If you don't already know the infamous story, when Mike Tyson was Cus D'Amato's adopted son in the 80's, Teddy Atlas was one of his trainers. Atlas had also grown up the hard way, maturing on the streets and spending time in prison stemming from an armed robbery, leading to a natural kinship with Tyson. At the time Tyson was in his mid-teens and taking advantage of his status as D'Amato's meal ticket, acting out and doing poorly in school. At one point Tyson went too far and grabbed Atlas' 11-year old niece and intimidated her and told her he was going to rape her--this became the breaking point in the relationship between Atlas, Tyson, and D'Amato. Atlas came home to see his wife, sister-in-law, and niece in tears after the incident and found out what had happened. He also knew that based on prior history D'Amato wouldn't punish Tyson for what he'd done. Atlas got a pistol from a friend and confronted Tyson later that night, putting the gun to his ear and telling him to stay away from his family or die. Tyson, street-hardened, didn't take Atlas' threat seriously until Atlas fired off a close warning shot. At that point Tyson got the message but the relationship was severed. Atlas was offered a cut of Tyson's career earnings to walk away from the gym but instead opted to leave the Catskills on his own volition, knowingly leaving millions of dollars on the table--he didn't want to trade his honour for money. Fast forward three decades to tonight. Mike Tyson, retired, performing in a touring one-man show and trying his hand at fight promoting, ran into Atlas at the ESPN event. Though their conversation was private, observers noted Tyson acting apologetic. Afterward Tyson admitted that he'd been lying about being sober and in fact has only been off drugs and alcohol for six days. He's been trying to make amends with the people he's wronged--I don't know if he is going through the mandatory AA stages or just doing what he thinks he needs to be doing. To his credit Atlas told reporters that Tyson "came to him as a man" and much more couldn't be asked for. Whether they will settle their feud or simply go on with their lives with less baggage is yet to be seen. Tyson remains an unpredictable and unstable character while Atlas is known for his admitted stubbornness.
Re: After putting a gun to Mike Tyson's head 30-years ago, Teddy Atlas ready to forgi http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:9596455
Re: After putting a gun to Mike Tyson's head 30-years ago, Teddy Atlas ready to forgi Let bygones be bygones shake hands like they did & live for tomorrow I wish Iron Mike nothing but the best in his promotion company & his battle with his addictions
