouse(s) | Hazel Doughlas Stephanie Arcel |
Ramil "Ray" Arcel (August 30, 1899 – March 7, 1994) was an American boxing trainer who was active from the 1920s through the 1980s. Over a career spanning more than six decades, he trained a record 20 world champions.[1]
Life and career
[edit]Arcel was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, the son of Rose (Wachsman) and David Arcel, who sold fruit and candy as a peddler.[2][3] His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Romania. The family moved to New York City before he was six years old, where he grew up in East Harlem and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1917.[4]
Arcel began boxing at Grupp's Gym in 1917 and started training fighters at Stillman's Gym, near the old location of Madison Square Garden on 8th Avenue, in the 1920s.[5]
In 1923, Arcel began working with flyweight Frankie Genaro, who became the first of many champions associated with him.[1] The champions he trained included Benny Leonard, Ezzard Charles, Jim Braddock, Barney Ross, Bob Olin, Tony Zale, Billy Soose, Ceferino Garcia, Lou Brouillard, Teddy Yarosz, Freddie Steele, Jackie Kid Berg, Alfonso Frazier, Abe Goldstein, Tony Marino, Sixto Escobar, Charley Phil Rosenberg, Roberto Durán and Larry Holmes.[6]
Assault and hiatus from boxing
[edit]In the early 1950s, Arcel worked as a matchmaker and promoter for ABC’s Saturday Night Fights. The program competed directly with the newly formed International Boxing Club, whose televised boxing operations, Fight Night, were associated with promoter James D. Norris and organized-crime figure Frankie Carbo.[7][8] On September 19, 1953, Arcel was attacked and struck with a lead pipe outside the Hotel Manger in Boston. Following the assault, Arcel withdrew from boxing and worked outside the sport for many years. The attack was widely assumed to be linked to Arcel's work for ABC's boxing series, which competed with the monopoly established by Norris, but the case was never solved by police.[9]
Return to training
[edit]Arcel returned to boxing training in the early 1970s to work first with Alfonso "Peppermint" Frazier and then Roberto Durán, who became his most prominent trainee. The two maintained an eight-year partnership during which Durán won the WBA lightweight title in 1972[10] and the WBC welterweight title over Sugar Ray Leonard on June 20, 1980.[11] After Durán lost his rematch against Sugar Ray Leonard by eighth-round technical knockout (Duràn withdrew), Arcel helped prepare Larry Holmes for his fight against Gerry Cooney. He retired from training after that fight, having returned to Durán's corner in January 1982 for the Wilfred Benítez vs. Roberto Durán fight.
Personal life
[edit]In 1926, Arcel married Hazel Douglas. The marriage was her second. Ray and Hazel adopted a daughter Adele Arcel Bloch, who died on February 8, 1990. His second wife and widow was Stephanie Arcel. Ray Arcel died on March 7, 1994, at the age of 94. Stephanie died on August 8, 2014.[12]
Honors and cultural impact
[edit]In 1982, Ray Arcel became the first trainer elected to The Ring Magazine's Boxing Hall of Fame for a longstanding influence on the sport.[13] He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991, honored for developing a record number of champions over his career.[1] Jack Blackburn and Ray Arcel were the first trainers inducted into the IBHoF.[14] Additional honors included the 1986 Trainer of the Year Award from the Joe Louis World Boxer Association and posthumous induction into the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012.[15][16]
In 2012, McFarland & Company published Donald Dewey's ''Ray Arcel: A Boxing Biography'', which covers Arcel's professional and private life and the role of organized crime in boxing during his career.[9]
Ray Arcel is portrayed by Robert De Niro in the 2016 film about Roberto Durán, Hands of Stone, directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz and with Ellen Barkin portraying his wife Stephanie.[17][18]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 "Ray Arcel". Ibhof.com. Retrieved June 7, 2026.
- ↑ Dewey, Donald (May 25, 2012). Ray Arcel: A Boxing Biography. McFarland. ISBN 9780786490875 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "Arcel, Ray | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved June 7, 2026.
- ↑ Berger, Phil (March 8, 1994). "Ray Arcel, Trainer Who Handled Many Boxing Stars, Is Dead at 94". The New York Times. Retrieved November 2, 2007.
- ↑ "Obituary: Ray Arcel". The Independent. March 9, 1994. Retrieved June 7, 2026.
- ↑ Anderson, Dave (1991). In the Corner. New York, New York: William & Morrow Co. pp. 119. ISBN 0-688-09446-5.
- ↑ Dewey, Donald (2012). Ray Arcel: A Boxing Biography. USA: McFarland. pp. 140–147. ISBN 978-0-7864-6968-0.
- ↑ "Ray Arcel biography" (PDF). Library.brooklyn.cuny.edu. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
- 1 2 Science, The Sweet (July 31, 2012). "Ray Arcel: A Boxing Biography–Book Review by Thomas Hauser". The Sweet Science. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
- ↑ "Roberto Duran ranks one win higher than Sugar Ray Leonard upset: "He was the best in the world" | Boxing News". boxingnewsonline.net. June 3, 2026. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
- ↑ "Remembering Sugar Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran". Espn.co.uk. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
- ↑ Stephanie Arcel obituary, Legacy.com, accessed 12-26-2015
- ↑ "Ray Arcel". International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved June 7, 2026.
- ↑ Anderson, Dave (April 26, 1982). "2 in the Hall Of Clutter". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 7, 2026.
- ↑ "NY State Boxing Hall of Fame Induction Dinner is April 1". Espn.com. Retrieved June 7, 2026.
- ↑ "Boxing Hall of Famer Ray Arcel - 1986 Trainer Of The Year Award by Joe Louis World Boxer Association". Pugilistica.com. Retrieved June 7, 2026.
- ↑ "Hands of Stone movie review & film summary". Rogerebert.com. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
- ↑ Hands of Stone film, deadline.com, accessed 12-26-2015