D'Amato Quotes

D'Amato is known for his many quotes, such as "a fighter has to know fear" and "to see a man beaten not by a better opponent but by himself is a tragedy". Another inspiring quote of his is "The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. Its the same thing, fear, but its what you do with it that matters". These quotes provide a good window into the training mindset of D'Amato. He worked to give his fighters the tools necessary to face fear and persevere. In doing so he created some of the best boxers the world has ever known. His humanitarian ways combined with his boxing insight helped troubled kids become world champions. D'Amato will best be remembered by boxing fans as always putting boxing first in his life, and creating great champions in the process.

D'amato's Training of Teddy Atlas

Besides being an excellent instructor of boxers, D'Amato also developed some great boxing trainers, most notably Teddy Atlas. Atlas was trained by D'Amato as an amateur until a back injury stopped him from boxing. He then became an assistant to D'Amato. He helped to train Mike Tyson until the fifteen year old Tyson supposedly exposed himself to Atlas' thirteen year old niece. Atlas threatened Tyson with a gun and D'Amato then barred Atlas from working with him. Despite their estrangement after this incident, D'Amato's coaching style is readily apparent in Atlas' training methods. Atlas is most known for the training of Micheal Morrer and Alexander Povetkin.

Following is a link to Altas' book Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring: A Son's Struggle to Become a Man. http://books.google.com/books?id=IGBuHKuH49gC&printsec=frontcover&dq=teddy+atlas&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Tyson and D'Amato

Tyson and D'Amato began their relationship after the rebellious Tyson was sent to reform school in upstate New York and was introduced to D'Amato by one of the staff members at the reform school. By this time D'Amato was running a gym in Catskill, New York( The gym still exists. This is the link to its website:http://www.catskillboxinggym.com/#/welcome/4530643893) . Before he met Cus he had had no formal boxing training. At the age of 16, Tyson's mother died and D'Amato became Tyson's legal guardian. Tyson, along with other aspiring fighters, all lived together with D'Amato. Tyson's gifted natural ability along with D'amato's tutelage in the peek-a- boo style helped Tyson to quickly rise in the ranks and win the heavy weight championship of the world in 1986 at age 20. Tyson had become the youngest heavy weight champion ever.

Cus would not live to see his last great fighter capture the title, having passed away in 1985. Many say that the death of D'Amato eventually led Tyson to the destructive path that would end his career. D'Amato was the only role model and father figure that Tyson ever had. The picture at the top of this entry shows the love that Tyson had for D'Amato. D'Amato's tutelage transformed Tyson into one of the best fighters in the world. Its just too bad that his death led Tyson down the path that it did. Here is a link to Tyson training with D'Amato. Notice the slipping and rapid combinations of the peek-a-boo style. Tyson could throw a four punch combination in under a second. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QAcB2GhFns

This in a link to another video highlighting Tyson's boxing career as well as showing some photos and video of him and Cus.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63BNA4Bnx5I

Video of Cus with Muhammed Ali

This is a link to an interesting video discussing the strategy that Joe Frazier will use against Ali. This video demonstrates the vast knowledge and skills and made D'Amato one of the best trainers in the world. In the video Ali refers to D'Amato as "The Scholar of Boxing". Cus must have been good for Ali to say this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrWlHDYDkjg

Early Life as a Trainer and Floyd Patterson

After opening his first gym in 1930, Cus worked with many young aspiring boxers, searching for one that he could turn into a world champion. It was not until years later that his hard work paid off in the discovery of Floyd Patterson.

Cus worked with Patterson intensively, tutoring him in the peek-a-boo style. D'Amato's training helped Patterson capture the 1952 Olympic Gold Medal in the Middle Weight Division at seventeen years of age. Shortly after his Olympic victory, Patterson turned pro. During his early professional career, Patterson had fought as a light heavyweight, but after the retirement of heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano, D'Amato announced that his fighter would be moving up to heavyweight in order to take place in the tournament to crown Marciano's successor. On November 30, 1956 Patterson beat Archie Moore and became the heavy weight champion of the world. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCUkqyfUjTU

At twenty one years of age, Patterson was the youngest fighter ever to win the heavy weight championship. Much of the credit for this victory and Patterson's success as a fighter can be given to D'Amato whose peek-a- boo tactics are clearly visible in Patterson's victory over Moore (The link above is to that bout). Patterson would go on to fight tile defenses against fighters such as Brian London and Tom McNeely while Cus steered his fighter away from more legitimate challengers like Eddie Machen. Patterson lost his title to Ingemar Johansson of Sweden in 1959 but won it back in a rematch.

D'Amato would also not agree to a bout between Patterson and Sonny Liston, sighting Liston's underworld connections. D'Amato was always wary of corrupt organizations such as the International Boxing Club of New York (which was eventually found in violation of anti trust laws) and did not allow his fighters to be matched with anyone promoted by them. This decision kept Patterson away from some of the best competition. Eventually Patterson was able to pressure D'Amato into letting him fight Liston. Patterson wound up losing twice to Liston; both times by knockout. After the second loss to Liston D'Amato and Patterson went their separate ways. Patterson would continue to fight until 1972, fighting three more times in title bouts including one against Muhammad Ali. Patterson was not able to win and was therefore not able to be the first man to win the heavy weight title three times.

D'Amato took the young, somewhat troubled (Patterson had spent two years in reform school as a boy) Patterson and transformed him into a heavy weight champion. There is no denying D'Amato's profound influence on Patterson's career, from the unique boxing style taught by him to the managment of Patterson. An article published in Life Magazine describes D'Amato's giving spirit:http://books.google.com/books?id=rEEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=constantine+cus+d+amato&source=bl&ots=-pjVDCs6gj&sig=D5MK0cHfZtYPA3Kv-vRIbQKfk8U&hl=en&ei=xv7JS7KANMa78gas8Z2oCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CA4Q6AEwBDgU#v=onepage&q=constantine%20cus%20d%20amato&f=false D'Amato gave every boy that came into his gym the chance to train free of charge. For some like Floyd Patterson it would come to pay off. In would not be for many years until D'Amato found his next gem in the likes of Mike Tyson.

General Information

Cus D'Amato was born in 1908 in New York City and opened his first boxing gym at the age of twenty two. His accomplishments include the training of the two youngest heavyweight champions; Floyd Patterson and Mike Tyson. He pioneered the peek-a-boo style of boxing, which requires slipping punches followed by fast combinations.

Besides being a world class trainer, he was also somewhat of a humanitarian. He never charged a fee to those he trained in his gyms. He even took boys into into his home, such as Mike Tyson. To some he was their only father figure. D'Amato was always on a quest to find the next champion, but at the same time did not shy away from assisting young boxers in need. Cus D'Amato died in 1985. (This is an obituary of Cus D'Amato in the L.A. Times http://articles.latimes.com/1985-11-06/sports/sp-4777_1_boxing-club.)

Following this post will be other posts concerning his life as well as his training of his two most notable fighters, Floyd Patterson and Mike Tyson, along with Internet links and video clips.