Did a 13-year-old Mike Tyson knockout his opponent?
One of Mike Tyson's earliest trainers, Teddy Atlas, is well regarded as a boxing analyst, commentator, and trainer. His relationship with the former heavyweight champion started when he was just a 13 year old boy training under Cus D'Amato. Atlas has been quite vocal about his experiences with a young Tyson.
On his podcast back in 2020, he shared how he booked the teen heavyweight's first fight. Although Tyson was a gifted pupil and seemed to gain ground in training rather quickly, Atlas wanted to test his skills under the lights first.
He decided to put him up for some 'exhibition' bouts in the Bronx. Such fights were held in local bars in the area, and the fighters had an audience consisting of a drunk, uninterested bar-goers.
In that sort of a setting, the major issue Teddy Atlas recounts was finding an opponent of Tyson's size that was around his age. The best he could come up with was a 17 year old heavyweight.
(1981) 15-year-old Mike Tyson gets the devastating KO in about TEN seconds during the Jr. Olympics Heavyweight Championship!
Simply unfair. 💥 https://t.co/7DPUX158qy
When he asked the organizers to put down Tyson's age as 12 or 13, it left them in shock — they felt that Atlas was telling a fib. To make things work, Atlas had to put Mike Tyson down as an 18 year old.
Listen to Teddy Atlas' full comments on a young Tyson below:
How the Legend of Mike Tyson was born
When Tyson's first fight began, Atlas had already instructed the 13-year-old to be on his toes. Even though it was supposed to be an exhibition bout, there was nothing preventing his opponent from aggressively pushing for a knockout. However, what followed shocked Atlas.
"Within the first minute, he knocked his opponent out. I was like he's actually doing it, he's doing what we trained him to do but with speed, power and precision."
Tyson quickly set up a knockout left hook with a right hand. When the left hand landed, Atlas described how Mike Tyson's opponent's sweat flew out of the ring and hit the back of the smoker.
"All of a sudden he puts the guy on the ropes, he hurts the guy, and then finishes him with a left hook. His opponent falls out of the ring and his mouth piece goes flying about 10 yards back and winds up in somebody's lap."
Atlas concluded by saying that this led to the birth of the legend of 'Iron Mike' in the streets of The Bronx.
Atlas said that the end of the fight resulted in Tyson's opponent's corner charging at the boxer. Atlas, who was about 28 at the time, had the young fighter's back. Atlas said that he considered himself to be a fatherly figure to Tyson at that point.
Even though the two boxing figures were really close back then, they don't see eye-to-eye now due to a fight that broke the friendship between the two. The altercation between the two also saw Atlas depart from Cus D'Amato's gym.
The story is told as such: Mike Tyson made inappropriate advances towards Teddy Atlas' sister-in-law, who was a young girl at the time. Atlas got mad at Tyson, pointed a gun towards his head, and shot at him. This was Atlas' account. The legendary boxer tells a different story about how things between the two ended.
Mike Tyson puts the record straight about Teddy Atlas putting a gun to his head.
@KOKINGS4 @GrahamBensinger @TheFightGuru @theRealEnzoMac @TopHeavyweights @MrShrewd @IDRV_MUFC @SportsRecall @TOPCLASSBOXING https://t.co/3ERiTm8QTR
To this day, Mike Tyson still believes that he would have crushed Teddy Atlas at the age of 13.
Check out Teddy Atlas describing Mike Tyson's early boxing fights below: