Boxing commentator and trainer Teddy Atlas is not exactly Mr. Popularity with many American fighters these days.
After recently guiding Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin to a paper WBA world heavyweight title (the rightful champion there is ?super champ? Wladimir Klitschko), Atlas has found himself taking fire from some American heavyweights who aren?t impressed with what they see as his hypocrisy and his bizarre, manipulative ways.
In a recent interview with Boxing Insider, veteran American heavyweight Monte ?Two Gunz? Barrett lambasted Atlas as a ?big hypocrite? for apparently choosing to have his new Russian champion fight very faded past champs like Evander Holyfield and Hasim Rahman, rather than take on a man such as himself, a still viable fighter who recently scored an impressive win over a tough foe in David Tua.
?He?s a hypocrite?Teddy Atlas is a hypocrite when it comes to his fighters. He doesn?t preach what he teach,? said Barrett.
Now, another American heavyweight veteran, Shannon Briggs, has published an expose on Atlas on his blog featured in the online edition of Boxing News.
Briggs calls Atlas ?the ultimate control freak,? and describes some of the very eccentric behavior that the trainer would engage in. ?One of the craziest things he ever said to me was, ?When you?re in the ring, you?re the body and I?m the mind?? says Briggs.
