Teddy Atlas has described Manny Pacquiao as a “freak” and says planning a strategy to combat the range of weapons in the Filipino’s arsenal keeps him awake at night.
Atlas, who had forged a successful career as an analyst for ESPN, was coaxed back into training by Tim Bradley last year, working his corner for the 32-year-old’s successful WBO welterweight title defence against Brandon Rios.
The 59-year-old Atlas said he had not anticipated returning to training following his acrimonious split with Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin in 2012. However a chance meeting with Bradley on a radio show last year brought the two together and they are now plotting to spoil Pacquiao’s farewell at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night (start: 05:00 UAE, approx).
“The combination of speed and power that Manny has is uncommon. When you’re competing against someone like Manny you see the obvious – the explosion of ability, the straight left hand, the right hook, the quickness, the surges, the hurricane of punches that come at you,” Atlas explained.
“But you don’t see what comes before the storm. I don’t do much but I hope I can help my fighters see what comes before the storm. That’s what keeps me up at night.”
Atlas, a father to two grown up children, says that training Bradley has been like rediscovering parenthood and the anxieties it brings.
“I didn’t want to be a parent again. I got two beautiful kids,” he said. “I never pictured myself worrying about a 32-year-old son who is now doing things that can be risky. So I have to guide him, and make sure that he gets through it OK, and see that he gets home alright.”
Atlas has forged a close bond with Bradley since the California-based fighter asked him to train him last year. Atlas was initially apprehensive, questioning whether he still had the passion for the trade.
“So I went out to Palm Springs to spend a couple of days with Timmy. And I saw him as a father of five children, I saw him as a husband, and I saw a person that I liked and that I felt good to be around,” Atlas said.
“And I went to the gym with him and he was excited and enthused and he couldn’t wait to learn things. I showed him some things.
“And he said ‘I think you should still be teaching in this business. I need you’. And when he said ‘I need you’ I think it spoke to the most basic part of myself. It awakened something. And I was actually happy in the gym again.”
