The question around who is the greatest heavyweight of all time often leads to fervent debate amongst fans, media and fighters alike.
Lennox Lewis and Muhammad Ali are two of the names often cited, with both men boasting incredibly deep resumes and having faced everyone in their era.
However, on a recent podcast appearance, Mike Tyson reacted to a picture of himself with Cus D’Amato, and said his trainer was right when he told a young ‘Iron’ Mike he would become the best of all time.
“He was right – I’m the greatest ever.
In order to be a master, you first have to be a fool and make mistakes. Don’t get discouraged, it’s so easy to get discouraged and give up.
Nothing came easy for me, but I didn’t give up.”
Tyson holds the record for the youngest heavyweight world champion of all time, knocking out Trevor Berbick in 1986 to claim the WBC world title at just 20 years old, before achieving undisputed status less than a year later.
Despite still holding the record for the youngest heavyweight world champion in history, there is still a view that somehow Tyson failed to fulfil his potential, due to the derailing of his career by a jail stint in the first half of the 1990s.
A staple in any respectable list of the blue ribbon division’s hardest punchers, Tyson was arguably the heaviest hitter America had produced in the past century, until a certain Deontay Wilder came along.
Tyson was last seen in the ring in an exhibition against Roy Jones Jr, and although he has no immediate plans to return, he hasn’t entirely ruled it out.