Mike Tyson on fighting Muhammad Ali

Mike Tyson joined 97.5 the Fanatic in Philadelphia with Mike Missanelli to talk about what Muhammad Ali meant to him, what was it about Ali that made him the most famous athlete in the world, what he represented to people outside of boxing, whether or not he thinks Ali is the best boxer of all-time, and what he thinks about the Ali-Frazier rivalry.

What did he mean to you?
“Muhammad Ali meant so much not only to me, but so many other people in the world, different nationalities and different races. When I first had an encounter with Muhammad Ali, this is really strange, I was a young kid in a detention center in New York City, the Bronx and I forget if it was ’77, we watched a movie first, and then he came in. It was totally overwhelming. I had never in my life experienced that feeling before, that particular stage of my life. It inspired me to want to go truly in that direction.”

What was it about him that made him the most famous athlete in the world?
“This is what my mentor (Cus D’Amato) used to tell me about Ali, he always talked about his characteristics more so than his speed or power or anything. He said Ali just wanted it more than any other fighter in the world. He just had so much inner belief and confidence, and that made him the best fighter in the world.”

Outside boxing what did he represent to people?
“A whole bunch of deep down inner-belief and confidence that we could overcome that kind of stuff back then. Those were the 60’s when he was going through the dodge years and I was just born then. The effect rolled down to my mother. She used to talk about it as well. She called him Clay at the time. She admired him so much.”

So he stood up to white America basically at that time, right?
“I believe so, yeah.”

Is he in your mind the greatest boxer of all time?
“He is the greatest heavyweight boxer of all-time, I think. Yeah. No doubt because Ali has qualities you can’t put on a statistic scale like height and weight and reach and all that stuff. He had internal fortitude. He’s just an amazing man and Cus always said you’re never going to see a guy like him again. Cus was the biggest fan of Ali. He just thought that he was the greatest fighter that God ever created.”

What did you make of the Ali/Frazier rivalry?
“I don’t know. I just thought both of them were awesome fighters and I was a great fan of both of them. I know Frazier had beat him the first time and the second time Ali beat him pretty easy and it wasn’t an exciting fight. Then the third fight I would say to myself ‘I wonder if the Ali of ’71 could’ve beaten the Ali of ’75 if they were to fight.”


http://www.boxing.com/mike_tyson_on...for_the_first_time_it_inspired_me_to_wan.html

 

:goodTyson knows more about boxing than anyone alive. He should be the highest paid analyst in the sport.
Listening to RJJ and Foreman etc is painful at times, Tyson I could listen to all day.
I believe Tyson is Ali's biggest threat from any fighter from any era, Id have picked Tyson, but if Tyson says Ali, then thats good enough for me.

 

Yep, Ali in his prime could improve the quality of this Tillis performance by 3 & I think that would be enough to outpoint Tyson.

 

tyson has a big chance to win the fight as he is the better technical fighter imo.

but why does tyson get so emotional everytime he talks about ali?

 

Idol. Connection with Cus D'Amato who hyped him up and use him as an example or "Character."

Maybe.

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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sndopykm8Jg&hd=1[/ame]

 

You need to brush up on your history a little bit... no gloves were changed in the Cooper fight, there was a small tear & Angelo Dundee lifted it up to make it more noticeable & asked for another pair of gloves to try buy Ali more time between rounds... they didn`t have any gloves & Ali received an extra FIVE SECONDS between rounds - true story.

Also... its only speculation to assume Ali never won that 2nd Liston fight legit, it will never be known because Sonny took it to the grave with him... I think it was pretty clear in fight 1 who the winner was though, Liston was never beating that version of Ali on his best day & neither would Tyson.

 

tyson stated he would not have bothered boxing had the ufc been around he prefers to hold and choke as opposed to knocking them clean out:blood

 

So anyway, Respect to two Great fighters.

I think it would be a great interesting fight with varying outcomes for discussion with most probably saying Ali wins...which is cool.

 

George being the man he is now would never disparage what went in in zaire but he stated in his book " By George" That his water tasted funny.." Tastes like medicine" Was I believe the exact quote...his trainer Dick saddler said don't be silly and told him to drink it....he still maintains to this day that he was drugged and that after 3rds it felt like he'd done 15! Great performance by ali but in a Don King promoted fight anything's possible!

 

If Ali is to win, it will be by decision.

No way he is gonna knock a prime Tyson in 2.

Ali is far greater in accomplishment than Tyson but letøs not forget Tyson totally dominated fighrers during his reign whereas ALi struggled with many mediocre fighters.

And Ali is very susceptible to left hookers - and Tyson is one of the very best left hookers ever.

 

i think he just respecting the game and ali. personally i think prime tyson beats prime ali. thats just me. ali still the greatest. look at the career.

 

Yeah, Foreman is still very bitter about Ali beating him, he acts differently by praising Ali every now & then but ultimately he is still sore because he was tooled fair & square.

Water tasted like medicine whats that now, excuse number 35 by George regarding this fight ? :verysad

 

Stylewise I might favour Foreman over Tyson as well.... him & Ali are probably the worst opponents for Tyson actually.

 

Alis whole career is superior to Tysons of course but H2H I give Tyson at least 50-50 chance against any version of Ali.

 

:good Exactly how I see it.
I believe at his peak, Tyson beats anyone Ali beat, including the Frazier, Liston and Foreman.
People forget just how good Tyson was, because of how short his peak turned out to be.
Could Ali have controlled Tyson with the jab and movement, yes, very possible.
Could Tyson have badly hurt Ali, slowing him down, and then being able to tee off off on him with combination punching, thats possible too.
So many intangibles to pick a definitive winner.
Could Ali cope with someone as quick as him? Could Tyson pass the jab, and avoid getting tied up and kept at range.