‘That guy was a nightmare in the ring, I didn’t want anything to do with him’: George Foreman reveals why he never faced ‘monster’ Mike Tyson after making shock heavyweight comeback aged 38 in 1987

George Foreman made a surprise return to the ring aged 38 after a decade away.

At that time, Mike Tyson, 21, held the WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight belts.

There were ‘serious negotiations’ to make the high-profile fight happen. But Foreman has admitted Tyson was a ‘nightmare’ in the ring and a ‘monster’.

However, Foreman believes Tyson was frightened of facing him as well.

George Foreman has admitted he ‘didn’t want anything to do’ with ‘monster’ Mike Tyson when a fight between the two heavyweights was mooted in the late 1980s.

Two-time world champion Foreman was 38 in 1987 when he stunned the boxing world by announcing a comeback.

At that time, Tyson was only 21 but held the WBC, WBA and IBF belts, the first heavyweight boxer to have all three simultaneously.

But the showdown never materialised and Foreman has explained the reasons why.

‘That guy was a nightmare in the ring. I didn’t want anything to do with that guy,’ he told ESPN.

‘I didn’t want a part of Mike Tyson. He was a monster.

‘Those are the kind of guys you see in a nightmare. You want to wake up and say, ‘so glad that’s a dream.’

‘I didn’t want any part of Mike Tyson – no way.’

But Foreman said that Tyson felt the same way at the time: ‘He was scared and I was glad of that.’