"He's only got 19 fights. You look at these guys, like Klitschko, and he has 60 or so fights. Arreola has 40 or so, Adamek has 40 plus fights, Sam Peter has somewhere around 38 fights, and you look at my kid and he has 19 fights. I told his people that he needs to fight and this is the first step towards realizing that; going over there and getting this fight. And if everything goes right, we'll go back and fight again on December 11th and try to get him 3, 4 or 5 fights and hopefully that helps him develop...I'm just trying to get him to develop the right habits and to have the right approach. But if those things are the bricks, then again, the cement that allows those bricks to stay in place so that they don't fall out of place is the experience; the confidence that you gain from being in the ring. You get more relaxed and more sure of yourself and when you can see things and do things without thinking about it, you start doing things automatically and you don't wait for things to happen. You go out there and you create things and you make things happen. You create things. That's what I want to do with him. I want to give him a chance to get those things in place," stated ESPN commentator and world-class trainer Teddy Atlas as he discussed the progress and the future plans of undefeated heavyweight contender Alexander Povetkin. In this in-depth exclusive, Atlas thoroughly explains the reason behind his decision to postpone Povetkins first title challenge. Plus, you don't want to miss what he had to say about Michael Grant's recent performance against Tomasz Adamek, Wladimir Klitschko's recent win over Samuel Peter broadcast on ESPN3.com and much more. Check it out!
PC: It is an honor to speak to you. How is everything going with you?
TA: Thanks for that. Everything is pretty good. I got my charity foundation, The Dr. Atlas Foundation, getting ready for a big benefit in November. That's always not too far from my mind. I'm a little bit down because I gotta go to Russia for 6 weeks. I'm going to be away from home for a long time, but it's a good thing I'm going over there for. I'm going to train Alexander Povetkin. We have a fight in Germany on October 30th. We don't have an opponent yet, but we will be fighting on that date. I feel like he needs more seasoning and experience. He's only got 19 fights. You look at these guys, like Klitschko, and he has 60 or so fights. Arreola has 40 or so, Adamek has 40 plus fights, Sam Peter has somewhere around 38 fights, and you look at my kid and he has 19 fights. I told his people that he needs to fight and this is the first step towards realizing that; going over there and getting this fight. And if everything goes right, we'll go back and fight again on December 11th and try to get him 3, 4 or 5 fights and hopefully that helps him develop or puts us into a position or a spot that we can fit in to make a move.
PC: I have always had a great deal of respect for you, but seeing you remove him from a mandatory title shot elevated my respect, because a lot of trainers would have took the big payday and cared less about the result. What is the process for you to prepare him for either Klitschko brother?
TA: The first thing is, of course, we're in the gym learning. Just a couple of months ago, we spent 5 weeks in camp, and there were camps before that, and we're learning and instilling the things that I feel needs to be put in place, as far as technical habits, as far as the things that he has to do on a consistent basis; ring identity if you will. I'm just trying to get him to develop the right habits and to have the right approach. But if those things are the bricks, then again, the cement that allows those bricks to stay in place so that they don't fall out of place is the experience; the confidence that you gain from being in the ring. You get more relaxed and more sure of yourself and when you can see things and do things without thinking about it, you start doing things automatically and you don't wait for things to happen. You go out there and you create things and you make things happen. You create things. That's what I want to do with him. I want to give him a chance to get those things in place.
I want him to be able to garner those dimensions of boxing. If you look at these other guys that I just mentioned, the Klitschkos, Peter, Adamek and Arreola, you can choose whatever name you want to throw out there and I can tell you they have lots of flaws. They do lots of things wrong. Klitschko's stand up straight and will pull back straight and they fall in to grab you. Arreola is not hard to hit. Adamek, you can find him too with right hands. Peter is a guy who is not always consistent in certain areas, and we saw that again on Saturday; mentally, and sometimes even technically. But one thing that they all do which allows them to be successful is they consistently know what they do well. Peter understands he can punch, so he tries to put pressure on his opponents and let off his big punches. Klitschko's understand the physical dimension that they bring to the table and the physical advantages that they happen to have, so they fight on the outside, control range and they put you in a place that's bad for you and good for them. They make you walk in a bad neighborhood and before you can get into a good neighborhood, they grab you if you get to a place where they're not comfortable inside or hit you with a right hand. Arreola, for all of his faults, he puts pressure on you. He throws a lot of punches. Adamek will fight in spots and then he can box and mix it up a little bit. He can use his legs a little bit and then the spots where he has to engage you, he will engage you. But every single one of them understands what their strengths are. They understand that and recognize that and they embrace that and they are consistent with those strengths, from the first bell to the last bell. You may beat them because you exploit those weaknesses, but they will bring their strengths to the table every time they get in the ring and you can be sure they will be consistent with those strengths. They will make a living with those strengths and they will win or lose with those strengths because they have enough experience to know what it is that they have to depend on. And they know they can depend on it. My guy has not gotten to that point yet. He's not completely sure of what he can depend on all the way through a fight at a high level of competition. The next 3 or 4 fights will help him, I hope, to understand that.
PC: When I spoke to Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, it was like reading one of your old interviews when you were training Michael Grant. Once a fighter has been taken out of the game mentally, like I believe Grant was, is it even possible to come back from that?
TA: It's very difficult because, first of all, Michael never had the amateur experience. He never had the existence in the sport from an early stage and an early age where you get that mental capacity to be sure of yourself in the domains of boxing. He never had that cloth of understanding what a fighter who has been fighting since he was 12 years old, that has a 100 amateur fights or so, like the Klitschkos and all of these guys have. There are certain areas where mentally and emotionally, he's not sure where he belonged. He never had the background to get that confidence and understand what it's about. He never got that on-the-job training because he had very little amateur experience. I don't think that he really ever garnered that understanding, that continence understanding of what a fighter understands who started fighting young. He never understood that landscape to that degree. When you start late and you start trying to catch up in those areas...it's one thing to be trying to catch up as far as technique and getting to the physical areas where you need to advance, but it's another thing when you haven't had that kind of background mentally. And then you start to gain a little confidence like he was, but it's not the real thing. It's almost like, instead of being Levi Denim jeans, it's knockoff denim jeans. It's not the real thing. Instead of being Nestlé's Chocolate, it's an off brand that tastes just a little different. It's not the real thing.
He was undefeated and starting to gain a little confidence as a pro, but you hadn't had that real drenched in fight where you put your feet in the ground and that real confidence from that amateur background. You're thinking, "maybe I can do this," and then all of a sudden, you get in the Golota fight and you get dropped. You show terrific instinct, pretty good heart and you come back in that fight. Part of the reason you come back is because the other guy is so mentally warped and so mentally bankrupt that you are able to come back in that fight, but to your credit, you get dropped early in that fight, you come off the floor and win that fight. And then you go into the Lennox Lewis fight and, like I said, you never really had that real thing. You never really had that confidence that the fighters who had that amateur background had. you just started to get a different kind of confidence, the confidence of learning on the job, but it wasn't the real thing and then it gets shattered in the Golota fight and you are starting to wonder whether or not you belong there and then you get blitz by Lennox Lewis. You get destroyed in that fight and you never really completely heel. Even though you are physically okay, and you still have some ability, and you have some good guidance, and they do a good job with you; they go over all of the technical things that you need to go over and they map out a comeback, and you check all of the engines before you go back up in that plane and the wings are working, the flaps are working and everything is working, but there is one problem, the pilot is not sure that he can still fly the plane. The pilot never got over that crash and he never completely heeled from the crash.
I just don't think that Michael never really got back the confidence that he needed to have to where he could put it all together. He never got to the level of the guys that had the real Levi jeans and not the knockoff ones. That's what those guys did. They boxed when they were 10 years old or 11 years old and I don't think Michael ever got that. And it's something that, no matter what your physical attributes are and no matter how much help you get with a trainer, that's something that is more important than all of the other things. I think that the shortcomings of that are when you saw Michael in the fight with Adamek. Physically, he was capable of winning that fight. He was capable of doing things and being right there with Adamek and maybe even be ahead of Adamek, but he didn't do those things. He didn't throw punches. He threw punches very sparingly. He waited for opportunities and allowed other things to happen while he was waiting. He missed opportunities. Again, it's not because he's lazy, it's not because he's physically past a point where he can pull the trigger, it's not because he doesn't have the athletic ability to do it, it's because he doesn't have the mental capacity, the confidence or the belief to do it. And that is something that is very difficult to ever really concur.
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