Gavin, 70, mended the cuts of some of the…
By Mitch Abramson
Al Gavin, one of the most respected cut men in boxing and a former resident of Woodhaven, suffered a massive stroke on June 28 in his Bethpage, L.I. home. He is in a deep coma at Winthrop Hospital in Mineola.
Gavin, 70, mended the cuts of some of the greatest fighters of this era — Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya and Queens’ Kevin Kelley and Vinny Maddalone — but it was the anonymous way he went about his business that made him a cult figure in boxing circles.
He was a quiet, reassuring presence in the corner, and it was fitting, in a perverse kind of way that the media, with the exception of a few boxing web sites, overlooked his stroke because Gavin shunned the spotlight. His worked four-rounders as well as championship fights, and the Friday before his stroke he was at Gleason’s Gym presiding over an amateur bout.
“He had the proverbial heart of gold,” said trainer Bob Jackson, a confidante of Gavin’s for over 40 years. “He tried to look stand-offish because he knew that if people went up to him and asked him for something he couldn't say no.”
Gavin got his start in the 1960s at the old Gramercy Gym on 14th Street in Manhattan, apprenticing for trainers like Chickie Ferrara and Sid Bell. After patiently working his way up the hierarchy of gym hands, Gavin and Bob Jackson bought the gym from the late Cus D’Amato and ran the place until a fire forced the city to close it down in 1990.
They regrouped and moved to Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, where they reestablished the Empire Boxing Club — Jackson trained the fighters and Gavin tended to the cuts. With Gavin by his side, Jackson said his fighters never lost a fight because of cuts.
Gavin eventually moved to Long Island, but the two remained business partners and best of friends. Gavin is married with three children.
“We were kind of like the ‘Odd Couple,’ like Oscar and Felix,” said Jackson. “Outwardly, we were different, but inwardly we were the same. In 43 years of knowing each other, we never had an argument.”
As of Tuesday, Gavin remains in a coma and the prognosis, according to Jackson, is unclear at this stage. Gavin caught pneumonia over the weekend and doctors continue to run tests. Jackson went to visit him last Thursday with Rohnique Posey, his fighter from Far Rockaway.
Family members were in the room that day, and when someone made a teasing reference to Jackson, everybody laughed and Jackson swore he saw Gavin’s lips curl in a smirk.
“When I went to visit him the Tuesday after he had the stroke, he heard my voice, and he started shrugging his shoulders violently,” he said. “It was like he was saying, ‘get me out of here.’”
Reach reporter Mitch Abramson by E-Mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300 Ext. 130.
