Teddy Atlas has reshaped Timothy Bradley's approach

Teddy Atlas referred to a folded index card while he was in the ring training Timothy Bradley Jr. during the Cathedral City champion’s public workout Wednesday.

Atlas apologized to the assembled media saying the older he gets the more he has to write things down to remember them. As it turns out, Atlas and Bradley might not have begun their new partnership at all if it wasn’t for Atlas’ penchant for writing things down.

Bradley explained the first time Atlas paid him a visit — while Bradley was choosing a new trainer for his Nov. 7 fight in Las Vegas against Brandon Rios — was an eye-opener.

“Teddy came out here to the desert for two days, and on the first day he came at me with this big like booklet thing,” Bradley told reporters. “It had every round of all my fights. Who I was fighting and what mistakes I made in each round. I was like ‘Now that’s a coach. He’s ready. He’s prepared.’ Then we watched a tape of Brandon Rios together. And he had all this stuff jotted down about Rios’ mistakes and how I could capitalize on them. Or if I could. It was crazy.”

Bradley was impressed. And the second day of Atlas’ visit sold him.

“Then on the second day we got in the gym and he made me feel like I didn’t know anything about boxing,” Bradley said. “This man knows so much. That was it.”

Bradley had his man. He was looking for a change and he got one — a major one. He has, in essence, started fresh. A new workout routine. New sparring patterns. New approach. New direction. He’s gone back to boxing school and Atlas is his teacher.

But isn’t it hard to teach an old dog new tricks? Bradley has had tons of success in the fight game, so would he just drop everything he’s learned so far and start with a blank slate? Atlas shrugged.

“I understand the premise of old dog new tricks and all that stuff, but I think what they meant when they invented that saying was ‘It’s hard to teach an old stubborn not intelligent dog new tricks,’” Atlas said. “But when you have someone who wants to learn and is really intelligent, which he is, you can actually learn new things and you can actually get things done.

“We’ve made good progress. A tiny bit of credit should go to me, but most of it should be for him. Getting back to the old-dog-new-trick cliché, if you’re going to teach somebody you’re going to need to have three things. Hopefully you have a decent teacher. Hopefully I’m OK there. The other thing you have to have is the person that you’re trying to teach has to be willing. And able to say ‘Yes, I still have things to learn and they have to be intelligent.”

And all throughout Wednesday’s workout it was evident that Bradley trusted and respected his new mentor. It wasn’t simply a respect for Atlas’ boxing knowledge, but a fundamental respect for his elders that Bradley’s father had instilled in him growing up.

Atlas would stop the meticulously timed-out shadowboxing session and talk in hushed tones to Bradley. Bradley would stand at attention. Good posture. Arms at his sides. Hands in front of him or behind him like he was listening to the National Anthem. Make direct eye contact and listen. When Atlas was done talking Bradley would say “Yes, sir” or “Yes, coach.”

There was no hint of “I’m a man. I’m a successful boxer. I know what I’m doing. I don’t need this” out of Bradley. He listened, heard and learned.

And that attentiveness was an important part of the partnership’s origin story. Atlas chose Bradley as much as Bradley chose Atlas. Atlas was already out of the training game and had a successful career as a fight analyst on TV. He wasn’t in need of a job, but there was something about Bradley that made him consider a return.

“I knew I was going to have a pretty good relationship with him, because, you gotta remember I wasn’t coming back into this end of the business if I didn’t feel I was coming back with a person that I would get cooperation from A, and B enjoy being around,” Atlas said. “Someone that’s a decent human being. That’s why I’m here. I’m here because of the person I saw, before I ever saw him fight. I saw a family man — five children. I saw a good husband. A good father. A caring person. If I didn’t see that, I’m not coming back. I got a pretty good gig broadcasting fights. I wouldn’t give up that if didn’t feel like I was going to be with a person that I would enjoy being around and who I would get cooperation from.”

The clearest indicator that Bradley is changing his stripes is in his fitness workout regimen. Bradley was famous for outworking his opponent’s in the gym and on the streets of the Coachella Valley. Always running. Always staying in shape. Atlas asked him to tone that down, and I’m sure Bradley had to swallow deep and bite his tongue before saying, “Yes, coach.”

Bradley does look leaner than before, but still ripped.

“He had me cut a day of running,” Bradley said. “He said you need to have rest between your workouts. I never had that. Changed what days I spar and when I take off. I don’t even train on Saturday or Sunday. I used to. Not anymore. I’m losing weight but I’m doing it properly. I feel super strong. Everybody’s going to see. I can’t wait until Nov. 7. It can’t get here any faster.”

Bradley was asked about his split with Joel Diaz, and said he had moved on, though it was clear the relationship is still a bit frosty.

“I’m doing what I feel is right for me,” Bradley said. “Joel is going to be able to take care of his family because of me. Joel has made a whole lot of money because of me. It’s no hard feelings. It is what it is. He can say whatever he wants to say about me. It’s over. It’s done. I’ve moved on, and if he hasn’t moved on, it’s on him.”

Wednesday was entirely about moving on, and it was about Bradley and Atlas and Nov. 7.

Atlas stood in the corner of the ring at Bradley’s Indio workout facility, while Bradley shadowboxed in the middle. He wanted Bradley to visualize Rios.

“Do you see him? See it. See it. I see it. Do you see it?” Atlas shouted to Bradley. “Yes, coach.” Bradley replied as he ducked and jabbed the invisible Rios.

Atlas in his light blue T-shirt and gray and blue shorts looked at home in the ring and happy to be back there as he cajoled Bradley to find new angles and new approaches against the shadow he was boxing with no wasted movement.

“Create. Create. Create. Ideas. Ideas. Ideas,” he would say. “See everything. Where does that move take us? What is it setting up?”

Bradley adjusted, moved, punched, and Atlas was supportive of the alterations. The two appeared to be in complete simpatico after just 45 days.

Atlas believes Bradley has what it takes to absorb a whole new philosophy in two months.

“I can’t say it enough and I’ll say it again, make sure your recorder is working, Tim is unbelievably intelligent,” Atlas said. “So if there’s anything that winds up looking good on the 7th, and I hope there’s a lot, I have to give most of the credit to him being such a willing and intelligent pupil to be able to pick it up in a condensed period of time and then be able to implement it into a very difficult place — inside that square circle with a man trying to go take your head off. It ain’t easy to do. And we still gotta do it on the 7th.”

And that’s the hard part. All the positive vibes, confidence and trust on display Wednesday will all seem hollow if Nov. 7th doesn’t go well. And Atlas said as much.

“All that matters is what happens on Nov. 7. The rest of this is bull,” Atlas told me. And if Bradley had heard him say that, I can only assume what his response would have been.

“Yes coach.”

Shad Powers is the sports columnist for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at (760) 778-4627 or shad.powers@desertsun.com. Follow him on Twitter at shad_powers