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Theodore A. Atlas Jr. (born July 29, 1956) is an American boxing trainer and fight commentator.
By his own admission, Atlas had a somewhat troubled, rebellious youth. He dropped out of school and was arrested several times. He participated in an armed robbery and served time on Rikers Island. Atlas was involved in a street fight in Stapleton, Staten Island, in which his face was severely slashed with a "007" pocketknife. The wound took 400 stitches in total to close, with 200 on the outside of his face and 200 on the inside. The attack left him with a distinctive scar.
Atlas enjoyed his biggest success as head trainer to Michael Moorer, whom he guided to the world heavyweight title in 1994. He drew criticism for what some considered to be overly dramatic speeches in the ring corner, particularly during Moorer's heavyweight title fight with Evander Holyfield, and some felt he did this to draw attention to himself rather than help his fighter. During one such speech, Atlas blocked Moorer from sitting on his stool and asked, "Do you want me to take over?" Atlas has denied this,Newman, Sean. Ringside Report Interviews Teddy Atlas , Ringsidereport.com, 2004-07-24, Retrieved on 2007-03-10. stating that he did what he believed the fighter needed based on his understanding of the fighter. Moorer went on to defeat Holyfield by a majority decision, with Moorer's manager John Davimos crediting Atlas' motivation, stating "I don't know if Michael could have done this without Teddy Atlas."
Atlas also worked the corners of featherweight world champion Barry McGuigan in one fight and light heavyweight Donny Lalonde. Lalonde was a top-ranked boxer and went 8–0 with Atlas as his trainer, but they clashed in temperament and style. "He ran things like an army camp," Lalonde said, "I'm more of a free spirit." Lalonde also said it was a waste of time in his career. He and Atlas parted ways, and Lalonde hired Tommy Gallagher as his new trainer. In his autobiography, Atlas claimed he was so angry at having been fired by Lalonde that he went to Lalonde's house with a gun intending to kill him. However, Lalonde refuted Atlas' story, claiming he did not even live at the apartment Atlas described at the time. Lalonde also called Atlas "the least significant of all my trainers throughout my career."
In 2009, Atlas began training Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin as Povetkin prepared for an eventual title match against Wladimir Klitschko. Povetkin was a former world amateur champ and was the number one contender. Atlas said that Povetkin "wasn't ready" for Klitschko
In 2015, Atlas returned to training to prepare Timothy Bradley for his welterweight title defense against Brandon Rios. With Atlas in his corner, Bradley knocked out Rios in the ninth round of their fight, which took place on November 7, 2015, in Las Vegas.
In September 2018 Atlas agreed to train Oleksandr Gvozdyk for upcoming fight with Adonis Stevenson on December 1, 2018 in Montreal for WBC and lineal light heavyweight titles.
In 2019, when asked who, in his opinion, was the best overall of the boxers he had trained, he said Wilfred Benítez.
In 2001, Atlas won the Sam Taub Award for excellence in boxing broadcasting journalism. BWAA Awards at International Boxing Hall of Fame Atlas worked as a boxing commentator for NBC's coverage of the Olympic Games in Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016).
Atlas was a contributor on fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco's The 12 Greatest Rounds of Boxing DVD. In it, he stated that in the first Ali-Liston fight, during the famous "blind round" in which Ali could not see after being hit by Liston's gloves which had been smeared in a substance that temporarily blinded Ali, he would have refused to have cut Ali's gloves off and would have simply sent him out with the advice to just "run".
Atlas is also featured as a member of the in-game commentary team on Fight Night Round 4 and Fight Night Champion, alongside Joe Tessitore.
In 1997, he founded the Dr. Theodore Atlas Foundation to honor the memory of his father. The foundation awards scholarships and grants to individuals and organizations. Atlas published his autobiography, Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring: A Son's Struggle to Become a Man, in 2006. The book covers many different periods of Atlas's life and compares his position as trainer to a role as a father.
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