Mike Tyson dominated heavyweight boxing during his prime and didn’t hesitate when naming who he’d have loved to test himself against.
‘Iron Mike’ became the youngest world champion in history when he knocked Trevor Berbick out at the age of 20 in 1987.
He never ducked a fight and took on several legendary boxers during his 20-year career.
Larry Holmes and Michael Spinks are among the names Tyson defeated, while Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis are two men who managed to get the better of him.
Buster Douglas’ shock win in 1990 remains one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
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‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ stepped away from the ring as a new crop of elite fighters were emerging.
Everyone enjoys a bit of fantasy matchmaking and Tyson himself did so during an interview with Steve Farhood on ShoBox.
When asked about a dream opponent from any era of boxing, the 57-year-old immediately named Floyd Mayweather.
Farhood laughed and said he ‘loved’ the answer before Tyson dug deep into why a fight with Floyd Mayweather would’ve been interesting.
He explained: “Well, I would love to have fought him. I wish he was my weight. We can never fight, of course, because of the weight difference, but I wouldn’t fight him the way they fought him.”
Mayweather went unbeaten in his professional career, retiring in 2017 with a perfect 50-0 record.
The Grand Rapids-native regularly received criticism for his ‘boring’ style.
Tyson believes he’d have known exactly how to counter it. He continued: “I would be mean, I would be dirty. Because you’d have to do everything to fight him because he’s just so good.
“You can’t… it’s almost impossible to fight him clean. It’s just so hard to beat him.
I don’t care. It’s really hard to beat him. The style he deploys — it’s really difficult to beat him in that particular style.
“I don’t care. Love him or hate him, he’s a hard man to beat. I would fight a guy like Floyd differently if he was a heavyweight.”
