Constantine "''Cus''" D'Amato (January 17, 1908 – November 4, 1985) was an American

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

manager, boxing promoter and boxing trainer who handled the careers of

Mike Tyson Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1985 and 2024. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "the Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson i ...

Floyd Patterson Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in his ...

, and José Torres, all of whom went on to be inducted into the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, right next to exit 34 of the New York State Thruway, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected on ballots cre ...

. Several successful boxing trainers, including Teddy Atlas and Kevin Rooney, were tutored by him. He was a proponent of the peek-a-boo style of boxing, in which the fighter holds his gloves close to his cheeks and pulls his arms tight against his torso, which was criticized by some because it was believed that an efficient attack could not be launched from using the technique.

Early life

Constantine D'Amato was born into an Italian-American family in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

on January 17, 1908, to Damiano (1868–1938) and Elisabetta ( Rosato; 1875–1913). Both his parents were from Toritto, province of Bari, Southern Italy, Region Puglia. His father delivered ice and coal in the Bronx using a horse and cart. He had three brothers, Rocco, Gerry, and Tony. At a young age, D'Amato became very involved and interested in

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, and even considered becoming a priest during his youth. He had a brief career as an amateur boxer, fighting as a featherweight and lightweight, but was unable to get a professional license because of an eye injury he had suffered in a street fight. His childhood was scarred by physical abuse that Cus suffered at the hands of his violent father. However, Cus stated in an interview that he did not hold any grudges towards his father for the childhood abuse, as he believed the beatings made him a better and a more disciplined man.

Career

At age 22, D'Amato opened the Empire Sporting Club with Jack Barrow at the Gramercy Gym. He lived in the gym for years. According to D'Amato, he spent his time at the gym waiting for a "champion", but his best fighters were routinely poached by "connected" managers. One fighter discovered by D'Amato was Italian-American

Rocky Graziano Thomas Rocco Barbella (January 1, 1919 – May 22, 1990), better known as Rocky Graziano, was an American professional boxer and actor who held the World Middleweight title. Graziano is considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing ...

, who signed with other trainers and managers and went on to become

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

champion of the world. D'Amato also confronted boxing politics and decided, along with his friend

Howard Cosell Howard William Cosell (; né Cohen; March 25, 1918 – April 23, 1995) was an American sports journalist, broadcaster and author. Cosell became prominent and influential during his tenure with ABC Sports from 1953 until 1985. Cosell was widel ...

, to thwart the International Boxing Club of New York (IBC). Suspicious to the point of paranoia, he refused to match his fighter in any bout promoted by the IBC. The IBC was eventually found to be in violation of anti-trust laws and was dissolved.

Notable boxers trained

Floyd Patterson

Under D'Amato's tutelage,

captured the Olympic middleweight gold medal in the 1952

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

games. D'Amato then guided Patterson through the professional ranks, maneuvering Patterson into fighting for the title vacated by

Rocky Marciano Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969; ), better known as Rocky Marciano (, ), was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955. He held the world heavyweight championship from 1952 to 1956, and re ...

. After beating Tommy "Hurricane" Jackson in an elimination fight, Patterson faced Light Heavyweight Champion

Archie Moore Archie Moore (born Archibald Lee Wright; December 13, 1913 – December 9, 1998) was an American professional Boxing, boxer and the longest reigning World Light Heavyweight Champion of all time (1952 – 1962). He had one of the longest profe ...

on November 30, 1956, for the World Heavyweight Championship. He beat Moore by a knockout in five rounds and became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in history at the time, at the age of 21 years, 10 months, three weeks and five days. He was the first Olympic gold medalist to win a professional Heavyweight title. Patterson and D'Amato split after Patterson's second consecutive 1st-round KO loss to

Sonny Liston Charles L. "Sonny" Liston ( – December 30, 1970), nicknamed "the Big Bear", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. A dominant contender of his era, he became the undisputed world heavyweight champion in 1962 after k ...

, although his influence over the former two-time champion had already begun to diminish.

José Torres

D'Amato also managed José Torres who, in May 1965 at Madison Square Garden, defeated International Boxing Hall Of Fame member Willie Pastrano to become world Light Heavyweight champion. With the victory Torres became the third Puerto Rican world boxing champion in history and the first Latin American to win the world Light Heavyweight title.

Mike Tyson

After Patterson and Torres' careers ended, D'Amato worked in relative obscurity. He eventually moved to Catskill,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, where he opened a gym, the Catskill Boxing Club. There he met and began to work with the future heavyweight champion, "Iron" Mike Tyson, who was in a nearby

reform school A reform school was a Prison, penal institution, generally for teenagers, mainly operating between 1830 and 1900. In the United Kingdom and its colonies, reformatory, reformatories (commonly called reform schools) were set up from 1854 onward f ...

. He adopted Tyson after Tyson's mother died. D'Amato trained him over the next few years, encouraging the use of peek-a-boo style boxing, with the hands in front of the face for more protection. D'Amato was briefly assisted by Teddy Atlas, and later Kevin Rooney, a protégé of D'Amato, who emphasized elusive movement. It is unclear at exactly which age (11 or 12) Tyson first became seriously interested in becoming a professional boxer. "Irish" Bobby Stewart, a former Golden Gloves Champion, was approached by Tyson while working as a counselor at the Tryon School For Boys. Tyson knew of Stewart's former boxing glory and specifically asked to speak with Stewart who immediately took on a gruff attitude of the subject after witnessing Tyson's terrible behavior in his first days at the school. Bobby Stewart introduced Mike Tyson to D'Amato when Tyson was around 12 or 13 years old, after Stewart stated he had taught Tyson all he could about boxing technique and skill. D'Amato died a little over a year before Tyson became the youngest world heavyweight titleholder in history at the age of 20 years four months, thus supplanting Patterson's record. Rooney would guide Tyson to the heavyweight championship twelve months after D'Amato's death. Footage of D'Amato can be seen in '' Tyson'', a 2008 documentary. Tyson credits D'Amato with building his confidence and guiding him as a father figure.

Personal life

Cus D'Amato and Camille Ewald (1905–2001) met in the 1940s and entered into a common-law relationship. Ewald was born in Staromishchyna, Ukraine, to Hnat and Anastasia Pershyn Ewaschuk, and adopted the surname Ewald after her family immigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Ewald supported D'Amato in his dedication to training socially challenged youths, and she allowed her home to function as a halfway house for D'Amato's pupils, often fulfilling the role of a mother figure to them. Most notably, D'Amato and Ewald, in anticipation of Mike Tyson's future athletic success, established legal guardianship over the young man in an effort to protect him both personally and financially from the cutthroat boxing establishment. D'Amato and Ewald never married, although their close friendship lasted for decades, until his death. Cus oversaw all the training and managing of his fighters, while she was responsible for cooking and household chores.

Death

D'Amato died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

at Mount Sinai Hospital in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

on November 4, 1985. He was 77.

Legacy

''Cus D'Amato Memorial Award''

Cus D'Amato Memorial Award was established by the

Boxing Writers Association of America Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing punches at each other for a ...

. The first was presented to

at the group's 61st annual dinner, May 16, 1986.

Science of Victory Marathon

From October 26, 2017, through November 4, 2017, an international, online "Science of Victory" marathon was dedicated to the memory of Cus D'Amato. Several journalists and boxers from Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Spain, Germany and the U.S. took part in this project, including Silvio Branco,

Patrizio Oliva Patrizio Oliva (born 28 January 1959) is an Italian former professional boxer, who won the gold medal in the light welterweight division at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as an amateur and the WBA light welterweight title as a professional. Early li ...

, Dr. Antonio Graceffo, Avi Nardia, and Gordon Marino. The marathon promoted the book ''Non-compromised Pendulum'' by Tom Patti and Dr. Oleg Maltsev, which reviewed Cus D'Amato's training style.Unique International Project "Science Of Victory"
worldofmartialarts.pro

Portrayals in film, theater and fiction

George C. Scott portrayed D'Amato in the

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

'' movie '' Tyson''. ''KNOCKOUT: The Cus D'Amato Story'' is a stage and screenplay based on the life of Cus D'Amato, from a concept by boxing trainer Kevin Rooney and written by Dianna Lefas. The first book in the world, a biography ''Confusing The Enemy'' tells the story of D'Amato.

Harvey Keitel Harvey Keitel ( ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor and film producer, known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running associatio ...

portrayed him in the 2022

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TV series '' Mike''.

Commemoration

In 1993, the 14th Street Union Square Local Development Corporation named part of 14th Street, where D'Amato's Gramercy Gym was located, Cus D'Amato Way.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:D'Amato, Cus 1908 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholics American boxing managers American boxing promoters American boxing trainers American male boxers American people of Italian descent American Roman Catholics Boxers from New York City Catholics from New York (state) Deaths from pneumonia in New York City People from Catskill, New York Sportspeople from the Bronx