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Is Teddy Atlas a good trainer? What is his resume in this area? I am worried for Povetkin ...
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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. By his own admission, Atlas was a somewhat troubled, rebellious youth. He dropped out of school and was arrested several times, once serving time on Riker's Island. Atlas was involved in a street fight in which his face was severely slashed with a knife. The wound took four hundred stitches to close leaving him with a distinctive scar.
Teddy Atlas trained as an amateur boxer briefly with Hall of Fame trainer Cus D'Amato, but he was forced to retire after suffering a back injury. Atlas was an assistant to D'Amato, and he occaionally helped D'amato in the training of D'Amato's protege Mike Tyson. However, Atlas felt D'Amato ought to discipline the young Tyson for his frequent bouts of petty thuggery and clashes with police. He finally took matters into his his own hands after Tyson had kissed Atlas's 13 year old niece. Atlas confronted Tyson and put a gun to the 15 year-old's head, firing off a bullet. Atlas was 26 at the time, and D'Amato threw him out of his upstate camp.
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, during one such speech Atlas blocked Moorer from sitting on his stool and remarked "do you want me to take over".
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[2].
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), Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008).[3]
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. Atlas confessed in the book that at one point he was so angry at Donny LaLonde he went to his home with a gun and a friend, to kill LaLonde for firing him as manager. Atlas states in his biography that he changed his mind at last minute.
Atlas currently serves as commentator on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights and Wednesday Night Fights. In 2001, he won the Sam Taub Award for excellence in boxing broadcasting journalism.[4], and was a contributor on the legendary fight doctor's Ferdie Pacheo's 12 Greatest Rounds of Boxing on DVD, on which he stated that in the first Ali-Liston fight the famous "blind round" in which Ali could not see after being hit by Liston's gloves which had been smeered in a substance that tempoarily blinded Ali. Atlas stated he would have refused to have cut Ali's gloves off and would have simply sent him out with the advice to just "run".
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.[5]
In May 2008 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 do Wednesday night's fight, he decided not to do Friday Fight Night. This was mentioned in the broadcast by ESPN anchorman and temporary commentator for the night Brian Kenny who also stated that Atlas had been at his wife's bedside even sleeping by her side. On April 3rd 2009 while covering the "Heavyweight Collision" card at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles California, featuring former WBC Heavyweight Champion Samuel Peter and IBF ranked Number 3 heavyweight "Fast" Eddie Chambers. Atlas revealed that he had been approached by Samuel Peter's team to take over as Head trainer. Atlas went to Las Vegas where the Nigerian born Peter currently resides and spent a couple of days in the team, but did not take the job as he wanted Peter to relocate to New York where Atlas would have been able to train him full time. -
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