Cus D?Amato molded the Hall of Fame careers of Floyd Patterson, Jose Torres, and Mike Tyson. But for Cus boxing lessons were life lessons?
Boxing manager and trainer Constantine ?Cus? D?Amato (1908-1985) was one of the most enigmatic maestros in our enigmatic sport. Working out of the Gramercy Gym and then upstate in Catskill, New York, D?Amato molded the Hall of Fame careers of Floyd Patterson, Jose Torres, and Mike Tyson. But for Cus boxing lessons were life lessons. The Bronx born Marcus Aurelius of the world of the ring help sculpt and in many case save the lives of young men who, at least for a time, had lost their compass. Talk to any of his disciples and it will be easy to discern D?Amato?s profound impress on their lives.
In a private discussion, I once asked Mike Tyson what Cus would have thought about all the money Iron Mike earned and squandered. There was an immediate catch in Mike?s voice, as he responded, ?Ah for Cus, money was for throwing off trains.? Tyson is in constant inner dialogue with D?Amato and so are all the others whose lives orbited around this combination Socrates and Freud.
There have been a brace of D?Amato biographies published but until recently there were no systematic accounts of Cus?s philosophy of life and his unorthodox approach to the American martial art. With the publication The Non-Compromised Pendulum (translated into English by Kanykei Tursunbaeva) that lacunae is no more. Co-Authored by Dr. Oleg Maltsev and Tom Patti, this short but power packed monograph eschews delving into D?Amato?s life history in order to focus on providing a clear record of his rules for success in and out of the ring. Conceived by Dr. Maltsev, who spent twenty years researching Cus and his inimitable style, this is the first offering in a series of works intended to disseminate D?Amato?s philosophy.
Make no mistake about it, Cus was a puzzle to his boxing brethren, some saw him as paranoid and bonkers and others, like Muhammad Ali, as a genius. As a veteran trainer, I have long craved a presentation of the untraditional sweet science that he taught. So in addition to studying this text and in particular the final chapter dedicated solely to boxing, I was privileged to enjoy a short conversation with one of the authors, Mr. Tom Patti.
Patti trained with D?Amato from 1982-1985. The five-time Golden Gloves champion recalled, ?I sparred thousands of rounds in front of Cus and you would never hear Cus calling out combos, it was always ?Move your head. Don?t lay in the middle, you?re not moving, move your head.?
?Don?t lay in the middle? is a piece of wisdom that you will hear from all of Cus?s charges. What exactly did the old master mean? Patti explained, ?By not resting in the middle, Cus meant that when you finish moving your head you don?t come to a halt in front of your opponents jab or right hand. You put your head on his or her right side and drive a body punch followed by a left uppercut or hook to the head, that way the only counter you are vulnerable to is a left hook. Immediately after throwing whatever punch or punches you fire from your current position you want to weave under the elbows and move to another striking position, if by chance your opponent has thrown his punch and your timing is off you won?t be in any danger as long as you keep your hands up.?
Using an example, Patti elaborated, ?Suppose you are throwing a jab, right hand, left hook to the body and another left hook to the head. When you are shooting this combo, you are turning your hips and shoulders to maximize power, but you are keeping your head still because the only place to move it would be to the right, back in the middle.?
Again, that would be in front of your foe?s left jab or if you go too far over, you end up directly in front of what would be the most explosive point of your rival?s right hand.
?After you fire that combination,? Tom said, ?you will want to weave over to the left side of your opponent to get away from his left hook. There you will smash a right to the body followed by an upper to the head.? This, of course, was one of Iron Mike?s favorite fistic recipes. The weave will involve a shift from your weight being on your left foot to your weight being on your right.
When it came to the heavies no one moved his head like Smokin? Joe Frazier. Patti concurred but with a caveat, ?The trouble was Joe always ended up with his head in the middle directly in front of the other guy?s right hand.?
I asked?what if your opponent pivots as you get on his right side? Patti chuckled, ?Well you?re not a statue. Obviously, you move with him.?
How about keeping your hands up in that peek-a-boo position? Did Cus yell about that? Patti replied, ?Are you kidding? If you didn?t keep your hands up with Cus you wouldn?t be allowed in the ring. Hands-up was given.?
As a general rule, I have always instructed my boxers with the traditional ?don?t square up, fight narrow, keep your right shoulder back.? Patti would have none of this common wisdom: ?Cus believed that by not squaring up you will be off balance when you try to slip.? And for Cus, there was nothing more important than slipping, in part because when you slip, as opposed to block or parry, you don?t tie up your hands and are therefore able to deliver express packages of powerful blows.
Asked about the jab, Patti responded, ?For Cus you used it to get inside and get leverage. With each jab you should spring a few inches forward and instead of springing in straight with the jab, you want to be coming in a few inches to your left.? The former assistant trainer to Mike Tyson continued, ?You should be stepping forward with the jab and bringing your right foot up behind you as you pull your jab back.? If the right foot drags too far behind you?re going to be reaching, a fatal flaw against someone who knows what they are doing.
Cus?s philosophy emphasized lateral movement, bringing enormous pressure, getting in close and staying there so as to make your opponent pay for every punch you slip. Cus was offensive minded but the attack mindset presupposed an impregnable defense.
I noted that you would have to be in top condition to fight according to Cus?s method. After all, you are constantly using your legs by springing in and to the side, and you are always punching. Patti agreed. ?Absolutely true,? he said. ?His style when done properly requires constant pressure, movement and the kind of action that generates an exciting fight for the crowd.?
