Wow, what a wussy for Potvekin, Russian afraid to face the Ukrainian. However, I don't blame the decision to wuss out knowing you will lose and probably end your career.
This. Atlas has jacked up Povetkin's career since becoming his trainer. From Donald, Byrd and Chambers to his best fight as of late being Estrada.
As much as I would love to throw some hate Teddy's way, probably the most his involvement would have been is to give an honest assessment of Povetkin's chances of winning the fight.
Bull****. Atlas & his giant ego could never handle Povetkin getting destroyed by Wlad, after he was brought in specifically to help him beat Wlad.
WLAD RELEASES A STATEMENT: "Samuel Peter is next in the rankings of IBF. It will be a rematch. Athletes have an obligation [speaking about Povetkin]. He wasn't at the press conference and neither were his reps. I am extremely disappointed. Our company K2 won the bidding process. Povetkin has had no desire to sign the contract or come out of training camp in the U.S. to attend the press conference in Frankfurt. "For two weeks, we persuaded Povetkin to come, but he refused. Then the IBF tried to force him to come to Frankfurt. On our side, everything was done, but on Sunday night came the news: unfortunately, that Sasha could not fly. On my end, all of the contracts were signed. Povetkin did not signed a contract and there was no explanation."
Oh, he did just that: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=5401460 Sauerland Event did not respond to emails for comment. Atlas told ESPN.com he didn't think Povetkin was ready for the fight and had recommended against taking it. "I think he deseves the chance to develop," Atlas said. "I'm in the middle of training this kid, which is obviously an important time in his life for the future of his career. I'm doing my job. I am not moved by the title fight and what the biggest fight is out there. My job is to do the best job I can for the fighter and to make sure he is the best he can be when he's in a situtation to fight, whether to fight Klitschko, Samuel Peter, [Tomasz] Adamek or Joe Shmoe. "I am not controlled or dictated by anything other than that. I told him from the beginning I wanted more time. I was never really for the fight right now. Let me have more time with him. Does the mandatory dictate when he fights or do the circumstances of him having the best chance to win the fight?" Atlas said he understands Povetkin is passing on a career-high payday of $2,078,250 -- his 25 percent cut of the purse bid. However, "I'm giving up money too," Atlas said. "I get 10 percent of that, but I decided the most important thing was to do what was the best for the fighter," Atlas said. "My judgment was is the fighter ready for this moment? My opinion was more time would be good."
I know pov pucked out but it was on the advise of his trainer. and i think people would be hard pressed to disagree with teddy's argument that pov gets thrashed by wlad if they fight. people get mad when people like bob arum lie about pretty much everything, but when teddy atlas is honest he is called selfish and his fighter is called a coward. just something to think about.
Atlas finally predicted that Povetkin may win this match and even by KO1 ... knowing Atlas' 100% pick ratio this prediction scared Povetkin to death and removed all his hopes to survive the first round.