Timothy Bradley realized immediately that Teddy Atlas’ training camp was going to be much different than anything he had experienced while working with longtime trainer Joel Diaz.
Bradley described a more regimented, rules-oriented camp when he was asked about those differences during a conference call Wednesday. The two-division world champion, who’ll battle Brandon Rios in a 12-round, 147-pound title fight Saturday night in Las Vegas (HBO; 9:30 p.m. ET), likened the experience to a boot camp, yet made it clear that he enjoyed it because he was learning things Bradley believes have made him a better boxer.
“Well, man, there’s a lot of rules in place,” said Bradley, who hired Atlas in early September to replace Diaz. “You better make sure when you walk into camp you better have your cell phone off. You cannot even bring that thing in the gym. That’s the huge difference from Joel’s training camp, because Joel was on his phone half of the time when we were in training camp. So that’s a huge difference. No cell phones allowed in the gym. And if you do have one, it better be off.
“Two, there’s no music. Zero music. There’s no music in the gym. And that’s great. And no plastic. We don’t use plastic. No plastic at all in the gym. We use the weight the right way. We diet the right way. We do everything right, the right way.”
Atlas places plenty of emphasis on teaching throughout training sessions, during which he is the only person allowed to speak to the fighter he is training.
“Another rule is no one talks but Teddy – no one,” Bradley continued. “No one coaches, no one says anything but Teddy. Teddy’s the one that’s training me. It’s his responsibility to get me ready. Teddy says everything. No one says anything at all. They just follow directions. That’s what they do, all right? So those are the rules.
“It’s a huge, huge difference [from] a Joel Diaz training camp. It’s full focus, curfew’s at 10 o’clock. I talked to Teddy during the day probably four or five times during the day – texting or maybe even calling. He stays in contact with me as far as my diet, as far as my running, as far as everything. Yeah, it is boot camp. It is boot camp and it’s the right way to be, especially at the professional level. But that’s just a few things right there. I mean, I could go on and on and on and on and on. But that’s just a few things, man, that [are] a huge difference in the camp.”
The heavily favored Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs, 1 NC), of Palm Springs, California, will defend his WBO welterweight title against Rios (33-2-1, 24 KOs), of Oxnard, California, at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center.