Peter Alson & Teddy Atlas 
Atlas [EPUB ebook] 
From the Streets to the Ring: A Son’s Struggle to Become a Man

This autobiography of the legendary boxing trainer and commentator "is a winner, on all cards, from the first to the final bell" (The Boston Globe).In this gritty, spellbinding tale, Atlas recounts his fascinating life-as a juvenile delinquent on the streets of Staten Island; as a boxer and Golden Gloves champion under the tutelage of famed trainer Cus D’Amato; as a companion to the dangerous, unpredictable Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, up until the day Gravano turned rat and brought down crime boss John Gotti; and as a trainer of champions and contenders, among them fourteen-year-old Mike Tyson and heavyweight Michael Moorer, whom he led to the crown with a win over Evander Holyfield.Equally engrossing are Teddy Atlas’s accounts of training dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp for her successful comeback at age forty-two; his work with actor Willem Dafoe, preparing him for his role as a concentration camp boxer in the film Triumph of the Spirit; his journey to Poland to choreograph the film’s boxing scenes; and his own performance in movies such as Play It to the Bone. In sharing his stories, Atlas reveals the philosophy by which he lives.Like Teddy Atlas-inimitable, tough, honest, and wise-this book inspires. It is about so much more than boxing. It is a story of overcoming hardships, of compassion for those in need, of tremendous personal integrity, and of personal and professional triumph."It’s all here-the good, the bad, and the ugly of Teddy Atlas . . . captured so faithfully and forcefully." -The New York Times Book Review