Watching Friday Night Fights this weekend was very disturbing for me, because I was watching a very close friend of mine -Michael Grant- put on a lackluster performance, but still emerge victorious via 8th round knockout.

The fight was a little tough to watch because I want nothing but the best for my friend and I knew there would be a lot of unanswered questions once the fight was over. Mike is still a work in progress; he is a multi talented guy who can be good at almost anything he chooses. Grant could be a singer, you should hear him belt out tunes like I have in many occasions while we ride in his car. He could have played professional baseball; he also could have played professional basketball had he chosen to, which was my suggestion to him, at 6 ft 7 inches tall he can handle the ball like a guard, and can dunk with flair that is rarely seen in a man his size. But what I like most about Mike is that he is a very articulate, very intelligent young man who is very sure of himself.

We have talked about any and everything, and although I am a little older, his conversation is that of a man who has had a well traveled life, not like a guy in his early twenties. On Friday night I saw my friend ridiculed and made to look as though he couldn't speak for himself, as Teddy Atlas took center-stage and never let go.

I thought it was Grant who had just finished fighting, yet he wasn't able to get a word in edgewise as Teddy continued to badger and belittle the fighter as if he had just been knocked out. Teddy's colleagues only added to the situation by allowing him to run on. However, I was thankful Scott Ledeux felt inclined to remind Teddy his fighter had just won and had done some good things in the ring in the process.

I think Teddy took up too much of the interview, making it impossible for Mike to speak out in defense of his performance. Teddy had talked negatively for so long it appeared as if Mike didn't really know what to say other than buy into what Teddy beat him over the head with. Atlas controlled the entire situation.

Teddy has a history of going a little overboard with theatrics sometimes. Who can forget when he pulled out his cell phone in the middle of a Heavyweight Championship fight, while in Michael Moorer's corner, saying to Moorer, and I paraphrase, your son is on the phone and he is sad because of the way his daddy is performing in the ring right now. That was way too much! If Moorer is a good father to his son, the child won't care if he wins or loses; he would just want his dad to come home to him when it's over.

It is possible that perhaps Teddy is trying to one day look back in the annals of Greatest Sports Moments and see himself on the screen, similarly to Knute Rocknee, Vince Lombardi and Angelo Dundee, to name a few. Everyone remembers the words Dundee shouted to Sugar Ray Leonard during his heated battle with Thomas Hearns: "You're blowing it, son, you're blowing it!" ... and Leonard went on to stop Tommy Hearns. Realistically, who can account for how many times Dundee said the same thing to one of his lesser fighters and he came up short. The statement is only great because the moment was caught on tape.

I have a great deal of respect for Teddy as a person; haven't dealt one on one with him as a trainer but he needs to tone down the theatrics. Can the fighter say something?

4-19-2003

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