Teddy Atlas was one of the first to encounter a very young Mike Tyson, eventually being his first trainer and molding him into a future heavyweight champion when he was only 12-years-old.

However, everything wasn’t all peaches and cream in their relationship.

One of the most talked-about memories regarding them is the time Atlas stated that he had to pull a gun on a teenage Mike Tyson.

In September of 2018, Atlas appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience and spoke on his experiences with a young Mike Tyson.

“Tyson, when I first had him, he was 190 pounds nothing but muscle, 12-years-old,” Atlas said of the young Mike Tyson. Atlas said Tyson was “mentally weak” at 12-years-old for a fighter, and had “residual stuff from his upbringing.”

“He used to hide in between abandoned building walls in Brownsville, it was a rough place. He used to hide between walls to not get picked on,” Atlas said. “And I believe when you do that, you never get outside of that wall to a certain extent. You’re always hiding in that wall for the rest of your life.”

“He was as strong a guy as you’re ever gonna see, but he was as weak of a person as you’re ever gonna find,” Atlas told Joe Rogan.

Atlas also spoke on how disrespectful Tyson was at a young age and how a gunshot put him in his place when he sexually assaulted a family member.

Atlas alleges that Tyson grabbed the butt of his 11-year-old niece and told her about all the sexual things he wanted to do to her.

“Tyson had gone after a family member who was 11-years-old, a girl, and he had been pushing the boundaries more and more and more,” Teddy said.

“His restrictions or care about how he treated other people became less and less.”

“I put him out of the gym for his behavior in school. What he was doing, threatening students, and basically putting his hands on girls in the hallways,” Atlas said.

“He knew how to push those parameters. He understood the streets. He understood those rules, those laws. He understood people in those ways. Under those conditions, what he could get away with it.”

“Tyson was thinking that he could get away with more and more improper behavior,” Atlas added.

“It pushed it into one day, I come home, and I find out that my wife and sister-in-laws are crying because what he did to an 11-tear-old girl in my family. Took him on his word for the things he wanted to do to the 11-year-old girl, in a sexual way.”

That’s when things got intense and Atlas decided to pull out the big guns.

No pun intended, of course.

Atlas continues his version of the story:

“So I got a gun and went and confronted him. I told him, ‘You made a choice to do this, whether or not you think you’re hurting me or you think you’re sending a message to me. You did send a message to me. You sent a message to me you don’t give a damn about other people, that you don’t care if you behave like an animal,’” Teddy told Tyson.

“You will never do it again. You’ll be dead if you ever do it again. There won’t be a conversation. You won’t be seeing me. You won’t even know that there will be repercussions. You’ll just be gone. Understand that very clearly because It’s important for my family and obviously you,” Atlas threatened Tyson.

“I put the gun in his ear, and he didn’t seem like he understood it at that moment,” Teddy claims. “So I pulled it out of his ear and pulled the trigger,” Atlas claims. “Missing him on purpose, and he understood it after that. It wasn’t a threat. It was to make it clear that I wouldn’t have to be in that position again, and either was he.”

Tyson did not completely agree with Atlas’ version of the story and had the opportunity to tell his side of how the event came about.

“It wasn’t necessarily because I flirted with his niece or touched her butt or something,” Tyson said. “Teddy wanted me to go back with him. Teddy was leaving Cus, and I wasn’t leaving Cus. He wanted me to come back with him. That’s really, basically what happened.

I wasn’t leaving to go with him. Leave Cus and go to New York and train. Whatever the situation was. That’s what Teddy always wants to tell people. He wants people to think he is a tough guy, he’s a mafia guy.”

“I’m not in the mood to prove that I’m a tough guy. I’m not a tough guy. Do you think he’s a tough guy? I know he talks tough, but do you think he’d ever come to my face and say that’s he’s a tough guy man-to-man to me? Sounds like he would. But he’s got everyone fooled that he is a tough guy. But no, he won’t.

I’m 15-years-old, this guy however old he is, 26, he pulls a gun on me and didn’t even shoot me. So that tells you how much of a tough guy he is. He pulled a gun on me and didn’t even shoot me. If I pulled one on him, God knows those bullets are not going in the air.

He is supposed to be killing me with him and his mafia uncle since, I don’t know, since I was 16,” the former undisputed heavyweight champion said in the interview.

“They were supposed to be getting me or doing something. I’m still here.”

Tyson said Cus D’Amato liked Mike more than Atlas, which caused Teddy to have a jealousy of him.

“Cus liked me more than he liked him. He don’t like that. That’s just what it is.”

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