Teddy Atlas weighs in on Cotto-Pacquiao, Mayweather-Marquez

Teddy Atlas recently did a two-part interview with Doghouse Boxing (part one is here, part two is here) in which he made sure to make note of a few things:

1. He doesn't read the internet, which is (as DB interviewer David Tyler points out) the only real place for real boxing fans to discuss the sport and get their fix. God knows mainstream media doesn't put out for the sweet science.
2. Frankly, he thinks we're all stupid. Listen, I'm a Teddy Atlas fan. I think he can be a tremendous commentator (I said he was the best in the business last year), and I think Teddy's one of the truly good human beings in boxing. But his dismissal of everyone else's feelings is pretty off-putting. Just sayin'.
3. He has thoughts on Mayweather-Marquez and Cotto-Pacquiao, and those are quite relevant and meaningful.

On Cotto-Pacquiao:

It’s not the fight it would have been a couple of years ago or even a year ago. I think it could have been an interesting fight and maybe it still will be, I have no final say on it, it’s just my opinion. I just don’t think it will be the interesting fight that we want it to be or potentially on paper what it is supposed to be; a small Pacquiao fighting a bigger stronger Cotto whose primary asset is going to the body against the quicker fleeter footed small guy and wear him down. I don’t know that Cotto will be able to do that and that was one of the interesting things, big speed advantage versus a super quick fighter with a come ahead style and wear him down. That’s the interested part but it will not play out because Cotto is damaged goods. I know that some of these psychopaths are going to say, Teddy is off his rocker. I am not saying that Cotto doesn’t have heart, I’m not saying that he is not a warrior, he’s got all the heart in the world. I think he showed us he is damaged in the Clottey fight. I think that he was torn apart and ready to be taken, ready to spit the bit, and again to those psychopaths out there, save your words, I don’t listen to them and I don’t want to hear them. You have your opinion and I have mine and mine is based on being in this business my whole life. Yes Cotto is a warrior but fighters are humans first and fighters second. They are human, they have their frailties, their weak times, and they suffer from depression just like all humans do at times. Cotto was affected by the Margarito fight, his confidence was shaken, shaken to the CORE! He had doubts and those doubts were showing against Clottey and he wasn’t sure if he could handle it. Yes he won the fight but he was on the cuff, on the brink of being pushed over the cliff. In a weird way Clottey saved him because he did not act like a fighter should, he did not seize the moment, he didn’t push Cotto off the cliff, and he let him survive.

On Mayweather-Marquez:

I see it having elements of interest because there are certain areas, variables, intangibles that make it interesting. You got Mayweather who has been out of the ring over 18 months so the question is how does that year and a half affect him? You got Marquez who is a warrior and a very likeable guy and a really good fighter. You have to admire his work ethic, the guys he has fought, the way he conducts himself. You have to admire his character and the way this man has carried himself at the highest level of the sport. He will be doing everything he can to make this a fight that he can win. That reason alone will make it a good competitive fight. But the variables that come into play will be is Marquez too small, is Marquez too old, he is older and been in some tough fights, is this the night he gets old, does his skin hold up, Mayweather could maybe do a job on him from the outside he cuts him up and it doesn’t become the kind of contest that we want it to become. Also, is Mayweather coming back for the wrong reasons?

These are pretty interesting thoughts to be sure. The full interview is definitely worth reading. Even if Teddy thinks we're all "psychopaths" and malcontents that don't respect, uh, the sport or the fighters or whatever, he's a knowledgeable man to be sure, and one that has forogtten or even disregarded more about boxing than, frankly, I'll ever know. Teddy is one of a kind and a credit to the sport to be sure.

Related: The Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation