Putting a gun to Mike Tyson's head, a huge facial scar from a knife fight, threatening TV executives and the emotional battle to do his father proud - this is the crazy life story of America's No 1 boxing pundit Teddy Atlas

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He contemplated killing Mike Tyson, has served time in prison for an armed robbery and is reminded daily of his misspent youth by a facial scar sustained in a knife fight, but that doesn't even cover half the story of Teddy Atlas' life.

Atlas is now recognised as a legendary boxing trainer and is one of the most respected and astute analysts there is, but his journey to the top of the sport he loves so dearly has been full of hardship and struggle.

Boxing was never supposed to be on the itinerary, but it found him and applied the brakes to a life that was spiralling out of control. It saved him in a way. These grim-sounding plotlines with happy endings are synonymous with the sport, but Atlas' story is different; he had the sort of start to life that should have meant he wouldn't ever need saving.

Teddy Atlas overcame hardship to become a legendary boxing trainer and commentator

He grew up in a wealthy neighbourhood of Staten Island in New York away from the streets. His father was a dedicated doctor. His mother a model and former Miss Staten Island winner.

Life should have taken care of itself, but Atlas was a tearaway and will be the first to readily admit his troubled childhood was down to his own making. It all began when Atlas dropped out of school as a young teenager.

He got involved in criminal activities and was arrested several times before serving time behind bars on Rikers Island for participating in an armed robbery. Atlas should have heeded the warnings then, but he didn't.

Atlas rebelled as a youngster and has a scar down the left side of his face from a knife fight 

Not long after being released his recklessness almost cost him his life. Atlas was involved in a street fight in his home neighbourhood of Stapleton and was slashed in the face by a flick knife, which required 400 stitches and has left him with a scar on the left-hand side of his face.

It caught his father's attention and he paid to send the troubled teenager up to Catskill, New York, to live with Hall of Fame boxing trainer Cus D'Amato, who served as the boy's mentor.

D'Amato was the perfect role model - a wise old fox, who used boxing to instil discipline and purpose into wayward lives. It worked wonders on Atlas, who by the age of 18 was dreaming of turning professional after winning the 135-pound Golden Gloves tournament.

But his dream was ended just as quickly as it was forged. A problematic back injury meant Atlas had to re-evaluate his options. By this point boxing had consumed his life and seemed to be the only way forward.

So after giving up fighting, he did the next best thing and decided to become a trainer under D'Amato's tutelage.

Atlas' father sent him to live with boxing trainer Cus D'Amato (R), who unearthed Mike Tyson (L)

He helped train Tyson as an amateur but they fell out after an altercation involving his niece

Atlas alleges he held a gun up to Tyson's head but the pair are said to have reconciled this year

D'Amato was a thinker and trained his fighters to harness the power of fear and mind, but he also had an eye for artistry. He was credited for unearthing the unpolished talent of Mike Tyson, who came to him as a boy who had been heavily involved in gangs on the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant since he was 10.

He rescued Tyson from juvenile prison and remoulded him into a man who, by the tender age of 20, ruled over boxing's marquee division. Atlas could take some of the plaudits for that, having assisted D'Amato in the early training of 'Iron' Mike, but any such opportunity is greeted with refusal due to an altercation that took place in 1982.

Atlas alleges the then 15-year-old Tyson inappropriately touched his 11-year-old niece which led to the famous incident that almost deprived the world of one of the most explosive and exciting heavyweights in history.

The next day, Atlas hid in a bush and jumped out on Tyson, pointing a .38 caliber handgun to his ear, threatening to kill him. He fired off a shot that purposefully flew past Tyson's face to show his intentions were genuine before telling him to never come close to his family again.

Even now, his words about Tyson are stained with the salty sweat of the boxing gym. Despite 'Iron' Mike' becoming the youngest heavyweight world champion in history and later the undisputed king of the division, Atlas recently claimed he 'doesn't even come close to being considered as one of the all-time greats'.

The pair are, however, said to have reconciled after Tyson apologised to him face-to-face at a boxing event at Turning Stone Casino five years ago.

After that incident, Atlas left D'Amato's gym in Catskill, New York to focus on his training career

Atlas left the Catskill gym of his own volition after confronting Tyson and even reportedly turned down a cut of the heavyweight's future career earnings. Sacrificing integrity for money is not something that aligns with his moral compass. He got that from his father.

Kevin Rooney replaced Atlas as Tyson's trainer and took him into the pro ranks before the pair split in 1988 ahead of his fight with Michael Spinks. Atlas' career as a trainer, much like his childhood, had got off on the wrong foot. But slowly and steadily, he began to make a name for himself and went on to train some big names in the world of boxing, including world champions Michael Moorer, Barry McGuigan, Donny Lalonde and Timothy Bradley.

Even after becoming a successful trainer, though, Atlas would reflect on his childhood and wonder: why did it almost all go wrong? Only now, when he reminisces, can he place his finger on what possessed him to act the way he did. Through his misspent youth, he believes, all he was really after was his father's attention.

Atlas has admitted on many occasions he purposefully put himself in dangerous situations as a youngster and made himself sick and damaged in a desperate plea to get close to his dad.

His father, Dr Theodore Atlas - in whose name Teddy now runs a foundation which works tirelessly with underprivileged communities - was a workaholic, old-fashioned GP, who continued making house calls up to his retirement at the age of 80 and performed weekly free tonsillectomies for children whose families were uninsured and could not afford to pay.

In 1994, Atlas pulled off arguably the biggest achievement of his career by guiding Michael Moorer to the world heavyweight title months after he had lost his father, Theodore

He was so relentless in his commitment to his job, that he worked in pain for 30 years due to an untreated abdominal hernia. The teenage Teddy was shocked one day to discover his dad strapping on a harness to hold in his protruding intestines. And Theodore even made a house call the same day his son (Teddy's younger brother Todd, who was born with health complications) was buried after he died during open heart surgery at the age of five.

The devastating loss of Todd tore the family apart. In an emotional interview with Joe Rogan earlier this year, Teddy said: 'My father explained to my mum the risks but she believed he was saying it would be OK. So when it wasn't that was it. He didn't do the operation but he was there. Todd died on the operating table in my father's hospital.

'He first met my mother there when she came into the hospital with hepatitis. She was very ill but my father nursed her back to health and then they fell in love and whatever.

'So when Todd passed away, she was very upset. Because it was kind of 'You could save me but you couldn't save him'. We all got split up after that, my mum was sleeping in a cemetery, she had a nervous breakdown, she got over it, but she never forgave him.'

In an emotional interview this year, Atlas talked about how his troubled childhood was because he wanted his dad's attention and how the death of his younger brother destroyed his family

The split of his family hit Atlas hard. It was not until years later, though, that his emotional capacity was really put to the test. What hurt most was the timing. Just when Atlas was on the brink of his biggest task as a professional boxing trainer, he lost his father, who passed away at the age of 88 months before Moorer's first world title fight with Evander Holyfield in 1994.

With Atlas in his corner, Moorer shocked the world to take a majority decision and claim the IBF and WBA heavyweight title. It was bittersweet for Atlas, who actually credits his tumultuous past for making him streetwise and for giving him a grounding which helped him to develop an instinctive understanding of Moorer.

But even after a victory as momentous as Moorer's over Holyfield, it was not enough to escape his ghosts of old. Atlas always had something to prove to his father and though he never got to see the end result, Theodore would always be on his son's mind every time he walked one of his fighters into battle.

Atlas again reached the pinnacle as a trainer by guiding Alexander Povetkin to a portion of the world heavyweight title in 2011 before walking away from his duties after the Russian broke a commitment to him.

He also worked with Alexander Povetkin, who won a heavyweight title with Atlas in his corner

Atlas helped Timothy Bradley retain his world title against Brandon Rios in 2015 as well

He was very much a chip off the old block in regards to his work ethic and excuses would never wash. There's an anecdote that explains how deep his passion and dedication to work runs. 

On the day he buried his father, he went to the gym to train Moorer - the heavyweight unwittingly tried to get out of the session, citing fatigue. You can imagine how well that went down.

Atlas took his job so seriously that light-heavyweight Donny Lalonde - who Atlas went 8-0 with early into the boxer's professional career - even once said: 'He ran things like an army camp in the gym. I'm more of a free spirit.'

Five years after splitting up with Povetkin, Atlas returned to help prepare Timothy Bradley for his welterweight world title fight against Brandon Rios, which he won via a ninth-round knockout.

During his time as a trainer, Atlas also earned himself a fierce reputation as an outspoken boxing analyst and commentator for ESPN. His inclination not to pull any punches has made him a Marmite figure of boxing and eventually got him in trouble.

On January 25, 2008, Atlas was suspended by ESPN twice, once for threatening a crew member and once (for one week) after confronting the network's boxing program director, Doug Loughrey.

Atlas also built up a huge reputation as a straight-talking commentator and analyst for ESPN

Atlas lost his job at ESPN for criticising the judging in Jeff Horn's fight with Manny Pacquaio

He also got himself in trouble last December following his criticism of the judging in Manny Pacquiao's fight with Jeff Horn and reportedly was fired from his job, having also been adjudged to have inappropriately argued with his co-commentator Mark Kriegel during that contest after the pair disagreed on who was winning the fight. It culminated in Atlas telling him live on air: 'How about you don't talk to me for the rest of the night.'

However, Atlas still works in the same role he has at the television company for 21 years and has made tremendous contributions to ESPN's boxing coverage during his career as a pundit and commentator.

Atlas is also well known in the States for pursuing a personal vendetta against corruption in boxing. He famously said during a live TV interview last year: 'Corruption is in boxing, it just follows the money. And no one else is going to say that in boxing and some people are going to be very upset. I don't care. I don't care if they're upset.

'Boxing doesn't honour the things it should honour. It honours money, control, power. And there's only certain power brokers in boxing, certain promoters, and they have the power and they control the judges.'

He hit the headlines again recently following Canelo Alvarez's victory in his middleweight rematch with Gennady Golovkin. After the judges awarded it to the Mexican, he said: 'That's doing a robbery without leaving fingerprints. It was an effective robbery. I don't care if it's by two points, or a hundred points.'

He was also punished for arguing with co-commentator Mark Kriegel on air during that fight

The 62-year-old also claimed Canelo Alvarez's win over Gennady Golovkin was a robbery

Since leaving his role at ESPN, Atlas has returned to the gym after accepting an offer to train interim light heavyweight titlist Oleksandr Gvozdyk for his shot at world champion Adonis Stevenson in a fight scheduled for December 1 in Quebec City.

Atlas, 62, told ESPN last month: 'I had to ask myself, 'Am I ready to do this again?' Are you emotionally ready to do this again?' I've been training fighters since I was a kid, since I was 21-years-old training (Hall of Famer) Wilfred Benitez. It took me a few weeks to decide but I feel I can help him.'

It's an opportunity for Atlas to add another feather into his cap of what has so far been a roller-coaster ride but you can bet still has some twists and turns to go.

His story up to this point has been both tragic and triumphant. We have seen the good, the bad and the ugly of Teddy Atlas. But, perhaps the words written on the blurb of his autobiography convey best what his journey has really been about.

'Of all the people who have affected my life and influenced the choices I've made, none has been more important than my father. I just hope he was proud of me.'

 Atlas is training again and has a chance to win another world title with Oleksandr Gvozdyk