Former two-weigh world champion David Haye has shocked the boxing world by not putting Mike Tyson in his Top 5 list of the greatest heavyweight boxers.
The Brit has sparked a lot of controversy on social media and between boxing people, as he put “Iron Mike” at number six.
According to the former unified cruiserweight champion, Tyson never faced adversity in the ring and that’s why he never had to dig deep in order to get out of a bad situation.
“I think that particular Mike Tyson had a chance to beat anyone. But I would have liked to see that Tyson we saw that night [in 1988, defeating Michael Spinks in 91 seconds] be pushed in rounds six, seven and eight where he had to go soul searching,’ Haye told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“I don’t know whether he could have turned it around then because we never really saw it. The only time we saw it when he really needed to was against Buster Douglas and he didn’t.
“How many fights did he really have when he was behind on points? Where he got put down, hurt, and came back? That’s the question.
‘If he fights [Muhammad] Ali, hits him in the first round and has him on the ropes and finishes him off – okay, he can beat Ali. ‘But if Ali boxes his head off, gets him tired, ties him up, taunts him, gets him missing, makes him pay – does Tyson have the mental capacity and the mental fortitude to get through that problem?
“I haven’t seen him get through many problems. Ever. ‘There was never a fight I can remember where Tyson was having to bring it back around. The moment he started to lose or it started to get tough, it seemed to go the other way. Buster Douglas, Holyfield twice, even Danny Williams.
Here are the five 5 heavyweight boxers of all time according to David Haye:
- Muhammad Ali
- Lennox Lewis
- Evander Holyfield
- George Foreman
- Larry Holmes
