“Thanks for not killing me,” Mike Tyson’s intentions after infamous gun incident REVEALED years later by Teddy Atlas

Mike Tyson and his former trainer, Teddy Atlas had a huge spat back in the day.

“Thanks for not killing me,” Mike Tyson’s intentions after infamous gun incident REVEALED years later by Teddy Atlas

Teddy Atlas and Mike Tyson (image credit- Forbes, Abstract Sports)

If things had worked out differently, Mike Tyson would not have been the youngest heavyweight champion. Tyson’s first meeting with Teddy Atlas was at the age of 12 at Cus D’Amato’s gym in the Catskills region of New York. Furthermore, Tyson and Atlas trained together for several years but an incident led to Tyson and Atlas’ relationship deteriorating, which ultimately led to them parting ways.

The primary cause of their breakup was an incident in which Mike Tyson reportedly made advances toward his niece, who was then 11 years old. In response, Atlas put a gun to Tyson’s head and threatened him.

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Now, 42 years later, the incident is still talked about in some circles. In an interview with Vlad TV, Atlas was asked about the aftermath of the incident and he said:

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I don’t condone what happened. I’m thankful every day that I didn’t have to pull the trigger. I’m thankful to him…thanks for not killing me.
Teddy Atlas via Vlad TV

The host recalled a conversation he’d had with Michael Jai White, the actor who played Tyson in the 1995 HBO movie, Tyson. Subsequently, in the movie it was depicted that Tyson was scared after the incident. However, Tyson had allegedly gathered some people to hurt or kill Atlas in reality. Atlas responded to this by stating that what matters is that he is still there, as is Tyson.

Furthermore, Atlas stated he doesn’t condone his actions but is happy that he didn’t hurt Tyson and feels, the same about Tyson potentially hurting him. Subsequently, Atlas ended the topic by sarcastically thanking Tyson for not killing him with a flying kiss.

Teddy Atlas sheds light on the 5 times Mike Tyson failed

Tyson is one of the most prominent and accomplished boxers in the heavyweight division. However, according to Tyson’s former trainer, Atlas, the former heavyweight champion failed every challenge he faced. In addition, Tyson retired after losing to Kevin McBride in 2000, and it was his sixth loss in his career.

Teddy Atlas and Mike Tyson
Teddy Atlas and Mike Tyson (image credit- Marca, The Sun)

This means the only fighters to beat him are McBride, Buster Douglas, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, and Danny Williams. In an episode of the JRE podcast, Atlas stated that Tyson’s losses before the McBride fight were the only challenges he ever faced. Furthermore, Atlas claimed that Tyson lost every single fight, which was an actual challenge for him.

In addition, Atlas has claimed that Tyson only had five real fights in his life and lost all of them. Hence, he believes that regardless of Tyson’s impressive record, he lost every significant fight he had in his life.

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