Legendary trainer Teddy Atlas once revealed who he believes to be the best fighter that he ever worked with.
Atlas began his career working as a trainer during the late 1970s after he was forced to put an end to his amateur boxing career when he sustained a serious back injury.
He initially worked as an assistant to Cus D’Amato, although this working relationship came to an end in 1982 after there was a disagreement between Atlas and soon-to-be heavyweight great Mike Tyson.
Atlas would go on to play a key role in the career of former unified heavyweight champion Michael Moorer, who captured the WBA and IBF titles with an impressive victory over Evander Holyfield in April of 1994.
He would also spend some time coaching the likes of Timothy Bradley, Alexander Povetkin and Oleksandr Gvozdyk before he eventually began working as an analyst and podcaster.
Speaking to The Ring Magazine, Atlas made no mistake in naming Wilfred Benitez as the greatest fighter that he ever had the pleasure of training, branding the Puerto Rican great as a ‘special fighter’.
“Sometimes you go to the Academy Awards and one movie wins all the awards. What are you gonna do? That would be Benitez. Anyone who could beat Roberto Duran, amongst many other great fighters, that’s a pretty good resume. I would say Benitez overall was the package. He was a special fighter.”
Widely considered to be one of the greatest Puerto Rican fighters of all time, Benitez captured world titles across three weight classes throughout the course of his 17-year professional career.
Benitez also remains the youngest world champion in the history of the sport, achieving this feat when he defeated WBA world super lightweight champion Antonio Cervantes at just 17-years and 176-days old back in March of 1976.
