Teddy Atlas
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Theodore A. Atlas, Jr. (b. 29 July 1956, in Staten Island, New York) is a well-known boxing trainer and fight commentator. The son of a doctor, Atlas grew up in a middle class neighborhood in Staten Island.
Teddy Atlas trained as an amateur boxer with Hall of Fame trainer Cus D'Amato but was forced to retire after suffering a back injury. He was then made a trainer by D'amato but split after a clash with D'Amato's protege Mike Tyson. Bob Mee the Boxing Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph newspaper in the UK stated in his book "The Heavyweights: The Definitive History of the Heavyweight Division" stated that "Atlas famously pointed a gun to Tyson's head after hearing that the boxer had paid unwanted attention to an underage girl. D'Amato sent Atlas packing, but did little or nothing to admonish his star."
Atlas enjoyed his greatest professional success as a head trainer with Michael Moorer. He also drew criticism for what some considered to be overly dramatic speeches in the ring corner, particularly during Moorer's Heavyweight title fight with Evander Holyfield, and some felt he did these antics to draw attention to himself rather than help his fighter. Atlas has denied this,[1] stating that he did what he believed the fighter needed based on his understanding of the fighter. Moorer went on to defeat Holyfield by a majority decision. He also trained Featherweight world champion Barry McGuigan and Canadian Light-Heavyweight Donny Lalonde.
In 1997, he founded the Dr. Theodore Atlas Foundation to honor the memory of his late father. The Foundation awards scholarships and grants to individuals and organizations.
Atlas worked as boxing commentator for NBC's coverage of the Olympic Games in Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004).
Atlas published his autobiography, Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring: A Son's Struggle to Become a Man in 2006. The book covers many different periods of Atlas's life, and compares his position as trainer to a role as a father. In the book he tells of planning to murder Donny Lalonde for firing him, Atlas says with no shame that he went with an unnamed accomplice to the apartment where Lalonde lived, armed with a gun, but backed out at the last minute. Before the infamous second Tyson-Holyfield fight, Atlas a trainer who and a man who possesses a great understanding the psychological side of the fight game. Stated according to Evander Holyfield in his autobiography "Becoming Holyfield". Before the fight at a party Atlas stood up and claimed, that if Tyson knew he was behind he would start fouling Holyfield to get disqualified, and later in the fight when Tyson bit off Holyfield's left ear leading to the disqualification Atlas admitted he was not shocked.
Atlas currently serves as commentator on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights and Wednesday Night Fights.
On January 25, 2008, Atlas was suspended by ESPN for one week, after confronting the network's boxing program director, Doug Loughrey, over allegedly showing favoritism to certain promoters and matchmakers, who were abusing their ESPN connections by taking fighters from other promoters with promises of potential ESPN dates.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Newman, Sean., Ringside Report Interviews Teddy Atlas, Ringsidereport.com, 2004-07-24, Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
- ^ {{cite web In May this year Atlas did not appear in ESPN's Friday Night Fight's broadcaster after his wife Elaine required major surgery in their native New York. Although he was able to Wednesday night fight, he decided not to Friday Fight Night. This was mentioned in the broadcast by ESPN anchorman and temporary commonator for the night Brian Kenny who also stated that Atlas had been at his wife's bedside even sleeping by her side. | last =Reeno | first =Rick | authorlink = | coauthors = | title =ESPN Suspends Teddy Atlas For One Week | work =BoxingScene.com | publisher = | date =2008-01-25 | url =http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=12295 | format = | doi = | accessdate =2008-01-26 }}
In May this year Atlas did not appear in ESPN's Friday Night Fight's broadcaster after his wife Elaine required major surgery in their native New York. Although he was able to Wednesday night fight, he decided not to Friday Fight Night. This was mentioned in the broadcast by ESPN anchorman and temporary commonator for the night Brian Kenny who also stated that Atlas had been at his wife's bedside even sleeping by her side.
[edit] External links
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