Mike Tyson has long been recognized by many as one of the greatest heavyweight champions in the world, but his early coach, Teddy Atlas, has a negative opinion on this, questioning Tyson's career and not believing that Tyson belongs to the ranks of great professional fighters.
At 57 years old, Tyson still holds the record for the youngest heavyweight world title ever and the first heavyweight fighter to win the WBA, WBC and IBF belts at the same time.
On November 22, 1986, at the age of 20, Tyson knocked out WBC heavyweight champion Burbick in two rounds, becoming the youngest heavyweight champion in history.
In 1987, Tyson defeated WBA boxing champion Smith and IBF boxing champion Tucker, becoming another undisputed hegemon in the heavyweight division after Ali and Holmes.
In the 10 years from 1986 to 1996, Tyson was at the peak of his boxing career and has always been a mythical existence in boxing.
Atlas has been Tyson's coach from the age of 12 to 15, when Tyson studied under the famous coach Damato, but the 70-year-old Damato's advanced age is mainly responsible for theoretical training, and more movement guidance and practical training are basically Atlas's responsibility.
However, 15-year-old Tyson and Atlas's 11-year-old niece were inappropriately contacted, which angered Atlas, who pointed a 0.38 caliber revolver at Tyson's head and pulled the trigger, deliberately missing just to scare and warn Tyson.
Their mentor-apprentice relationship has since ended, and the coach has now revealed his true thoughts on the legendary heavyweight.
In a recent podcast, Atlas began by acknowledging Tyson's talent, saying:
"I don't know if Tyson was ever great, but I know he's great, and I know he has the best combination of speed and power in the history of boxing. He's played well on both the left and right, and there were a lot of right-handed heavyweights like Ernie Shawos, Deontay Wilder, Max Bell, and I don't know if there was anyone other than Joe Luiz and others who could punch hard with both left and right hands like Tyson. ”
Atlas continued:
"I don't know if Tyson has reached the level of purity that he has, and I don't know if there's anyone who's as good as Tyson, maybe one night he's great, that night against Michael Spinks, he beat him in 90 seconds, and I think I saw a great fighter that night. ”
Atlas then gave his criteria for being the greatest fighter based on his years of competing and coaching, and said that Tyson was not eligible, saying:
"Don't rely on other people's weaknesses to become strong, rely on yourself to become strong. Most of the time Tyson often relies on other people's weaknesses, whether it's to deter opponents, or his talent itself is much stronger than others, like a giant truck put together with a Volkswagen, the Volkswagen will be crushed, no matter how much horsepower is under the hood of a Volkswagen, it will be crushed. So you need to be able to find a way when you're not talented, but when Tyson isn't talented, he doesn't find a way. ”
Atlas then pointed out the biggest blemish on Tyson's career, losing by TKO to Douglas in 1990, and he said that Glass was not intimidated by Tyson.
"Unless there's something to overcome, that's the real game," he said. So, if you follow my definition, Tyson didn't do it in five (six) games in his life. These games had something to overcome, and he didn't overcome them. ”
Overall, Atlas's core idea is that Tyson's talent is too strong, and it is talent that has helped him become a boxing champion.
And in his definition, only those who rely on continuous efforts and constantly overcome their shortcomings are great boxing champions.
But as we all know, in sports, especially at the top level of athletes, hard work is a quality that almost everyone has, and what really determines their height is talent, which is the cruel reality of sports.