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By Steve Kim - Every Monday afternoon, Teddy Atlas - trainer and color commentator for ESPN2 - sees a group of young men that he believes has the skill set and athleticism to be standout heavyweights. Unfortunately, it's not inside a boxing gym, but at Hofstra University, which is used as a training facility by the NFL’s New York Jets.
Atlas, who is listed as a 'Special Assistant Coach, Boxing' in the Jets media guide, was brought in by head coach Eric Mangini and general manager Mike Tannenbaum last year to work with their players once a week to teach them the rudimentary skills of the sport to aid their hand-eye coordination, conditioning and mental focus. Years ago, many of these American footballers would've made their way into a boxing ring before ever stepping foot onto the gridiron.
You see now that as the heavyweight division has more and more of an Eastern European slant, this country’s best athletes have been gravitating more and more to basketball and football throughout the years. The heavyweights of yesteryear are now more likely to be shooting guards and outside linebackers.
Atlas sees the athletic ability of the players and wonders what could've been.
“I see some of these guys I work with and if they had started early enough, some of them could be good prospects to be fighters, especially as it turns out to be the big guys, heavyweights," he says. "Some of them pick up very fast athletically and they have the athletic abilities where they obviously would've been good candidates- if they were inclined - to be successful in boxing. You never know truly until you get into the mental areas to find out how they would take that athleticism inside such a pressure place as a ring, where you have to make choices under pressure, difficult choices, even more difficult choices than you have to make on a football field, where you have other people around you. [details]
Atlas, who is listed as a 'Special Assistant Coach, Boxing' in the Jets media guide, was brought in by head coach Eric Mangini and general manager Mike Tannenbaum last year to work with their players once a week to teach them the rudimentary skills of the sport to aid their hand-eye coordination, conditioning and mental focus. Years ago, many of these American footballers would've made their way into a boxing ring before ever stepping foot onto the gridiron.
You see now that as the heavyweight division has more and more of an Eastern European slant, this country’s best athletes have been gravitating more and more to basketball and football throughout the years. The heavyweights of yesteryear are now more likely to be shooting guards and outside linebackers.
Atlas sees the athletic ability of the players and wonders what could've been.
“I see some of these guys I work with and if they had started early enough, some of them could be good prospects to be fighters, especially as it turns out to be the big guys, heavyweights," he says. "Some of them pick up very fast athletically and they have the athletic abilities where they obviously would've been good candidates- if they were inclined - to be successful in boxing. You never know truly until you get into the mental areas to find out how they would take that athleticism inside such a pressure place as a ring, where you have to make choices under pressure, difficult choices, even more difficult choices than you have to make on a football field, where you have other people around you. [details]
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