BWAA PAYS ITS RESPECTS TO HALL OF FAME TRAINER LOU DUVA

The BWAA wants to pays its respects to Hall of Fame trainer Lou Duva, who died Wednesday morning (March 8) at the age of 94. Duva was a two-time BWAA Manager of the Year (1984 and 1993) and winner of the BWAA’s prestigious Long and Meritorious award (1993). He trained such stars as Evander Holyfield, Pernell Whitaker, Meldrick Taylor, Vinny Pazienza, Hector Camacho, Arturo Gatti, Michael Moorer, Joey Giardello, Livingstone Bramble, Mark Breland, Johnny Bumphus, Fernando Vargas, Andrew Golota, Bobby Czyz, Mike McCallum and Lennox Lewis.

Duva was introduced to the world of boxing in 1963 when former world heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano befriended him. Duva’s first champ was middleweight Joey Giardello, who dethroned Dick Tiger on December 7, 1963 at the Convention Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

He was inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998.

Duva, considered the patriarch of Main Events, was a colorful figure who was in the corner of 15 world champions, which included Holyfield, Taylor, Czyz, Bramble, Pazienza, Breland, Bumphus, Rocky Lockridge, John-John Molina, Moorer, Darrin Van Horn, Moorer, Eddie Hopson and Hall of Famers Giardello, McCallum and Whitaker.

As sign of devotion to his fighters, Duva once traveled cross country to be in their corners. Duva worked Breland's corner in Las Vegas when he regained the WBA welterweight title by knocking out Seung-Soon Lee on February 4, 1989. The next day his recognizable face was in front of Van Horn, when he upset IBF junior middleweight champion Robert Hines in Atlantic City.

In 1984, he made a splash when he signed five members of the 1984 U.S. Olympic team—Taylor, Whitaker, Breland, Holyfield and Tyrell Biggs. Duva, along with his son, the late Dan Duva, formed Main Events in 1978, which is run today by Kathy Duva, Dan’s widow.