By Paul Strauss: Most fans like and respect Teddy Atlas, and rightly so. He is a man of integrity, and obviously has one of the best boxing minds in the world. He speaks from vast experience, and often times points out aspects of a fighter’s style that become important factors in the outcome of a fight. He offers interesting and amusing anecdotes. But when will the guy learn to make his point and then let it go? It would be different if he came at it from different angles or perspectives, but in his case it’s just repeatability.
It’s like taking the word dead instead of deceased, and then fearing you didn’t understand the word dead, so you explain it by saying, “You know, dead in the water, dead to rights, over one’s dead body, deadend, dead as a door nail”, and so forth until you hear the snoring.
As an example, Teddy exercised his repetitive style even before tonight’s bouts started when Brian Kenny asked him about the failed Povetkin versus Klitschko bout. Teddy made it clear he didn’t think Povetkin was seasoned enough to make the fight. Teddy added that he felt it was his responsibility to look out for his fighter’s best interest. Great! That’s all well and good, but, he couldn’t just leave it at that. He had to go on and on repeating himself. You expected Brian to break in at any moment and say, “Teddy, we’re running out of time!”
In the first televised bout of FNF, Teddy was no different. He made a good comment about old time fighters who had the savvy to position their opponent in such a way that the sun would be in their eyes. It was a good point and a reminder one should use common sense, kind of like the wise old pugs who would take the action to their corner at the end of the round. That way they could just plop down on their stool and make their opponent walk across the ring. But, I digress. .
It’s not nice to pick on Teddy, especially since he has so many good qualities, and that isn’t the intent here. Rather, it’s a hope these jottings will be viewed as an attempt to be constructive. For fear of being presumptuous, maybe it would be better if Teddy would give his audience the benefit of his experience and current observations, and then hush up until something else comes along that is worthy of is comments.
Otherwise, in Teddy’s case, fans will be left thinking insanity isn’t doing (saying) the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Rather, it’s being driven crazy because you know you”ve already heard it before……several times!