At his formidable best, Mike Tyson was undoubtedly the most feared fighter on the planet.
He made his professional debut at just 18-years-old back in 1985, establishing himself as a genuine contender at heavyweight within a matter of months.
Tyson wrote his name into the boxing history books just 18-months on from his debut, blasting out Trevor Berbick in the second round of their showdown in Las Vegas to capture the WBC heavyweight title and become the youngest world heavyweight champion ever.
He added the WBA and IBF heavyweight straps to his collection in the year that followed with respective victories over James Smith and Tony Tucker, achieving undisputed status just one month after he turned 21-years-old.
Despite asserting his dominance throughout the first few years of his professional career, Tyson’s former mentor and trainer Cus D’Amato once told ‘Iron Mike’ there was just one heavyweight that he would not have beaten.
Speaking in his autobiography, Tyson revealed details of a past conversation with D’Amato where he was told that he would have struggled to have gotten the better of ‘The Greatest’ – Muhammad Ali.
“Cus told me once that no matter what I did, I probably wouldn’t beat [Muhammad] Ali. That wasn’t to put me down, but to make me realise I had to build my own path and style, not try to be someone else.”
Whilst Tyson is commended for being one of the greatest heavyweights ever, many fans and analysts consider the late-great Ali to be the best of all time.
He became a world heavyweight champion on three occasions during his 21-year tenure, defeating the likes of Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier and George Foreman amongst many others.