Teddy Atlas has had a keen eye on the sport from inside the ropes as an amateur, the corner as a trainer and the commentary table as an analyst.
Having been taken under the wing of legendary trainer Cus D’Amato, Atlas went on to work with the likes of Mike Tyson, Barry McGuigan, Wilfredo Benitez, Simon Brown, Shannon Briggs and Michael Moorer, who won the world heavyweight title under his tutelage.
Like most in the sport, Atlas has his own opinion on the current pound-for-pound best list. He, as with most others, regards the only men to become two-division undisputed in the four-belt era – Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk – as the top three.
Speaking on his podcast, he revealed that he has Usyk just edging the number one spot.
“Actually yeah, after that incredible fight that he unified all the titles against Fury, I came out and I made Usyk number one. And Crawford agreed. Crawford even said it himself on his own. So I had [Usyk] number one. Inoue and Crawford are right up there fighting to see who’s right behind Usyk. To me, the three of them are so close.”
After cleaning out the cruiserweight division, the elite Ukrainian moved up to heavyweight and in six fights – including two statement wins over Anthony Joshua and his most recent triumph against Tyson Fury – became undisputed again.
