Teddy Atlas shares his journey from high school dropout to renowned boxing trainer, highlighting personal responsibility and overcoming fear.
Atlas emphasizes the role of personal responsibility in boxing and life, guiding fighters to accept control over their choices.
Confronting resistance is essential for growth, as individuals must face challenges and discomfort to develop resilience and achieve success.
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Teddy Atlas: From Troubled Past to Champion Trainer
Teddy Atlas shares his journey from high school dropout and jail time to evolving into a renowned trainer for 18 world champion boxers, including heavyweight champion Michael Moore. He delves into his upbringing with a well-respected doctor father, who instilled values of personal responsibility and accountability. Atlas narrates his experiences training fighters, emphasizing the lessons learned about managing fear, overcoming resistance, and the transformative qualities of boxing.
Developing Boxers Through Personal Responsibility
Atlas reflects on the crucial role of personal responsibility in boxing and life, teaching fighters the importance of accepting control over their choices. He narrates stories of instilling a sense of accountability in young boxers, guiding them to distinguish between reasons to pursue their goals and excuses hindering their progress.
Facing Resistance: The Crucible of Being a Fighter
Atlas underscores the significance of confronting resistance as a defining aspect of being a fighter. He highlights that true development occurs when individuals address challenges and obstacles, embracing discomfort to grow and achieve success. In boxing and beyond, facing resistance shapes individuals, fostering resilience and determination.
The Essence of Becoming a Man Through Boxing
Atlas elaborates on the core attributes of becoming a man through the prism of boxing, emphasizing the transformational journey of overcoming obstacles and embracing responsibility. He emphasizes that the essence of manhood lies in making choices grounded in reasons, not excuses, illustrating how boxing equips individuals with the tools to navigate life's challenges and become champions in their own right.
Teddy Atlas was born to a well-respected doctor in a wealthy part of Staten Island. Most kids like him end up going to an Ivy League school to become some sort of white collar professional. Teddy? Teddy dropped out of high school, went to jail, and ended up becoming a trainer to 18 world champion boxers, including heavyweight champion Michael Moore, who defeated Evander Holyfield for the title in 1994.
Today on the show I talk to Teddy about how and why he took the path he did in life. Teddy explains how he ended up boxing under legendary trainer Cus D'Amato, and how Cus guided Teddy towards becoming a trainer himself. Teddy then shares stories of training kids in the Catskills, taking them to unsanctioned amateur fights in the Bronx, and the lessons he learned from boxing and his father about personal responsibility, managing fear, overcoming resistance, and what is means to be a man.