Boxing is a scary sport, which is what makes it such an exhilarating watch.
The nimble footwork, the patience, knowing when to strike, knowing how to strike; it’s all part of a dance between the two people in the ring.
Few boxers mastered the dance in all its glory, while some made their mark through sheer tenacity. Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson are prime examples of the two sides of that coin.
Just like in every other sport, the debate between who’s the greatest of all time has raged in boxing with the aforementioned duo constantly being pitted against each other.
When you have nicknames like ‘The Greatest’ and ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet,’ those comparisons escalate to a whole new level.
In a recent interview, though, Tyson explained the clear difference between him and Ali.
“I always like to think I’m a bad mother******. A vicious mother******. But that’s where he (Ali) over shines me because I can’t understand a man who’s literally willing to die," Tyson is quoted as saying by Boxing News and Views.
Tyson added that when he himself was in the ring, he’d talk about putting it all on the line, but Ali went one step further.
“He’s the real deal. He’ll die for this s***. I’m not going to die for this.
“Ali will fight you to the death. You have to kill him.”
‘Iron Mike’ has always proclaimed that he would be no match for Ali in the ring, but George Foreman begs to differ.
In Fiaz Rafiq’s book ‘Muhammad Ali: The Life of a Legend,’ the author claims Foreman told him Ali wasn’t entirely confident he could’ve beaten prime Mike Tyson.
Years and years of this debate has not brought the authorities in the boxing world any closer to a conclusion. Even Floyd Mayweather had a thing or two to say about it, going as far as to say that even though Ali could take a beating and was a trailblazer in the sport, he himself should be acknowledged as the best in the world.
“If we’re judging fighters on taking less punishment and breaking records, then it’s (the greatest ever) Floyd Mayweather,” he said in a SportsCenter interview.
So, there you have it, folks. Who’s the greatest ever? Is it Ali? Is it Tyson? Is it 50-0 ‘Money’ Mayweather?
I guess we’ll never know unless there’s some mind-bending alternate timeline like in the hit Netflix show ‘Dark.’