Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is regarded by many as one the of the greatest boxers of all time.
‘Iron’ Mike won his first 19 professional fights by knockout before picking up his first world title aged just 20 with a two-round demolition of Trevor Berbick in 1986. That victory saw him become the youngest ever heavyweight champ, a record that still stands.
On his Hotboxin’ podcast, Tyson was asked who he puts as his No. 1 and it appears something he gives a lot of thought to:
“I think about it all the time, who’s the greatest fighter?”
Two names that are always in the hat when talking about ‘The GOAT’ are Sugar Ray Robinson and Floyd Mayweather, Tyson went on to compare their records:
“Sugar Ray Robinson had 40 fights right, then he fights Jake LaMotta and loses. He beat Jake LaMotta the first fight so second fight he fights him and loses, so he’s 40 and 1. Now right after that he goes 85 and 0.”
“Some people be talking about ‘I’m the greatest fighter in the world’ you know, all respects to Floyd [Mayweather], you did 50, let me see you do 85, 90 in a row.”
“He [Floyd] fought for twenty something years and he got 50 fights. Ray Robinson fought for 26 years and got 208 fights. You got to put that in perspective to, how often you gonna fight. I fought 15 times in one year.”
“The more you do it the more you want it.”
It’s well known that Mike and Floyd haven’t always had the best relationship, when asked how he feels about the self proclaimed ‘TBE’, he replied:
“Awesome fighter, great fighter.”
“He’s a little too into himself you know, I was the same way too. But you have to come to reality at some point and you have to bring your head down to the guard.”