daniel chigunwe
MANY boxing historians consider Mike Tyson to be the hardest puncher to ever step foot between the ropes.
“Iron Mike” left a lasting legacy of destruction during his 20-year stint in the paid ranks.
The American boxing icon laid waste to his first 28 opponents and became the youngest heavyweight champion at the age of 20 years, 4 months, and 22 days old by flattening Trevor Berbick in 1986.
Of his 50 career wins (50-7) Tyson finished 44 of them inside the distance, including 24 in the opening stanza.
The heavy-handed New Yorker possessed speed and power in equal measure and had an uncanny ability to work his way on the inside with his peek-a-boo style before unleashing hooks and uppercuts to brutal effect.
Past opponent, Marvis Frazier, summed it up well. “I threw a jab and I don’t remember anything else,” he told Boxing News.
It is for this reason that Tyson ranks so highly on many people’s list of the biggest hitters in boxing.
Yet when the question was posed to Tyson he humbly conceded the mantle to George Foreman.
“(It’s George Foreman) I can’t match somebody’s power who’s that big and that much man.
“Only thing that allowed me to be exciting was that I did it faster than the other guys.”
Asked if his own power came naturally, Tyson replied: “Nothing about me was natural.
“Only my desire to win was natural, I had a great teacher.
“Only you can do that. You’re born with it but somebody has to elicit that.”
“Big George” stood at 6ft 3in tall and during the latter stages of his career, tipped the scales at a colossal 260lbs.
Foreman punched his way into the annals of history by becoming the oldest world heavyweight champion of all time at 46 years, 5 months, and 18 days after making a miraculous comeback in the late 80s following a 10-year hiatus from the sport.
A stunning 68 of his 76 wins came via knock-out, with Michael Moorer, Gerry Cooney, Ron Lyle, and Joe Frazier (twice) all falling to his legendary power. Ring Magazine ranks Foreman as the No.5 greatest puncher of all time behind Jack Dempsey, Sandy Saddler, Archie Moore and Joe Louis. — talkSPORT/Sports Reporter.
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