Mike Tyson was an unstoppable force during his formidable prime.
The heavyweight icon rose to fame during the mid 80’s, winning his first 19 professional contests by stoppage with 12 of these coming in the opening round.
He made boxing history in 1986 when he defeated WBC heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick in the second round of their showdown in Las Vegas, breaking the record of being the youngest heavyweight champion in the sport’s history.
He added the WBA and IBF titles to his collection in the year that followed his historic victory over Berbick, defeating WBA champion James Smith and IBF champion Tony Tucker to achieve undisputed status just one month after he turned 21-years-old.
Despite his greatness. Tyson once admitted in an interview with ThisIs50 that he would have not been able to prevail against Muhammad Ali, admitting that he would have fallen short to ‘The Greatest’ at any stage of his career.
“There is no man like him, there just isn’t. Everything we have he supersedes us in. He was an animal, he looked more like a model than a boxer.
He’s like a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a pretty face, he’s mean, he’ll take you to deep waters and drown you. He’s very special. The best. Nobody beats Ali. I can’t beat that man, hell no.”
Ali remains the only three-time lineal heavyweight champion in boxing history, an exceptional record that looks far from being broken at any point soon.
He defeated a number of generational greats during his tenure, including the likes of George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Sonny Liston to name just a few.
