Who Was Cus D’Amato Son?
Italian-American boxing manager and coach Constantine “Cus” D’Amato (January 17, 1908 – November 4, 1985) oversaw the careers of Mike Tyson, Floyd Patterson, and José Torres. All three men went on to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Teddy Atlas and Kevin Rooney, among other well-known boxing trainers, were mentored by D’Amato….
Italian-American boxing manager and coach Constantine “Cus” D’Amato (January 17, 1908 – November 4, 1985) oversaw the careers of Mike Tyson, Floyd Patterson, and José Torres. All three men went on to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Teddy Atlas and Kevin Rooney, among other well-known boxing trainers, were mentored by D’Amato.
D’Amato supported the peek-a-boo technique, in which the fighter holds his gloves close to his cheeks while pulling his arms closely against his torso. Some people criticized this approach because they believed that it was impossible to mount an effective attack from there. At the age of 22, D’Amato and Jack Barrow founded the Empire Sporting Club at the Gramercy Gym.
D’Amato spent years residing in the gym. D’Amato claimed that while waiting for a “champion,” he spent his time in the gym having his best fighters constantly poached by “connected” management.
Italian-American Rocky Graziano was one of the fighters who D’Amato found, and he later signed with other managers and coaches to become the world’s middleweight champion. Along with boxing politics, D’Amato chose to oppose the International Boxing Club of New York with his friend Howard Cosell (IBC).
Who Was Cus D’Amato Son?
Cus’ son was Mike Tyson. Later, Cus moved to Catskill, New York, and opened a gym there called the Catskill Boxing Club. There he met “Iron” Mike Tyson, the future heavyweight champion who was enrolled in a nearby reform school, and they began working together. He adopted Tyson after his mother went away.
