At the height of his storied professional career, Mike Tyson proved himself to be the most formidable fighter to walk the planet.
‘Iron Mike’ exploded onto the scene during the mid 80’s when he was barely an adult, establishing himself as a household name within a matter of months.
He became the youngest world heavyweight champion of all time in 1986 when he stopped Trevor Berbick in the second round of their bout in Las Vegas to capture the WBA heavyweight title in dramatic fashion.
With respective victories over WBA champion James Smith and IBF champion Tony Tucker, ‘Iron Mike’ achieved undisputed status at heavyweight just one month after he turned 21-years-old.
Despite putting himself up against a number of legendary heavyweights, including the likes of Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes and Lennox Lewis, there was one fighter that Tyson did not go on to face, a decision that he says he regrets to this very day.
Speaking to The Ring Magazine, Tyson admitted that his single career regret was not pushing for a showdown with the once formidable ‘Big George’ Foreman.
“I would have liked to fight George Foreman. There have been many fans who wondered who was the bigger puncher. I would have liked to put an end to the discussion – one way or the other.”
In a separate feature, Tyson made no mistake in naming Foreman as the ‘heaviest puncher ever’ in his opinion.
“Heavy puncher, yeah. I can’t match somebody’s power who’s that big with that much mass.”
Whilst his professional career began in the late 60’s, perhaps the most memorable moment of Foreman’s career came in 1994 when he defeated the previously unbeaten Michael Moorer to capture the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles and become the oldest world heavyweight champion of all time, an outstanding record that remains unbroken to this very day.
