Do you think Teddy Atlas was too hard on Michael Moorer?

Question

some of my friends say he crossed the line and disrespected Moorer in his fights with Evander Holyfeild.. Frans Botha... and Vaughn Bean. also.. does anyone know why Moorer broke with Emanuel Steward?

Answer 1

Moorer would never have done well without Atlas. Atlas is also a hotdog wanting and needing too much attention.  He had to be rough with Moorer to motivate him

Answer 2

Boxing is more of a mental sport than people ever realize you can do all the roadwork running 8 miles everyday and training 7 days a week but if your week mentally your going to come up short. Skills are great to have but mentally you have to be strong to be a boxer because so many tactics are used to psych fighters out. For example Bernard Hopkins people think that he's some jerk that says whatever he wants and I am not doubting that however he uses tactics like that to gain a physical advantage over his opponent. If your mad about him calling you names or pushing you its going to be hard too stick to a fight plan and you could end up losing.

Michael Moorer with all the talent in the world wasnt very strong mentally until he meet Teddy Atlas. Emanuel Steward is a great tranier but what works with Steward would always work for every other fighter. Thats why Michael left becasue he and Steward didnt see eye to eye on certain things and the Coach+ Fighter relationship suffered.

Everyone remembers how Teddy was yelling and even got in Michaels cornor stool but everyone forgets how the guy was giving the fight away. "Doing just enough too survive". One thing about boxing being so mental is that if your not mentallly ready your going to crumble.What Teddy was doing was getting inside of Michaels head and making him realize that if you dont shape up its over.Traniers need too show a since of unrgency some times becasue fighters just want to coast the whole fight and then get upset when they lose.

TEDDY DIDNT CROSS THE LINE

Answer 3

I don,t like Teddy because he talks to much he likes to use adjectives back to back to back listen to him . But as a trainer I wish I would have had him when I was coming up because he knows his fighters and he knows boxing. Was he too hard on Michael Moore No.

Answer 4

this piece will hopefully help you out.

http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-ar...

Answer 5

teddy atlas is considered by many a great trainer micheal moorer considered by many average fighter who beat a evander holyfield having a mild heart attack he was no where near a great and its like kicking a dead horse talking about him

Answer 6

Thats teddy's style. He is a great trainer to say the least. He'll tell you the truth. Brash yes but not to hard. Boxing its a tough sport if you cant take your trainer you should not be fighting. Second part of question I cant answer, no idea why he parted. Moorer wasnt that special anyway, could have been great with extra effort. He beat Foreman that was a feat!

Answer 7

Probably, because IMO many thought Michael was lazy at times or lacked a certain confidence and when it was brought to his attention, he didn't like it. IMO, Atlas was right on and it helped Michael win a heavyweight championship, when without a little prodding, he might have just settled for surviving in that bout.

Answer 8

I'm actually from the mon valley area of Pittsburgh where Michael Moorer grew up[He grew up in Monnessen to be specific} There are 2 important elements about both guys that MUST be understood.

TEDDY ATLAS ALWAYS had a reputation of having a "deadly serious" approach to the fighters he trained. When Teddy would commit to taking on the responsibilities of training a fighter,Teddy approached his task from both a professional AND personal approach.

So many aspiring fighters end up in trouble with the law, hooked on substances, or dead. A promising life just thrown away. Teddy wanted to be sure that NEVER happened to his fighters. Teddy looked at these guys as "younger brothers" and he wanted the fighter to view him as an older brother. That was the "personal" end of things. Professionaly he transferred that big brother approach to install discipline. Sometimes fighters that lacked discipline and were out of controll required "tough love".

Teddy Atlas at one time actually trained Mike Tyson as a youth under the supervision of Cus D Amato. Mike, even as a teenager often displayed a tendancy to do the wrong thing He often got in trouble, lacked discipline at times and made poor choices. In one such instance, Mike Tyson sexually "menaced" someone close to Teddy. Mike thought he could get away with it. Teddy Atlas privately approached young Tyson and PUT A GUN to Tyson's head and warned him never to do it again. He wanted to put great fear in to Tyson that there would be terrible consequences for "doing the wrong thing in life". Tyson was absolutely terrified. IT IS AT THIS VERY INSTANT THAT TYSON'S LIFE COULD HAVE TURNED OUT DIFFERENT. IT IS HERE HE COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED FROM WHAT WE ALL KNOW HE EVENTUALLY BECAME This was Tyson's chance to forever become a respectable law abiding citizen that did the right thing and made good choices in life. INSTEAD, he ran back and told Cus what Teddy had done. Cus then fired Teddy Atlas. It was the single worst thing that could have happened. Tyson now knew that no matter what he did that "somebody" would always get him out of it. Teddy's extreme "tough love" could have possibly saved Mike. But now we'll never know.

MICHAEL MOORER grew up in Monesson P.A. As a young light heavyweight coming up the ranks he was always coming home to Monessen and getting in trouble with the authorities. He caused numerous public disturbances. One time, he attended a Monesson basketball game presumably after having a few too many. His aggessive, forceful behavior began to show it's ugly head. He actually walked on to the middle of the basketball court during the game and challenged security to remove him in front of the audience! On another occassion he assaulted a police officer by actually PUNCHING the officer. Think about that, a deadly professional fighter actually punching the police. He was lucky he didn't get shot. There were many more instances such as these types of occurences with Moorer.

Michael Moorer also was notoriously lazy and sluggish during training. He absolutely "despised" road work. He hated the physical discipline that had to be put in and the intense mental focus and toughness it took in order to be a successful prize fighter. But of coarse, there were millions of dollars at stake so Michael reluctantly trudged through it.

TEDDY ATLAS took on the commitment of training MICHAEL MOORER with the determination that this young man WOULD NOT end up like Tyson. However Michael Moorer's lack of fire, passion and discipline, both physical and mental always meant that Teddy would have to display that ole "tough love". Teddy would often times say things to Moorer to challenge Moorer's "lack of effort", such as "Do you want me to get in there and fight for ya". He would also prod at Michael's pride by by holding out a cell phone and saying "Here, let's call your son and let him know that his daddy's not even trying". There were many such comments that Atlas would use on Moorer to try to get him motivated.

The bottom line is this and make no mistake about it. TEDDY ATLAS TRULY LOVED MICHAEL MOORER LIKE A LITTLE BROTHER"! He always did what he thought was in Michael's best interest!