Teddy Atlas

Atlas’s father was a prominent Staten Island doctor who made house calls and often accepted payment in baked goods; a street-fighting youth, Atlas began working out at the Police Athletic League. In his autobiography he writes that he robbed liquor stores and gas stations with friends and, was twice arrested for felonies in one week, being held at Rikers Island at 19; after Cus D’Amato pleaded on his behalf in court, the judge gave him probation on condition that he live and work with D’Amato in Catskill, New York.⁠[1]

Atlas went upstate to train under D’Amato and won the 1976 Adirondack Golden Gloves lightweight title; back problems forced him out of the ring, and he apprenticed as D’Amato’s assistant trainer, working with a young Mike Tyson and also gaining experience with the 1980 Swedish Olympic team.⁠[2]

A street altercation left him with a knife wound that took 400 stitches and a permanent facial scar; he returned to Catskill and ran D’Amato’s gym for six years, training professionals by day and local youth in the evening, before parting ways with D’Amato over a dispute involving Mike Tyson.⁠[3]

In 1989, on the set of Triumph of the Spirit, the first film shot almost entirely at the Auschwitz camp, Atlas worked with star Willem Dafoe as his boxing trainer and played his German opponent.⁠[4]

Atlas founded the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation to honor his father, who gave free medical care to those who could not afford it and made house calls until he was 80; the New York-based 501(c)(3) community service organization supports individuals and organizations in need, has run youth boxing gyms and education centers in Brooklyn and Staten Island, and raises money mainly through the annual Teddy Dinner on the Thursday before Thanksgiving.⁠[5]

In April 1994 Atlas’s fighter Michael Moorer won the world heavyweight title with a majority decision over Evander Holyfield. When Moorer began to slow down in the middle rounds, Atlas sat on his fighter’s stool between rounds and would not get up until Moorer said he wanted to fight; Atlas said afterwards that he felt something very dramatic was needed.⁠[6]

Atlas joined ESPN in 1998 and became its primary boxing analyst, calling Friday Night Fights, which ran from 1998 to 2015, and becoming synonymous with ESPN’s boxing coverage alongside Joe Tessitore; in 2001 he won the Sam Taub Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.⁠[7]

In 2006 Ecco published Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring: A Son’s Struggle to Become a Man, the autobiography Atlas wrote with Peter Alson; he had turned his troubled youth around to become a boxing trainer and television commentator. He also speaks at high schools, universities and prisons, and received the NFLNFLThe NFL (National Football League) is a U.S. professional American football league of 32 clubs. Founded in 1920 as the APFA and renamed in 1922, it is organized into the AFC and NFC, with the season culminating in the Super Bowl.Open the full entry’s Helping Hands Award for his charity work.⁠[8]

In July 2009 Atlas began training former Olympic champion Alexander Povetkin on the understanding that Povetkin would train in the United States during Atlas’s ESPN broadcasting season; Povetkin went on to win the WBA heavyweight title. In January 2012 Povetkin’s manager Vladimir Khrunov said the fighter expected Atlas in Moscow, while Atlas said that was impossible under their agreement, and the partnership ended.⁠[9]

Timothy Bradley had all but begged Atlas to come out of retirement in August 2015; after a seven-week camp Bradley stopped Brandon Rios in the ninth round in Las Vegas on November 7 in the first defense of his welterweight title. Atlas said the plan was to break Rios down little by little like a piranha.⁠[10]

In December 2017 Atlas was removed from live fight broadcasts, which he said was not his decision. Two people familiar with the situation said it stemmed from his work on two Top Rank cards that year, including his harsh criticism of the judging in Manny Pacquiao’s loss to Jeff Horn and an on-air argument with new co-analyst Mark Kriegel; an ESPN executive said Atlas would remain part of its boxing coverage.⁠[11]

In September 2018 Atlas decided to return to training, preparing unbeaten Ukrainian light heavyweight Oleksandr Gvozdyk for his December 1 challenge of WBC champion Adonis Stevenson; he said he had been training fighters since working with Wilfred Benitez at 21 and took a couple of weeks to decide he was emotionally ready.⁠[12]

On December 1 Gvozdyk stopped Stevenson in the 11th round in Canada to win the WBC light heavyweight title in his first bout with Atlas.⁠[13]

The International Boxing Hall of Fame announced in December 2018 that Atlas had been elected to the Class of 2019 as a broadcaster, in voting by members of the Boxing Writers Association and international boxing historians; the induction weekend took place in Canastota, New York, on June 6–9, 2019.⁠[14]

On December 24, 2023, Atlas appeared on episode 406 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, whose description called him trainer to 18 world champions, an ESPN boxing commentator and host of the podcast THETimes Higher EducationTimes Higher Education (THE) is a London-based higher education news and data company. It grew out of the Times Higher Education Supplement, launched in 1971, and is best known for its World University Rankings, founded in 2004; it has been owned by the private equity firm Inflexion since 2019.Open the full entry FIGHT with Teddy Atlas; topics included lessons from his father, the story of his scar, Cus D’Amato, Mike Tyson and forgiveness.⁠[15]

After calling UFCUFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) is a mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion based in Las Vegas, United States. It began in 1993 as a no-holds-barred fighting tournament and gradually entered the mainstream after the Fertitta brothers’ Zuffa bought it for $2 million in 2001; it was sold for about $4 billion in 2016 to a consortium led by WME-IMG, and in 2023 it merged with WWE to form the publicly traded TKO Group Holdings, where as of 2026 it is one of the largest businesses by revenue.Open the full entry 322 in November 2025, Atlas said on his podcast THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas that it might be his last broadcast with ESPN, with no fanfare; he called it bittersweet, said he did not know what the future held, and said he was blessed to be a grandfather.⁠[16]

Atlas co-hosts the podcast THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas with Ken Rideout, discussing boxing and mixed martial arts; he also has a product collaboration with BOXRAW and instructional videos through Dynamic Striking.⁠[17]

The foundation continues to hold its annual Teddy Dinner, which has reached its 29th edition, and runs programs including a food pantry on Staten Island.⁠[18]

Personal website: Public link: https://teddyatlas.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[15]

X: Public account: https://x.com/TeddyAtlasReal (opens in a new window)⁠[15]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://youtube.com/THEFIGHTwithTeddyAtlas (opens in a new window)⁠[15]

ESPN: Official website: https://www.espn.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[7]

Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation: Official website: https://www.dratlasfoundation.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[18]