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via Getty

via Getty

While he actively took part in professional boxing, with back-to-back first-round victories and 75.86% of a knockout rate, Mike Tyson was an indefatigable figure in the sport. A force to reckon with! In his prime, Tyson derailed one mean opponent after the other. Ricardo Spain, Lorenzo Canady, Donnie Long, Larry Holmes, Carl Williams… the list just tirelessly goes on. In his own words, Tyson literally wanted to take the lives of those he would fight.

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However, there was one boxer that Tyson always believed he would avoid. It was none other than The Double Greatest Muhammad Ali. Since he was only thirteen, Cus D’Amato trained and built Mike Tyson. In sports and the other fields of life, it is the teacher, the coach, who puts his faith in the student before the student learns to believe.

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However, contrary to these words, when it came to Muhammad Ali, even Cus D’Amato believed Tyson was no match. He had said, “No one could beat Muhammad Ali.”

The time when Mike Tyson praised Muhammad Ali in the very presence of The Greatest

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On the Arsenio Hall Show 1989, Muhammad Ali pointing at Mike Tyson said he was scared of him. However, right then the question popped – who would have won had Tyson and Ali fought each other in their prime? At this, Tyson replied by saying, “I know, I’m great, but can I tell you something? In this situation, every head must bow down; every tongue must confess he is the Greatest of all time.”

via Imago

Although Tyson held Ali in high regards, he wanted to be more like Dempsey and Liston. As per the guidance of D’Amato, Tyson studied Dempsey and Liston and added mean touches to his own craft. He had said, “I did everything he (D’Amato) told me to do, and I won. I started believing in this old man. Cus was different with me than he was with his other fighters. Cus trained me to be totally ferocious, in the ring and out.”

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What do you think would have happened had Mike Tyson fought Muhammad Ali when they both were in their prime?