Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D'Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness

That's all that matters, that he got there, that he got to the place to act like a fighter. To do what we want him to do, to be ready to persevere, to go beyond the comfort level, to do another round. He didn't want to. Damn right he didn't want to, but he knew we want him to. And he knew in order to pass the test, he had to do it. He goes, "Now, it's going to be your job to get him in the gym, make him mentally stronger, make him face things, and teach him how to slip punches and create holes, and fill those freaking holes with devastating punches..." There's a cuss, "... with punches with bad intentions." The following is a conversation with Teddy Atlas, a legendary and, at times, controversial boxing trainer and commentator. When I was going to this conversation with Teddy, I was ready to talk boxing, styles, matches, techniques, tactics, and his analysis of individual fighters, like Mike Tyson, Michael Moorer, Klitschkos, Usyk, Povetkin, Lomachenko, Triple G, Canelo, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Hagler, Duran, Floyd, and on and on and on. Like I said, I came ready to talk boxing, but I stayed for something even bigger, the Shakespearian human story of Teddy Atlas, Cus D'Amato, and Mike Tyson.

You wrote in the book that your father had a big influence on your life. What lessons have you learned about life from your father? When you ask that question, I remember Cus D'Amato, when I was with him up in Catskill for all those years. He used to say to me, "Teddy, you learned through osmosis." I believe there's truth to that, if I know what osmosis is, but it sounds good. But I learned through osmosis with my father. He wasn't a big talker. He was a doer. And when you're around someone who lives a certain kind of life and does certain things, it penetrates.

I got to ask you, when did you discover boxing? When did you first fall in love with boxing? When it saved me.

Oh, man. They did a good job. You mentioned Cus D'Amato, legendary trainer, and you also mentioned it turned out he really cared about you. In the book, you write about a testimony he gave. I was hoping I could read it because it speaks to your character. It speaks to his. It's just powerful. The testimony goes, " Your Honor, I realize you might not know much about me, but I spent my whole life developing young men. As a boxing manager I trained two world champions, heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson and light heavyweight champion Jose Torres. I've also helped a lot of other young boys straighten out their lives and build character. I know things about Teddy Atlas this court doesn't know, things you won't find on his arrest record. This boy has character. He has loyalty. He'll hurt himself before he'll let down a friend. These qualities are rare and they shouldn't be lost. He's made mistakes. We've all made mistakes, but I've come to know this boy, and if we lose him, we'll be losing someone who could help a lot of people. Please don't take this young boy's future away. He could be someone special. Let's not lose him. Please." Those are powerful words from a powerful man. What have you learned about life from Mr. Cus D'Amato?

I agree with you in a deep fundamental sense, but there's pain that comes with that. I have to ask you to introspect on this part of your life. Because of your value for loyalty, as people know, you and Cus D'Amato trained young Mike Tyson, and the interaction there between the three of you led to the three of you parting ways. Given your value for loyalty, can you tell the full story of what led up to this and maybe the pain you felt from that? I guess it was the second time in my life I felt betrayed. The first time was when I was whatever, young, 17, and I got arrested. I was with all these older guys, tough guys, whatever, supposedly, and the detectives separated us. That's what they do. And they asked me who did whatever? Whose gun? This, that, all that, the particulars of obviously what we did. And it was me. And they said, "You sure? You don't want to change that? Because your friends changed it."

You're a grandfather now. Yeah, four grandchildren.