Teddy Atlas

Theodore A. "Teddy" Atlas, Jr. (born July 29, 1956) is an American boxing trainer and fight commentator.

The son of a doctor, Atlas grew up in a wealthy area of Staten Island, New York City, New York. His mother Mary Riley Atlas was a former contestant in the Miss America pageant system, as well as a model. His father was of Hungarian Jewish descent. Teddy spent summers in Spring Lake New Jersey, with his family's friends.

By his own admission, Atlas had a somewhat troubled, rebellious youth. He dropped out of school and was arrested several times. He participated in an armed robbery and served time on Rikers Island. Atlas was involved in a street fight in Stapleton, Staten Island in which his face was severely slashed with a "007" flick knife. The wound took 400 stitches in total to close, with 200 on the outside of his face and 200 on the inside. The attack left him with a distinctive scar.

Teddy Atlas trained as an amateur boxer with Hall of Fame trainer Cus D'Amato. He had some amateur fights but had to turn to work as a trainer due to a back injury. Atlas was an assistant to D'Amato, although his role in the Catskill Boxing Club was short-lived. His duties included assisting in the training of D'Amato's teenage protégé Mike Tyson. However, Atlas left the camp in 1982 following an altercation with the 15-year-old Tyson after Tyson had been sexually inappropriate with a 11-year-old female relative of Atlas's (Tyson said he had grabbed the girl's buttocks). Atlas put a .38 caliber handgun to Tyson's ear and told him to never touch his family again or he would kill him if he did. This altercation between Atlas and a young Mike Tyson led to Atlas' dismissal from the Catskill Boxing Club and he was told he was no longer welcome in D'Amato's home or around any of his adopted children (his fighters whom he had legally adopted, Tyson included).

Atlas enjoyed his biggest success as head trainer to Michael Moorer, whom he guided to the world heavyweight title in 1994. He 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 this to draw attention to himself rather than help his fighter. During one such speech Atlas blocked Moorer from sitting on his stool and asked "Do you want me to take over?" Atlas has denied this, 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.

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