Teddy Atlas on Mike Tyson: “I don’t know if he was ever great”
Needless to say, there is no love lost between Mike Tyson and his former trainer Teddy Atlas. On The Lex Fridman podcast, he questioned Tyson’s greatness.
Teddy Atlas questions Mike Tyson’s greatness
Mike Tyson is one of boxing’s most revered legends. Just a few short years ago, he and Roy Jones Jr. put on one of the biggest pay per views in history with just an exhibition. That event sold over 2 million and reminded fans how much fun a Tyson fight could be.
Teddy Atlas trained Mike Tyson in his formative years along side Cus D’Amato. Atlas eventually left due to Cus’ blind eye towards Tyson’s antics that ultimately saw him jailed in 1992.
On Friedman’s pod, Atlas didn’t downplay the skills of Tyson. He fully admitted what gifts he had.
“I don’t know if he was ever great,” he said. Atlas continues, “I know he was sensational. I know he was the greatest mix of, maybe speed and power, ever. I know he was one of the greatest punchers from either side of the plate, left or right.”
He reminds people of the great punchers in boxing past that were electric but not quite great. Atlas even name drops Deontay Wilder, who came up short this weekend against Jospeh Parker.
“There’s been great punchers with just the right hand like Earnie Shavers and Deontay Wilder and Max Baer. I don’t know if there’s ever been anyone who could punch as good as (Tyson) did on either side with either hand other than Joe Louis and a few others.”
As for his reasoning, Atlas said that Tyson relied on the weakness of others instead of his skill.
“Too often, (Tyson) relied on other people’s weakness, whether it’s by being intimidated or whether it was because his talent was so much greater than theirs, that it was like putting a monster truck in there with a Volkswagen.”
Atlas has never pulled punches on Mike Tyson. In his book, he told a story of Tyson allegedly sexually harassing his cousin. Atlas met him in an alley and put a gun to his head, threatening to kill Iron Mike. Instead, he shot the gun above his head so he could see the fear on his face, as was written in his book.
