As far as boxing legends go, Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson are widely considered to be two of the greatest fighters to have ever graced the sport.
Ali, known more commonly by his moniker ‘The Greatest’, rose to superstardom during the 1960s, winning the world heavyweight championship for the first time in 1964 when he dethroned Sonny Liston in dramatic fashion.
He would go on to rack up further victories over the likes of Ken Norton, Joe Frazier and George Foreman throughout the course of his tenure, proving himself to be one of, if not the greatest heavyweight of all time.
As for Tyson, the New York City native wrote his name into the boxing history books in 1986 when he became the youngest heavyweight champion of all time, defeating Trevor Berbick via second round stoppage in Las Vegas.
Much of Tyson’s earlier success was down to his close-knit relationship with Cus D’Amato, who acted as a trainer and father figure to ‘Iron Mike’ during his teenage years before he entered the professional ranks as an 18-year-old.
Speaking in his autobiography, Tyson revealed details of a conversation he once had with D’Amato where he was told by his mentor that he would have fallen short against ‘The Greatest’ had they faced each other.
“Cus told me once that no matter what I did, I probably wouldn’t beat [Muhammad] Ali.”
Ali and Tyson had been very complimentary of each other in the years following their respective careers, with ‘The Greatest’ once revealing that he believes Tyson would have beaten him if they had ever crossed paths, proving the mutual respect that they had for one another.
