I saw on a website for the charty that Teddy Atlas sponers, (The doctor Theodore Atlas foundation) a bio for him. It states he won golden gloves (Untrue) it claims after fighting under Cus D'Amato he left, but came back and spent 6 years working with D'Amato (so untrue it can't even be reasonably argued) Fact is he had less than a handful of amateur fights, and was only with D'Amato for 2 years, one as boxer, one as helper. Sad thing is some people read it and believe it. The six years under D'amato is really shamless on his part. I guess he wants to boost his image as trainer, when in fact he sucked as one.
you should have read his autobiography, some of the **** there would have made conan look like a *****.
The Golden Gloves thing isn't true from memory, although he did win an amateur tournament. He did spent about 6 months working with D'Amato as a fighter, before going back home when he was diagnosed with scholiosis and told he could never fight again (competitively anyway). Months later D'Amato asked him to train Rooney at some tournament as a personal favour, in which Rooney fought in the final, and following that Atlas came back to live with D'Amato and work on the young fighters in the gym. They discovered Tyson together at age 10, then Atlas trained him for five years or so until the infamous incident when Tyson was 15 and Atlas held a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. At this point D'Amato asked Atlas to leave his prize possession alone, and offered him 5% of all Tysons future purses. Atlas told him to stick it in his ass, and that was that. Hardly the fabrication you're suggesting
I enjoyed his biography, however he tried hard to come across as Conan the Barbarian. A lot of stories was about how he "stood up" for his fighter and himself. The part about the collaberation with Moorer was a good read.
You are wrong on several points. H edid not train Rooney, he was allowed to work his corner with Cus. He did not discover Tyson at 10. At 12, while in juvinille home, a guard or cop got him out to stay with Cus. At 12, not 10, and Atlas was below Rooney (who was an actual New York City Golden Gloves champion) Cus NEVER offered Atlas ****. Not when he kicked him out. Rooeny and Teddy were going to be Tyson's trainers if Cus got too old, and would split the 10% trainers fee, with D'Amato getting his end of manager's fee from Jacobs and Cayton (Tyson' managers) Atlas did have back problem, but not severe enough to sop him from competing. Look, don't say I fabricated anything, and get your info straight.
I glanced through book, read each chapter fast. The bull**** was too much for me. Two biggest BS stories involded him scaring away inmates on Riker's Island (He was begging family and D'Amato to get him out) and part of book wher ehe claims Shannon Briggs and two friends were theatened by a bigot, and Atlas stepped in to protect them. Right, Shannon's friends are as big as him, and badder. Who believes that story??
The C.O. who discovered Tyson was Bobby Stewart (when Mike was 12, at Tryon) Bobby was a National Golden Gloves champion back in 1974 and qualified by winning our local GG tournament in Holyoke, Mass.
Also, from what I know...if Teddy boxed for Cus in the Catskills then he didnt fight out of the NYC GG , he would have fought out of the Syracuse (upstate GG). It's New York, but its not THE New York that everybody associates with the Golden Gloves at MSG
what? you guys dont believe teddy atlas' stories? He once fought off a group of 12 ninjas with katana blades once when he traveled to japan for a fight. That day he was also suffering from pneumonia, flu, mono, thyroid cancer and a rare hybrid of the bird flu virus and the ebola virus.
The story about Teddy Atlas and Shannon Briggs kicking the asses of the guys who made racial slurs is true. Somebody I met told me about it about 3 years before the book came out and this person is a reliable source.
Muhammad Ali visited the correctional facility that Mike Tyson was locked up in and Tyson got interested in boxing. He learned that Bobby Stewart used to box and told Stewart that he wanted to learn. Stewart told him to get his act together and maybe he'd teach him. After Tyson stopped getting into so much trouble, Stewart decided to teach him some stuff. When Stewart sparred Mike he discovered Mike was so good and strong and powerful that he had to fight harder than he expected. Tyson gave Stewart a broken nose with a straight left. Stewart decided to take Mike to Cus because he could see that Mike was very talented.
Well, then Teddy Atlas got it wrong in book!!! Wow, in book he said he stepped in, and White racist guy backed down. You better tel your reliable source to contact Atlas, so he can get his story straight.
You are right on both posts, although he was eligible to fight in NYC Gloves Iceman. Rooney did(fight and win NYC golden gloves) , Atlas passed, took part in some sort of hilllbilly tournament in Adarondaks (sp) You are also 100% right about correction guy who bought Tyson to Cus. That was where Tyson sparred for first time, and Stewart , an ex-boxer, had trouble holding him off.