At the height of his storied professional career, Mike Tyson proved himself to be the most formidable fighter on the planet.
‘Iron Mike’ exploded onto the scene as an 18-year-old back in 1985, winning his first 19 bouts via knockout with 12 of these coming inside the very first round.
He wrote his name into the boxing history books 18 months after his professional debut when he stopped 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 of all time.
Tyson added the WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles to his collection in the year that followed his victory over Berbick, achieving undisputed status at heavyweight just one month on from his 21st birthday.
He made six successful defences of his crown before he was eventually dethroned by James ‘Buster’ Douglas in 1990, in what is widely considered to be one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
Speaking on the Hotboxin’ Podcast, Tyson didn’t hesitate to name former undisputed champion Evander Holyfield as the one fighter that was the toughest to knockout, as he claims his former rival was a ‘monster’.
“F*cking Holyfield. Yeah, he’s a f*cking monster.”
‘Iron Mike’ faced Holyfield twice within the space of seven months between 1996 and 1997, falling short in his attempts at dethroning his countryman of the WBA world heavyweight title on both occasions.
Tyson was stopped in the penultimate round of their first encounter in November of 1996, before he was disqualified at the conclusion of the third round of their rematch the following summer after he sensationally bit the ears of Holyfield in the infamous ‘Bite Fight’.