‘Iron Mike’ burst onto the scene as a youngster, winning his first 19 professional fights by knockout, 12 of them coming inside the very first round.
It led to him challenging Trevor Berbick for the WBC heavyweight title in November 1986, with Tyson winning by second round stoppage to become the youngest world heavyweight champion in history at the age of 20 years and 145 days.
Tyson went on to become undisputed after claiming wins over the likes of Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks and Tony Tucker, but then lost his titles when he suffered a shock knockout defeat to Buster Douglas in February 1990.
‘Iron Mike’ became champion again when he stopped Frank Bruno in March 1996, but was then beaten twice by Evander Holyfield, the second fight ending in disqualification after he infamously bit the ear of ‘The Real Deal.’
His last crack at world honours came when he was stopped by Lennox Lewis in June 2002, before Tyson hung up the gloves in 2005 following back-to-back defeats to Danny Williams and Kevin McBride.
After nearly two decades out of the ring, he made a controversial return at the age of 58 in November 2024 to take on Youtuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, losing by unanimous decision to see his final record stand at 50 wins, 7 defeats and 2 no contests.
Having shared the ring with a number of big names, Tyson told Ring Magazine that it was Holyfield who he deems to be the best he ever took on.
Holyfield was the first man to be undisputed at both cruiserweight and heavyweight before Oleksandr Usyk repeated the feat, but the ‘Real Deal’ remains the only four-time heavyweight champion in boxing history.
Along with his wins over Tyson, Holyfield also beat fighters such as George Foreman, Riddick Bowe, Larry Holmes, Michael Moorer and Buster Douglas, and ‘The Real Deal’ recently claimed that he feels those accolades make him the greatest of all time.