Teddy Atlas Book Review
Published June 1, 2009 by Boxing Capital
Atlas: 'From the Streets To The Ring: A Son’s Struggle To Become A Man' was recommended to me by a friend and immediately piqued my interest; as a keen boxer and fan, I was interested to gain a great insight into one of the world best boxing trainers.
This is a man who worked closely with the legendary Cus D’Amato, schooled a young Mike Tyson and took Michael Moorer to the Heavyweight Championship of the World, beating ‘The Real Deal’ Evander Holyfield in the process. A chance to find out the inside story behind all this and more just seemed too good to be true.
The book arrived at my door soon after the recommendation (thank you David!) and I write this just two days later, having finished the book already! Yes, it was that good – despite a busy weekend I’ve managed to find time to finish the 270+ pages.
So who should read the book and why? First and foremost, I recommend this to both boxers and trainers. Forgetting the close up stories of Tyson, Moorer, Donny Lalonde and others, the chance to understand the way this excellent trainer thinks is invaluable. Simply put, all boxing fans will find this interesting.
Never have I heard a trainer give so much importance to the psychological aspect of our sport and play so many mind games with his fighters to make sure that they are in the right condition to fight. This is a key aspect in boxing after all – how many times have we seen guys look fantastic in the gym but then poor on fight night? This in most cases can be attributed to psychological issues.
One quote from Teddy in the book is one that all boxers should take note of: ‘when things get tough the easiest thing to do is to fight back, if you fight back then it might last a minute, if you don’t fight back then you live with the consequences forever’. I do believe that quote should be ingrained in the mind of any aspiring fighter. After all, we’ve all woken up the morning after a fight in which we didn’t perform well in saying ‘if only I’d have done that little bit more to get the win’.
Atlas also give his thoughts on the fear’s each fighter has – how every fighter has them and how you can use them to your advantage. It’s interesting to hear. I’d never really considered the prospect before, but the way Teddy breaks it down has me sold on it. After being brutally honest about my own boxing performances I’ve realised there have been times I’ve had fears myself too.
Aside from the training angle, the insight into Teddy’s personal life in extremely interesting. Here you have a guy from a respectable family life with a very short fuse. But whilst Teddy is the worst man to have as you’re enemy when you have done him wrong, he is also a tremendously loyal man when you fulfil you’re end of the bargain.
The tales of working with D’Amato and Tyson in the Catskills at D’Amato’s mansion is captivating – for the first time I hear some negative comments about D’Amato and his favouritism for Tyson, whilst also gaining an insight into the mind of a young ‘Iron’ Mike. The tales of training with Michael Moorer are just incredible; I’d heard Moorer was a tough man to train in the past but having heard a detailed description direct from Teddy I simply cannot believe a grown man behaved liked that. Atlas did tremendously well to keep Moorer in check and guide him to the title.
Add in many more fantastic tales such as Atlas’ exploits in training a mob boss, a Hollywood actor and his fierce respect for his father and I am absolutely convinced that this book is must read for all those in the boxing world.
Judges Scorecard - 9.5/10
There are currently 0 comments on this article.