‘Iron’ Mike Tyson was one of the most feared and formidable heavyweights on the planet during his prime.
He exploded onto the scene back in 1985 when he was just 18-years-old. Tyson won his first 19 outings via stoppage, with 12 of these coming inside the opening round.
He was granted a shot at WBC heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick in 1986, when he was just 20-years-old. It took ‘Iron’ Mike just 2-rounds to blast Trevor Berbick out to capture the WBC crown and become the youngest heavyweight champion in history.
Tyson went on to claim the undisputed heavyweight championship with respective victories over WBA champion James Smith and IBF champion Tony Tucker, although his reign came to an abrupt halt in 1990 when he was beaten by Buster Douglas in a sensational upset.
Despite his dominance throughout the late 80’s, legendary trainer and analyst Teddy Atlas believes there was one heavyweight who would have dealt with a prime version of Tyson.
In an interview on his YouTube channel, Atlas spoke of a fantasy showdown between Tyson and the late, great George Foreman, where he claims ‘Big George’ would have knocked Tyson out in the same way he beat Joe Frazier back in the 1970’s.
“Foreman and Tyson. Foreman’s style was wrong for Mike, I think it would have been a replay of the fight with Foreman and Frazier that we already know what happened in that, twice. Foreman knocked him out, bad style, had the right punches to catch him, the size advantage.
Foreman was naturally the bigger guy, he would have been able to catch Mike coming in, time him coming in, Foreman had a great chin, Tyson would have maybe handed a left hook, against Foreman I could see that left hook landing, Foreman could have handled it.”
After taking a 10-year break from boxing, Foreman returned to the sport in 1987 in a sensational comeback. He defied the odds to become the oldest heavyweight champion in history in 1994 when he knocked out WBA and IBF champion Michael Moorer in the tenth round of their bout.
The pair never faced off of course, with Foreman focused only on the belts and Tyson losing his to Douglas. ‘Iron’ Mike has said he regrets not making the fight to settle the debate on who punched harder.
