YouSaid · the spoken record

Teddy Atlas

lines on the record: 143
first: 2023-12-24
most recent: 2023-12-24
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I've been given credit for being brave in certain spots in life. I hope Brave when it comes time to leave life. I hope I can be, you know, and that's, you know, that's just, I feel honest as you can be about it. I hope I can be so far, so good. You know, when I've had to be certain things, I was scared to freaking death, I found a way to be them for the most part. I figured when that day comes. I figured that out too”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Just by remembering that I'm still trying to. Forgive myself for the things that I came up short with. And if I haven't figured that out yet, it's probably okay. To They didn't figure it out yet. They didn't get it. They didn't figure it out. And if I couldn't figure it out and I'm still trying to figure out. Maybe I could get over that. Inertial stabbing of what it feels like, it does feel kind of like a stabbing that you feel when you betrayed initially and that you could only think of anger, revenge, hatred. I know things, I'm not proud of that, but... I felt all those things, you know, and I still feel them sometimes. And then I go back and say, hey, you're still working at forgiving yourself for some things. Try to remember that kid. You know. Is an important thing. Forgetfulness is pretty important too.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Think of what you learned from it. It's a roadmap. Remember to think back of how you got there. Now you got to the place where you got betrayed. And how that person got to that place. Try to remember that in your own journey”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Loyalty is your chance. Have a fulfilled life. Loyalty should chance Have strength To have all the things you need to have a good life, to be a good parent. A good husband Good grand Hopefully be a good role model. Loyal Loyalty is if you could find something to drink. Taken to your body Make you prepared for life to be all the things that you want to be. Be strong enough to be those things. Loyalty would be the thing you would drink. And when I say loyal I mean unequivocally. I mean, you know, unconditionally. Not conveniently. Obviously, you know that. You could be loyal You could be a good person. You could be a person that you would actually like to be around. Because you could be a person, you could rely on. And I think that's one of the greatest Assets that a human being can have.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Everything you can The best of your ability every day. To like yourself Give yourself a reason. Actually, I'd like to be friends with that guy.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And some people face this test because they're able to pass that test because there's not really a test, not for them because it doesn't speak to their weakness. But it's the test that speaks to the weakness. That's the one. This one, I get it. I get what it spoke to, because you know what? At the end of the day, I forgive you. That I feel bad for you. I feel bad that you were put in that position after you lived your life that way and that you taught that and you preached that from the mountaintops that you had to be You had to Not going to use the wor That you had to fail yourself and that you had to somehow know that before you died. I just prayed that you didn't know that. And you still don't know that because you were great. You've given me some. You're giving me some too. to aspire towards. To try Try to be less weak Try to”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Isn't that interesting? Yeah. And why did he think that Yeah, but yeah, fears at the essence of everything is connected with everything. Fear of losing what he was going to lose. But it was more than fear. It was him not believing in the things that he told me he believed in. He didn't even know that Believed in me because I was this stand up guy because I because I didn't sell myself because I didn't freaking turn evidence. I didn't make a deal. And that's why I went to court. That's why he stood up for me. And I appreciate it. And that was what he lived by. And that was his, you know, those were the blocks of being a man. Oh, so much for those blocks”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Really fuck up your thinking to the point where you're smarter than that. You're better than that. That you would actually think you got a freaking offer me a freaking Pieces of silver? You really think that that's what you freak you like all that you told me that you love me and that we was the young master and all this and you think you were going to buy me? And I was going to, and that was going to keep me quiet. How about I would keep quiet because I would always keep quiet.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And then when people said to me, oh, you would stand up because it was around a little bit. It was around in the circles. And then we'll be like, oh, ho, stand up, Teddy. He didn't care about the money. I said, stand up, Teddy, what are you talking about? How about just realistic Teddy? How about I live in a real world that I was never going to get that money? So I'm standing up to something that I knew never existed. So I ain't stand up. Not in that way. I am in other ways, maybe, but don't put a medal on my chest for that. Because that never existed. Was never meant to exist, but he didn't even understand. That was the one thing that really disappointed me and cuss. I was like, cuss, you really allowed this to get to you where you've allowed it to...”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Was an escape clause. For cuss. It was an insurance policy that his, you know, this kid wouldn't be taken away from. And thank God he wasn't. I wasn't going to go and say nothing. They didn't have to worry about it because I forgot who I was. Forgot why he went to court for me? Because of those characteristics that he said he loved, and he noticed and that he admired. Didn't lose those characters. He forgot that that was me. He forgot who he was talking to. He didn't have to do that. How about that's why I told him to shove it up his eye? Not because of the other insult.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Maybe because it's now. I don't know. So he sent this man. That, you know, obviously we both knew. And he said, here's the deal, Teddy. If no talk about this, wants it to disappear, basically, you leave and he will give you 5% his word. Can you imagine? He will give you 5% of Tyson's earnings for the rest of his career. But I don't regret it one bit because it wouldn't have happened anyway. See, that's where I could be honest with my people say, oh, stand-up guy. Because I don't shove it where the, you know. In that place and tell Cus to shove it in that freaking place, you know, I was mad. Teddy, Teddy, don't get angry. Don't get angry. Are you out of here? Are you serious? Get out of here. Tell him to go shove it over. And, you know, my wife was like, huh, but. And then people like, get, why didn't you take the deal? It wasn't a deal.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The state's still overlooking it. If he ain't living the right life, you know. Got to be mumbled. He came out, you know, he came out of a jail So we form school. But if he ain't living, he could be taken away from Cus. What's not living a right life? He wasn't in school no more. They didn't know about it. He had some things that were going on. We won't get into that right now in school and different things, whatever. And he had his trainer put a gun to his head. That is so good. If a report came back to them that that happened, He would have been taken away from cuss. That couldn't happen. Nobody knows this. I talk about a little bit, but never probably, because why would I? I don't know. Why am I doing it now? I don't know because I don't know. Because I am. Because it's now. Because it's now, maybe.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He sent a message to me, cuss sent a guide to me. My wife was pregnant. We were living in an apartment in Catskill and Cordova Skill Road. Went through all this, and I was getting ready to move to Staten. We still were there for a little while before we did. You know, after all this went down. Sent a guy to The house secret, whatever you want to call it, my wife, me. So I'd listen I said if you leave I'm a messenger, you know, whatever, if you leave This was in the aftermath of what the gun, the whole thing. You got to remember, Tice was a ward of the state. He was put in Cuss's custody. Cuss was looking to adopt him. Obvious reasons, so he had control and he loved them. How dare I say anything less? I But it made sense But he was awarded the state still. Do you know what that means? There's rules.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I don't know if Tyson could ever come to grips with that. And it's not his job to. It's my job not to hide from it. I know cousin Dimensions that other people just Only thing they”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's deep, but I know that's oh God. I hate myself right now. Because he knew he was getting out free. He knew he was going to not have to be there. He was getting off easy. Oh, Teddy, how do you say someone's going to be dead? They're getting off easy. I say it again in case you didn't hear me, all right? He was going to get off easy and not have to face where he came up short because he did his job because he put forward the greatest fight of all time. And you guys screwed it up. And he knew that that might happen, but you guys screwed it up. And whatever, that's your fault. That's on. I tell you, Tyson would be mad at this, but that's on Tys How could you say that, Teddy? He loved me. I'm not saying he didn't love you, but he loved him other stuff too.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Willing to concede that he might be dead in order to have eternal life, in order to have greatness, which cause does have greatness. And part of that greatness is attached to Tyson. And he deserves it. He deserves it because he was a great man. And I wouldn't be here partly without him.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Knew more than I did of what was about to come and what would come and what the world was, but how people would try to steal them, how people would take them, how people would steal his guy. The last thing he had to Really The thing that he lived for because he lived to have another heavyweight champ. The greatest fighter ever cast his mind. He could be. And I believe Knew that He could put forward a guy that had the ability to be the greatest fighter ever without fully completing the mission of what it takes to really be great, but that he wouldn't be around to have to witness it. That Man, this is awful.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm going to again full disclosure it's important, right? I'm going to cheat. I'm going to take some of Cuss's wisdom. A little bit of Cuss told somebody that. Teddy Atlas got his way. He might have been a better person, but we would have risked him not being a great fighter. I believe, and I thought cust did. I think he did up to that point in his life. That part of your strength of character made you a great fighter and truly a great fighter and part of that battle to be a better person, that fight, if you will, to be a better person, to overcome them, to be a better person. Part of that fire you have to go through to be a better person. I really, truly bought into it, and I'm in for life. That is really the only way to be a great fighter. And I don't think that's what Cuss meant. I think he meant that”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I know I'm going to cut you right off because you asked a million dollar question. I wish you didn't, but you did. You did.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Everything So I will take it back. All right, all you guys out there, you forgive me, he's the greatest of all time if you encapsulate all that. If you encapsulate everything I just tried to describe and explain, if you put that off, he's the greatest of all time. Yeah, he is. But he still might be 0-5. A record of 55 fights, he might, and Teddy Atlas's book. Again, I got friends at both places. So it's okay. Where have I go? I have company. Somebody there will like me despite me saying this. He might be owned five because of five fights where there was something overcome which really defines a fight. He didn't find a way.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And he has become greater after his career, more loved, more beloved, more awed, and he's been forgiven. He found the fountain of forgiveness. I don't know, I wish I could find that where he has been forgotten for all his shortcomings, all the things that he may have done may not have done. We don't know, only him and God know. But he's been forgiven of all that, and he's been not only forgiven. He's rised above it and above that and been brought above that. He's been brought to the pyramids of The greatest athletes in the world. And in every way, in every way, as a person, as a fighter, as a historian. As a figure. As a celebrity I mean”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I don't want to do that to me. I think he was a great talent. I think maybe the night with Michael Sphinx, maybe the night with Mike, maybe he could have been that fighter. But he never really get tested. But he might have been ready no matter what. To be tested that night. That's how good he was. That's how, even though it was a guy who used to be a light heavyweight, I get it. But we're still a guy who beat Larry Holmes, who still had something left, Michael Spinks. And a great puncher, and an Olympic gold medalist. And a special fighter, one of the great light heavyweights of all time. You know what Mike Tyson was? He was a meteor. He was a meteor that struck across and not too many meteors. And we still talk about him. And unlike Haley's comment, he came back And he's walking around.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I thought it was good. Listen. Mike Tyson. You want me to say he was a great fighter? Then you want me to betray what I really, you know what I mean? You want me to do that? I ain't doing it for, listen, I could do it to be a bigger teddy atlas and I know it would work for me. I know it would do great promotional work for me. I know it would make me more popular in certain areas. I know it. I'm not that dumb. Not that dumb. I also know what else it would do to me.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't want to have that fear. I don't want to have that fear. You know, whether I'm going down there or whether I'm going up there, you know, I laugh because I was around guys years ago that used to, when we talk about that and just, you know, and we get a kick out of this one guy who'd been around the blog a few times when hey, Teddy, I ain't worried about that. I got friends in both places.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“How I would have felt I don't want to be in solitary confinement the rest of my life with that freaking guy in a cell next to me called regret. I don't figure want to be next to that guy. If I want to go down that road, I'll watch Papillon. You know what I mean? And I'll give my fill from that. But I don't want to freaking live it. I'm afraid of what my children would think of me if I fail in those areas. Why? Because That's I'm closing my eyes for the last time.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's all the figure matters. And somehow that got freaking wrapped into this freaking head of mine. Like, that's what matters. That's all that matters. You know how many times I went and there were things, whether it was with this one, with Tyson, with that. I didn't want to be there. I was scared to death. But I was more scared. I was more”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's gone in the air in an instant. It's gone. It's done. Whether you stand up there and you get shot in the head and the guy freaking blows your brains out or you freaking you stand up or you're fighting a guy who's like a scary guy to fight, but you fight him and you beat him or he beats you up. how you Represented yourself. That moment All that matters. That's going to live. What happened don't matter. Don't matter that you got shot in the head. I know that sounds absurd. But if you believe that was important to stand up and take the chance to get shot in the freaking head rather than to live like an empty vessel? You know what”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, legacy, whatever that is, but our reputation. That's what we're left with. And that's all our kids are left with. I wanted to be as good as it can be. Always had an ability, I've done a lot of things wrong and I've had a lot of lackings. The one strength I've had if I had a strength. To understand somehow. To osmosis, I guess, to learn the lesson. That was important Not what's in funny for those five seconds for that moment in life. What's left behind you Those five seconds are gone. Whatever it is that you're dealing with, you know, whatever that moment is, whatever, that moment, what you do in that moment The action of that moment is going to stay with you. And be you. It's going to become you. What you face for that moment. It's gone”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I understand. Hate me. Oh, you're a hater because you weren't with him. You didn't make the money because this, because that, because you got betrayed. Think I'm better than that. I hope I'm better than that. I believe I'm better than that. I'm not a hater. I've broadcast fights for 25 years on ESPN where there were some people in the corner I did not like. And if they did a good job, this guy's doing a great job. And then there were guys that I liked and I had friendship. He messed up. And we weren't friends no more. Friendship got to be tested. Remember that? So we weren't friends no more. But why did I do that? Because it was my job More important for me. When it's all over with, the only thing you're left with is I mean, we're going to be dust all of us, right? The only thing we're left with is what carries on our reputation.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, all right, let's just say arbitrarily. I don't have his record for me. Let's say it was 55 and 5. I know he had about five losses. All right. Let's say he was 55 and 5, right? A lot of knockouts. I have a saying of fight's not a fight until there's something to overcome until then it's just an athletic exhibition contest yeah who's a better athlete who's got more quick twitch fibers who's who who who's more developed who's in better this who's a who's more developed in those physical areas but a fight is not a fight until there's something to overcome okay So if you go by my definition, not Webster's, my definition, which I think means something. Mike Tyson was only in five fights in his life. Five fights where there was something to overcome. He didn't over Now, I know people hate me for this, including Tyson.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And he wasn't. And then that night got followed by another night with Holy Field. As big as Mudza Puncha. Holyfield had the character. He was strong in ways that Tyson wasn't strong. He was strong in a way where... He could find a way. He was willing to find a way. He's willing to go to the cliff to truly die before he submitted. You know, a lot of stuff is just worse. Yeah, they're going to have to carry me out on the shield. Yeah, sure, sure. Okay. Yeah, until it comes time to be carried out on the shield. Sometimes there's people that actually mean it.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was all those things. Always was. But he quit in fights. He did less than he should have done. He never lived up to his ability. He gave in. He submitted. He wasn't strong enough. He never had a reason to be strong enough. When his mother died, he had a reason. Nothing could hurt him as much as his mother dying hurt him. Mike Tyson included. That night, Mike Tyson could not hurt him as much as his mother had hurt him by dying. That night he had a reason to be strong for his mother. And he was strong. It was everything he was supposed to be and more. And he stood up to Mike. And Mike, for the first time, maybe ever, was in a fight where he had to overcome something, where he had to be more than talented, more than a puncher. More than a guy with scintillating speed.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Buzz the Douglas matched his will and didn't get intimidated, stood up to him. He didn't do what most people did. He didn't submit even a little bit. Not that night. He had in the past. But that night he didn't. Why? Because Buster had... Was that a secret weapon that night? His mother His mother died a few months previous. He loved his mother very much. Busta had always had talent, big heavyweight, talented, captured, technically solid”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“not rely on someone's healthless weakness to be strong. Be strong on your own. Too often he relied on other people's weakness, whether it's to. By being intimidated, or whether it was because his talent was so much greater than theirs that it was like putting a monster truck in there with a Volkswagen. And the Volkswagen was going to get crushed no matter how much horsepower the Volkswagen might have had under the hood and you put under the hood. It was going to get crushed. The monster truck was not going to allow it to be a contest Be able to find a way when your talent wasn't enough. He didn't find a way when his talent wasn't enough. And I'm not making statements if I'm not ready to put some evidence, you know, like if we were in a courtroom exhibit A, when he fought Buster Douglas,”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Love he was I know he was sensational. I know he was the greatest mix of maybe speed and pow ever Know he was one of the greatest punchers from either side of the plate left or right. There's been great punches with just the right hand, like Ernie Shavers and Deontay Wilder and Max Bear. I don't know if there's ever been anyone who could punch as good as he did on either side with either hand other than Joe Lewis and a few others. I don't know if there's ever been such a combination of speed and power to that pure level that he had. And it was a pure level. I don't know if there was ever as good a fighter as Tyson was for maybe one night he was great where he wasn't tested, but he might have been ready to be tested at one night against Michael Spinx when he took him apart 90 seconds. I think I saw a great fighter that night.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think so I think so so far. You know, I can only go so far, it's kind of like that old joke, you know, where the guy jumps off the Empire State Building. He's going, you know, 80th floor, 70th floor, 60th floor, 50. And he gets past the 50th floor, and they're looking out the window, and he goes, how am I doing? So far, so good. I don't know where it's going to end, but um.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“All right, I'm in price. Don't try to get demolish part right. It's enough that you got me. That's enough. Yeah, I said, and I'm not going to do that. And He helped me in crazy ways where there would be times where I wanted to be, you know, where you wanted to be, whatever, right? Convenient, weak, submit, right? And then all of a sudden... In my mind, Cuss was there with the stopwatch. And I'd be like. No, you know where I was about to say yes to whatever that. Situation was.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And he goes, yeah. He timed it. And he looks, he goes, We couldn't have got from here to there. That amount of time, unless you were going 75 miles an hour. And I'm like.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What did I say earlier? Tried to do less submitting. Really, in all faces, try to submit a little less. Try to lie a little less today. A little less Get stronger. Try to get a little better. So here we are, and we drive. And all of a sudden, what did I do? 80, 75, probably. Probably All of a sudden he wakes up. I lie. No, I wasn't. I'm not like you lied again. You were speeding. Come on. This guy, he's, you know what I mean? He's, he's. He's unbelievable. So I got to freaking, you know, he's David Copperfield. I want to know the trick. I want to know how he freaking he made this thing disappear. So I said What are you talking? How do you know? He goes, I timed you. I looked at the post number and I'm like, what? I looked at the post number on the side of the road where we were, whatever miles. And I never knew they even existed.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because I was the only one who would argue with him. And it was really funny sometimes. And I said, We or me, you were, he goes, I don't get cuz you're lost. I'm lost. What are you talking about? And then all of a sudden, Cuss couldn't give in. He just couldn't admit. He couldn't give in. You know what he said to me? All of a sudden he goes, when I was in the army, if I had accomplished, I could get out of the woods. I said, we're not in the woods. We're not in the army. We don't have a compass. Cus. Don't argue with me. One time we're driving. I want to get back to Casco. We just finished at the Bronx. It's been a long day. You know, visiting the murderers in houses and everything else that he took me through for the 1800th time. And he would fall asleep. He was getting older. And he would just fall asleep in a car.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I guess so. And I just hope that... I said earlier, Israeli. It's really my thread through this whole thing when you say, can you forgive Cuss? Still trying to forgive myself. And If I can have hope that I can forgive myself, I think that hope has to start. With the palate to forgive someone else. How can I ever forgive myself for all my failings and figure it out if I can't start and practice it? Forgiving someone else for some shortcomings. And for me That's the only sense of sometimes a very hard thing to make sense of. That's my North Star. That's my compass, cuss just to make me laugh. You know, me and him did everything together. And we get lost in the city. We get lost in a frustrated. And he said, Atlas, you're a great trainer. But you turn you around, you spin you around, and you're lost. And I said, me or we.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Listen, I forgive them because He gave me more than he took away from me. If I can, what kind of man am I at least acknowledge that I'd be grateful for that? He gave me more than he took from me. And I'm grateful for that. I'm also grateful for what I gave him. I had give him something. And at that point in his life, you know, A place to still Still have test tubes and chemistry experiments, you know, a laboratory where it could still create great fire. And I helped give them that. I was part of that lab and making sure that lab was there. And just that there was the existence of test tubes in the place because you can't freaking do experiments without test tubes.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Matter what a man says, what he does in the end that he intends to do all along. I didn't make that up cussed. And when this hall went down, Those words came freaking echoing into my freaking ears. I didn't want them. Cotton doesn't help. And they freaking kept coming into my ears. And what do you think still an immature kid at the time? You know, I was young, still an immature kid at the time. What the freak do you think my response was? You were full of But I got past that.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Someone named Teddy Atlas could have gotten in the way of that. That's a tidal wave that they ain't no wall that's been made high enough to stop that tidal wave. And now I'll stop myself. But it would have to be an awful big one. And you know what? Who are we to say that we could ever build that wall that big? Who is any of it? Who am I to say?”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And that's where Cus was. Cus was at the end of his rope. He accomplished the two world champs, all this stuff, right? Everything. And he did it right. Now all of a sudden, it wasn't about moving forward. It was about not falling down. Holy cow, I was like, I got it, cuz I got it. I got it. You didn't want to fall down. Oh my God. You didn't want to fall. And he, this was his last chance. You don't give up on life. This was his last chance to live forever. To make everything he did worthwhile, to have the youngest, it wasn't just heavyweight, Jane. You got to remember, he was the youngest heavyweight champ ever. And to have that, it was okay to die now. How's loyalty”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because I was always working to get up. Once I finally got up, now I was looking down. And I finally hit me. I said, I didn't want to lose. There was nothing to lose on my way up. Now a sudden is something to lose when you're up there, and you're going down.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh my god, I went to bed every night like praying dread, waking up dread, my stomach down to here, every saying, what if I fail them? What of everything that I told him was going to happen? Don't happen. What if I fail him? What if he trusted me and I betrayed that trust? And the thing was, you know, he used to be stronger than that. And then I tried to figure it out why I got this way and why it was so dreadful to me and why I felt like I was on death row every day trying to fight it. Like, did I do enough? Did I do right? Will we accomplish what we accomplish what I promised we would accomplish? Would I keep my word? And then I started thinking, how did I become this wef? How did I figure and become, I was a pretty strong freaking guy. How did I become this weak? And then finally, I think I figured it out. You know why?”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Was afraid to go there where he used to not be afraid because it's kind of like you're never afraid of going up. And I get it. You know, when I train and fighter now, if I come out of retirement, I train and fight it now. I feel in camp row every day that if every day I try to retrace my memory and say, did I feel this way when it was younger? I don't remember feeling this way. I feel every day a dreadful feeling that if I don't get this right, I betrayed everything. I betrayed the fight as trust. I betrayed what I'm supposed to be. And then one day I tried to figure it out why do I feel this way so intense? I was in camp for two months training a guy for the world title a couple years ago, fighting the hardest puncher in the world at the time. And Adona Stevenson.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Through it, the word came back to me. But of course, what does it mean? But the word came back to me that Cus said you were right. If he took the side of Teddy, he would destroy potentially a great fighter.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Hated him for putting me in that position. That, you know, how dare he think that somebody's feelings are that trivial? The way I would feel about myself and the way the girl would feel about herself that was 11 years old at the time, how she would feel about herself, how dare he think it's that trivial that, you know, I shouldn't be ready to freaking both die and kill for that.”
2023-12-24 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #406 – Teddy Atlas: Mike Tyson, Cus D’Amato, Boxing, Loyalty, Fear & Greatness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source