‘Iron Mike’ had been present in 1980 when Holmes stopped Ali in the tenth round of their fight.
“We went to see Muhammad Ali fight Larry Holmes on closed circuit. [Holmes] beat the s**t out of Ali,” Tyson told Boxing Arabia.
“We all went back home, 30 miles south, nobody said a word in the car for 30 miles. We got in the house, went to our beds, all went to sleep, nobody said nothing.
“The next morning [Tyson’s trainer Cus D’Amato] is on the phone with Ali. I’m hearing him say ‘he’s a bum, Ali, why you let that bum beat on you?’”
“I was on the phone, I said [to Ali] ‘when I get big I’m gonna avenge you. I’m gonna knock him out for you.’
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“Ali said ‘yeah I’m the greatest fighter ever and I took medicine and I got sick and I’m gonna come back and knock out Holmes’…
“I’m on the phone crying – he thought he was making me happy but he was making me sad c ause he ignored the fact of me saying I’m gonna avenge you.”
Eight years later, Tyson took on Holmes for the undisputed heavyweight world titles.
The fight did not last long, as in round four Tyson knocked Holmes down three times on his way to a brutal knockout victory, becoming the only fighter to ever stop ‘The Easton Assassin’.
“I fought Larry Holmes,” Tyson said. “[Ali] came in and said ‘get him for me.’ I wanted to say I told you already I was gonna do it!
“And then what happened happened in the fight. That was just my greatest fight. That was my greatest moment.”
Holmes was just one of a number of great fighters that Tyson came up against in his career and he believes those boxers of his era were tougher than today’s modern heavyweights such as Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder.
“I’m not saying that the guys of today wouldn’t beat those guys. But guys back then were tougher,” Tyson explained.
“They’d fight anybody with no hesitation. There was no, ‘I have to talk to my manager about this.’ It’s right now, let’s fight.
“Back in the 80s, if someone said they were the best fighter in the world and they were in your division, you’d want to fight them outside. Many times I wanted to fight guys outside because my ego was involved.”
