Biography of Teddy Atlas

Teddy Atlas, color analyst on ESPN's Friday Night Fights, worked as boxing commentator for NBC's coverage of the Olympic Games in Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004).

Long respected as a top boxing trainer and a television commentator with uncompromising integrity, Teddy started his career as an amateur boxer. Trained by the legendary Cus D'Amato, Teddy captured the Adirondack Golden Gloves title at 139 pounds in 1976. Forced out of competition because of injury, Teddy turned his talents to training fighters.

His long list of charges have included many world champions past, present and future. Teddy trained future heavyweight champion Mike Tyson when Tyson was an amateur boxer living in Cus D'Amato's home in Catskill, New York. He trained featherweight champion Barry McGuigan, super bantamweight and super featherweight champion Tracy Patterson, super featherweight and lightweight champion Joey Gamache, welterweight champion Simon Brown and light heavyweight champion Donny Lalonde. In 1994, in a memorable performance as trainer and cornerman, Teddy inspired Michael Moorer to beat Evander Holyfield for the world heavyweight championship.

Teddy has also employed his talents outside of the ring. He trained dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp for her successful comeback at age 42. He trained actor Willem Dafoe for his role as a boxer in the holocaust film "Triumph of the Spirit", and while on location in Poland, Teddy choreographed the film's boxing scenes and appeared as one of Dafoe's opponents. Teddy also choreographed fight scenes for the television series "Against the Law". And he appeared in the movies "Play it to the Bone" and "Only in America: The Don King Story".

In 1997 Teddy founded the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation to honor the memory of his father, a doctor who founded two hospitals and provided free medical care to those who could not afford it. This all-volunteer community service organization provides moral, legal and financial support to individuals and organizations in need. The Foundation has purchased a customized van for a young man who became a quadriplegic as a result of a swimming accident, paid funeral expenses for a boxer who died in the ring, and raised money for the family of a young girl with leukemia who could not afford the necessary insurance coverage. It has provided grants to refurbish athletic grounds and to finance class trips to baseball games for children in low income neighborhoods. The Foundation has raised and has given out over one million dollars since its inception.

Teddy's autobiography and a film about his life are both currently in the works. Teddy's is a story of overcoming hardships, of compassion for those in need, of tremendous personal integrity, and of personal and professional triumph.