Mike Tyson believes there was one heavyweight rival in particular he would have struggled to defeat, even at his very best.
Tyson exploded onto the heavyweight scene back in the mid 1980s, making his professional debut at 18-years and 249-days old in March of 1985.
With his aggressive ‘peek-a-boo’ fighting style, Tyson quickly established himself as a serious contender before he eventually captured world honours for the first time with a brutal second round stoppage win over WBC champion Trevor Berbick in 1986.
He added the WBA and IBF titles to his collection in the year that followed with respective victories over James Smith and Tony Tucker, achieving undisputed status just days after his 21st birthday in 1987.
In an interview with ThisIs50, ‘Iron Mike’ spoke fondly of the late, great Muhammad Ali as he claims he would never have been able to defeat the boxing icon, even when he was at his absolute peak.
“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 the man, hell no.”
Known as ‘The Greatest’, Ali is often regarded as being the greatest fighter of all time. The Kentucky-native captured the world heavyweight championship on three occasions during his storied career, defeating the likes of Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier and George Foreman along the way.
