At the height of his professional career, Mike Tyson was the most feared and ferocious fighter in the world.
He exploded onto the scene back in 1985 when he was just 18-years-old, winning his first 19 contests via stoppage. After just 18-months as a professional, Tyson defeated Trevor Berbick via second round knockout to capture the WBC heavyweight title and become the youngest heavyweight champion in history.
‘Iron’ Mike would go on to add the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles to his collection with respective victories over James Smith and Tony Tucker, achieiving undisputed status just one month after his 21st birthday. He would remain unbeaten until he was defeated by Buster Douglas in 1990, one of the biggest upsets that the sport has ever seen.
Another retired American legend who had an outstanding professional career is Floyd Mayweather Jr, who won all 50 of his bouts and won world titles across five weight classes before announcing his retirement 8-years ago.
Speaking in an interview on YouTube, Tyson gave his verdict on whether he believes Mayweather should be considered an ‘all time great’.
“Floyd’s a great fighter don’t get me wrong but listen Sugar Ray Robinson had 47 fights, he lost one then he had a 78 fight winning streak. Don’t tell me about he’s [Mayweather] the greatest fighter with 50 and 0, you’re great no doubt about it but no, [Julio Cesar] Chavez had 90 [fights before he lost].”
‘Money’ Mayweather called time on his career back in 2017, just months after he defeated MMA superstar Conor McGregor via tenth round stoppage in Las Vegas. The 48-year-old from Grand Rapids, Michigan has had a number of exhibition contests since exiting the professional ranks however, where he has fought the likes of Logan Paul and Tenshin Nasukawa amongst others.
