Does anyone else find his commentary incredibly boring? Did he just get lucky? In that he used to help Cus train a young Mike Tyson. I know he happended to train Moorer but the best I've ever seen of him as a trainer was his motivation of Moorer against Holyfield. The only reason I can possibly see for him being hired as a commentator or analyst is his notorious past with a delinquent Mike Tyson specifically the gun incident.
I think he's an annoying. It seems he gets a lot of credit for his accomplishments, coaching Moorer to beat Holyfield and picking Holyfield to beat Tyson as a big underdog. What you won't hear is that Emmanuel Steward did most of Moorer's training and molded him into the fighter he became. You won't hear about him making Foreman the oldest champion ever in an extremely embarresing loss, losing to Foreman who lost to or struggled with anyone with a pulse around that time. To be fair though, he did give the right advise to Moorer to move side-to-side. And for every right pick... Tyson/Holyfield he also has horrible picks that you won't hear about. He picked Kirk Johnson to knock out Vitali Klitschko for instance.
He did tell moorer not to keep moving to george foremans dangerous side (left or right?,i cant remember) when they met back in there title bout,and moorer ignored him,and whack he walked right in one,and lost his title,so he does obviously know what hes talking about,just he goes on a bit to much.
He certainly knows his stuff, but do find his expressing himself in annalagies (?) a little bit tiring after awhile, what he say's makes complete sense, but i start to tense if i keep hearing " ya gotta make him pay for that Real Estate...at worst..Make him pay a Toll...Make him Buy a Ticket.. theres a price to pay...dont give it away for free..." I'm Still waiting for something Like "..it's like he's operating on the Dark side of the moon...the Signals just aint getting through...he needs a relay station...and thats his corner..he needs to listen to it...and if he don listen they need to boost the signal...get that message across... ...Make him make his opponent pay for that Real Estate...." There is a danger you start to listen to How he is saying something and not What he is Saying, Still it is perhaps part of being an individual and not a boring clone, and as stated Teddy does know what he is talking about, and its better to listen to that in whatever manifest form, then someone who speaks elequently, but does not know what they are talking about.
That was pretty basic. Teddy Atlas has knoweldge, but he is probably the most overrated trainer I can think of. He gets credit for allegedly "willing" Moorer to victory over Holyfield, when if you actually watch the fight in full, Moorer continues to do the same things in the rounds following Atlas's dramatic speeches and pleading. Moorer was cautious probably because of the 2nd round KD. Moorer showed way more desire and passion before and after Atlas, in his fights with Stewart, Cooper, and later the Holyfield rematch (Freddie Roach). Atlas gets overrated along with another former Tyson trainer, Kevin Rooney. One interesting thing is how underrated Aaron "Condom on the Eye" Snowell gets. His performance in Tokyo was laughable, but he improved and became a better pro trainer than both Rooney and Atlas. As for Atlas's commentary, the pre-fight stuff he does I like. When the fight actually happens, no, I don't like him. Especially when he cries about how mismatches are so bad and a national commission is needed. He sure didn't seem to mind mismatches when his own fighter, Elvir Muriqi, was part of them.
I don't mind him, although he does seem to go off on a tangent at times and his commentary suffers, there could be a real action packed stage of the fight going on and he's still finishing off his anecdote
Was watching Rocky Marciano Ringside, outside of the trick the Rock used to ko Walcott, He didnt relly add anything new. Foreman, and Bert Surger were great. So was Dundee.
I hope Teddy isn't reading ESB classic. His feelings would get hurt. I like him. Always have. He understands that boxing is a character sport and he cuts right to the chase. I for one love his analogies -there was one he used when he noticed that Michael Grant would relax while sparring if his sparring partner did the same -Teddy saw it as a tacit agreement and woudn't allow it -"be the ocean, not the log" he said. His insight is usually on the money and while I suspect that our more polite brethren across the pond may dislike his outspoken tendencies -I find his insight both honest and piercing. He did a card in Brockton, MA where a close friend of mine was a co-feature and he didn't hesitate to call the Massachusetts officials on their shameless bias. Bravo. He doesn't play around. Moorer needed more TLC and that is not Teddy's thing. Read the chapter entitled "Big George" in his book. It is a magnificent.
Atlas is a phoney. He will emphatically state an opinion, than give totally different version year later. He used Moorer fight to make self famous. He spent most of carreer (if you call it that) getting a reputaion on Tyson, who he did not train, and by leaking stories on Tyson back in 1980's to media pals. He was shitty, unseccessful trainer, just good self promoter, and well connected.
He picked Spinks over Tyson, and Berbick also. He hedges picks with "If he's right mentally.." or some other such way out.
he was not so great with them picks. does talk some sense though. but i think he is a bit of a jerk off
I think you guys are being a bit harsh. I like him. IMO he's better than Larry Merchant is now. I lost all respect for Merchants current calling during a PBF-De La Hoya undercard, and he said "I saw that round, but I don't know what happened." atsch He said it so casually too. At least most of the time Atlas is on spot, he just lacks the personality to get it accross. Also, with who ever said that he also made Foreman the oldest heavyweight champion in history, Moorer walked into the wrong punch. He was beating the **** out of Foreman before he decided to ignore Atlas, then look what happened.
Merchant is great! He is honest and doesn't beat around the bush. During the early rounds of RJJ-Hopkins: "It is a good thing it's so cold here, otherwise i'd be asleep".
Merchant is clueless at times. He didn't know what to do at the PBF-De La Hoya fight. It seemed like you could walk over take him away and he'd still try to commentate the fight.