The time a 13-Year Old Mike Tyson was almost shot dead by legendary coach Teddy Atlas
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Tyson and Atlas obnce trained together under Cus D'Amato's wing
Mike Tyson and Teddy Atlas were bought under the tutelage of Cus D’Amato in the early 1980’s. During this time they were both bought up as brothers under the fatherly guidance of D’Amato. However, there was one time when Atlas pulled a gun on the future heavyweight champion and killed him.
Atlas was around the age of 27 at that time, while Tyson was still in his early teens. However, the difference in skill was already evident. In the past, Tyson has talked about how his ego made him feel like a God during his fighting days. This perhaps was the worst manifestation of that flaw.
The 13 Year Old Tyson, allegedly sexually assaulted a niece of Atlas, grabbing her buttocks against her will. He then allegedly also expressed a desire to further misbehave with the 11-year-old niece of Atlas. The iconic coach was furious when he heard the news, and headed straight to confront Tyson with a gun in his hand.
On sighting the 13-year Old, Atlas grabbed him by the neck and pointed the loaded gun at Tyson’s ear warning him to never be seen around his family members again.“I just called him a piece of crap and you know I put the gun to his head, and I told him that he will never go near anybody in my family again and there was a little smirk“, said Atlas as he described that it was the smirk that leads to him being aggravated enough to pull the trigger, be it to the side and not towards Tyson.
As a result of this incident, Atlas was banned from the Cat Skills gym with D’Amato asking him to stay away from his family and adopted children, i.e. fighters like Tyson.
Related: When Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson and pulled off the biggest upset in boxing history
Mike Tyson believes he’d have “SMASHED” a 28-year-old Teddy Atlas in a fight
Tyson himself has talked about this altercation a few times, most notably alongside Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports. He does not hold that memory as a fan accident in the past but instead holds contempt towards Atlas for pulling a gun on a teenager. “Yeah but I’m thirteen and he pulled a gun to my head, he’s really a big strong man,” said Tyson confirming the validity of the story.
“He was twenty-seven, twenty-eight, but even though I was thirteen I would fucking smash him”, said Tyson of his true feelings about Atlas since the incident. In a separate interview, Tyson also alleged that since the incident Atlas and his family members who are allegedly in the mafia have been trying to get Tyson killed.
Though the two share formal relations now, the scars of the past that were created in the Cat Skills Gym will be hard to hide away. Do you think it was right of Teddy Atlas to pull a gun on a teenager?
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Jerin Mathew
(713 Articles Published)