Infamous for Putting Mike Tyson at Gunpoint, Legendary Trainer Reveals Lucrative Offer He Refused From Late Cus D’Amato to “Disappear”

In a recent twist of narratives, legendary trainer Teddy Atlas shed light on the time Cus D’Amato offered him millions of dollars which he ended up rejecting. Everyone in the boxing community is aware of Cus’ contribution to Mike Tyson’s success. Cus even adopted the young Mike Tyson, giving him a stable environment to grow up in. However, there hasn’t been much discourse on Teddy Atlas other than the many controversies that surround him.

Atlas was responsible for training Mike Tyson between the ages of 12-15 and helped him win two gold medals in the 1981 and 1982 Junior Olympics. However, he had to part ways with Cus and his prodigy ‘Iron’ Mike–after an altercation that compelled Atlas to pull a gun on Mike. 42 years after that incident, the Staten Island-born trainer shed light on Cus’s lucrative offer in exchange for him to disappear. 

Teddy Atlas claims Mike Tyson would have been taken away from Cus D’Amato

During a recent podcast with Lex Fridman, the legendry trainer claimed if the authorities had found out about Cus not allowing Tyson to go to school and that he was putting Tyson through boxing training, the state government would have taken Mike away from Cus since the State still had authority over him. As Teddy said, this was the reason why Cus sent a man to buy his silence, and told him to disappear. In exchange for Atlas’ cooperation, Cus even offered him 5% of Tyson’s earnings for the rest of Mike’s career.

“So, he sent this man…and he said here’s the deal, Teddy. If [you don’t] talk about this, [he] wants [me] to disappear basically, you leave, and he will give you 5%…He will give you 5% of Tyson’s earnings for the rest of his career,” revealed Atlas.

Such an amount would have been worth millions today, considering that Tyson earned close to $400 million throughout his career. However, he refused the amount as he said it wasn’t a genuine offer to begin with and it had an escaped clause embedded into it which Atlas revealed that he wouldn’t have accepted.

But it still begs the question – what happened between them that prompted Atlas to pull a gun on Mike?

Atlas claims he got a gun and confronted him

In an interview with ESPN’s Highly Questionable, Atlas revealed Tyson had allegedly sexually harassed an 11-year-old girl from his family. He asserted that one day he got home and found his family crying because of what Mike had said he’d do to the girl in his family. “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,” said Atlas.

Atlas said he warned Mike about repeating the mistake, threatening to kill Mike if it ever happened again. He also added, “I put the gun in his ear, and he didn’t seem like he understood it at that moment.” So, Atlas claimed he pulled the gun out of Mike’s ear and pulled the trigger, purposefully missing him, which made Mike understand the threat.

Also Read: “You Got Me Crying in This Motherf**Ker”: Teary-Eyed Mike Tyson Reveals the Moment He Wish His Father-Figure Cus D’Amato Was Alive to Witness

Decades after the legendary trainer pulled a gun on Mike Tyson, his revelation about Cus’ offer to him – paints a different picture of what Mike’s early years were like. However, we would like to get your thoughts on Atlas’ claims. Let us know in the comments below!

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