Lou Duva | |
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 Duva in2011 | |
| Born | (1922-05-28)May 28, 1922 |
| Died | March 8, 2017(2017-03-08) (aged 94) Paterson, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Boxing trainer and manager |
Louis Duva (May 28, 1922 – March 8, 2017) was an Americanboxing trainer, manager andboxing promoter who handled nineteen world champions. The Duva family promoted boxing events in over twenty countries on six continents. Duva was inducted into theInternational Boxing Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame, the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, and The Meadowlands Sports Hall of Fame.
Duva was born inNew York City to Italian immigrants, the sixth of seven children. After spending time growing up inLittle Italy, New York, his family then moved to Saint James Place inTotowa, a suburb of Paterson,New Jersey.[1] Duva's childhood was an impoverished one and he had to do many jobs to try to help his family.
Duva's 23-year-old brother, Carl Duva, introduced him to boxing when he was 10 years old, and by age 12 he was both an amateur and barroom brawler. However as a boxer he did not have much luck, although that might have been due to the fact he barely had time to train, having to go out to the street and perform many types of jobs to try to help his family make ends meet.
In 1938 Duva tried to join theCivilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Applicants were required to be at least 18, but he was only 16, so he changed hisbirth certificate and all his personal information and they accepted him, believing that he had been born in 1920. The CCC sent him toBoise,Idaho, and then toWalla Walla, Washington, where he learned to drive trucks.
Duva went to theU.S. Army afterWorld War II broke out. He went toJackson,Mississippi, to train, but was dismissed from the base after many fistfights with fellow soldiers. After that, he was sent to Camp Hood inTexas, where he was given a job as a boxing instructor.
He went back home in 1944 to help run a restaurant and to begin a career as a professional boxer, compiling a record of 6 wins, 10 losses and one draw.[2] After retiring, he started a trucking company. Soon after, he met his wife Enes while he was performing as a clown at a ministry. They married in 1949.
Duva spent a good portion of the early 1950s at Stillman's Boxing Gym, which attracted a large number of celebrities fromHollywood and the boxing world. It was here Lou began friendships withFrank Sinatra,Sammy Davis Jr.,Frankie Valli, and other celebrities.
Duva's trucking business was doing well, so he opened his own gym, namedGarden Gym. After he sold his fleet of 32 trucks, he became abail bondsman. Around this time he also worked as a union representative in North Jersey.
By 1963, Duva had become close friends with former worldheavyweight championRocky Marciano, one of the people who rejoiced when Duva crowned his first world boxing champion,middleweightJoey Giardello, who dethronedDick Tiger that year to become world middleweight champion. Duva was one of the last persons that Marciano spoke to before Marciano's plane crashed in 1969.
Lou's son,Dan Duva, was a lawyer who was also involved in boxing. WhenLeon Spinks' management came for help in 1978, Dan gladly helped them. With his earning of $500,000, Dan formedMain Events in April 1978. The company still exists today, and is managed by Dan's widowKathy Duva.
Also during that period, Main Events put on boxing cards at the Ice World facility in Totowa, New Jersey. The Duvas used tactics resembling those used by theWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) when promoting a card, once even going as far as selling a truck driver from New Jersey as a Prince fromZaire just to hype the show and sell tickets.
In 1979,ESPN began showing Main Events shows from Ice World.Rocky Lockridge,Bobby Czyz andLivingstone Bramble all signed up withMain Events. Duva suffered his first heart attack during that year. Doctors told him he needed to step off some of his activities, so he dropped any activities which weren't related to boxing. He became a full-time boxing manager and trainer.
Dan formed a friendship withShelly Finkel, a powerful boxing power broker who convinced middleweight contenderAlex Ramos, future worldlight welterweight championJohnny Bumphus, future world heavyweight championTony Tucker, the latelight middleweight prospectTony Ayala Jr. and heavyweight prospectMitch Green to joinMain Events. Duva was trainer and manager.
In 1981,Main Events became the promoter of the first bout betweenSugar Ray Leonard andThomas Hearns, won by Leonard by aknockout in round 14. It was the largest grossing non-heavyweight bout until then, making $40 million. Duva’s wife Enes was diagnosed withMultiple sclerosis.
1984 was a highly successful year for Duva andMain Events. He had Bumphus, Lockridge, Bramble andMike McCallum crowned as world champions, and he signed future world championsMark Breland,Evander Holyfield,Pernell Whitaker andMeldrick Taylor right after their participation in theOlympics inLos Angeles. He also signed OlympianTyrell Biggs.
In 1985 he was namedmanager of the year by the American Boxing Writer's Association. Holyfield was the next to be crowned world champion, when he beatDwight Muhammad Qawi in 1986. That was the year that his wife Enes died after fighting her disease for five years.
Breland andVinny Pazienza followed the championship route forMain Events, winning their first world titles in 1987, year in which he was namedTrainer of The Year by theWBA. Taylor followed Whitaker and Pazienza by beatingBuddy McGirt in 1988 for the world light welterweight title.
In 1989 Whitaker,Darrin Van Horn andPuerto Rico'sJohn John Molina crowned themselves champions, adding to theMain Events line of world champion boxers.
Holyfield gaveMain Events another championship, when he knocked outBuster Douglas in three rounds to win the world heavyweight title with Duva as his co trainer along with George Benton.
After that, Duva attained mainstream fame, appearing in cameos at differenttelevision series and even visiting the "Late Night with David Letterman" show as a guest. He also acted aswrestlerRowdy Roddy Piper's trainer at theWorld Wrestling Federation'sWrestleMania 2pay-per-view in 1986; coincidentally, Duva was a distant cousin to WWF manager "Captain"Lou Albano, who had instigated the story line involving Piper.[3] In 1992,Eddie Hopson became Duva's 13th world champion.
In 1996, Dan died ofcancer. His widow, Kathy, became chairman of the Board and Dan's brother,Dino Duva, became president. After four years Dino left the company and Kathy became thechief executive officer. Dino went on to form Duva Boxing.
Duva has worked with such other former or future world champions asMichael Moorer andArturo Gatti among others. On the night of the infamous riot after the firstAndrew Golota-Riddick Bowe bout, Duva was lifted out of the ring on a stretcher after his defibrillator went off. He was found out to be ok after testing was done to his heart later that night.
For a period during the 1980s Duva was involved in a restaurant named "Lou Duva's Seafood Grille and Sports Club" in Totowa, New Jersey.
Duva was inducted into theInternational Boxing Hall Of Fame in 1998 and lived inWayne, New Jersey, just a few miles from where his family once lived inPaterson, New Jersey.[4] Duva remained active as an advisor and manager for a few select fighters and was also involved in his son Dino's company, Duva Boxing. He was an outspoken advocate of fighter's rights and of helping inner city kids get "off the streets and into the ring".
Duva died of natural causes on March 8, 2017, after a period of declining health.[5]
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