A young Mike Tyson picked up boxing gloves because he saw Muhammad Ali fighting on a screen. He owes his career’s success and boxing exploits to the man who floated in the ring while throwing the punches and inspired an entire generation of boxers and continues to do so. But there was one peculiar aspect of his style that went largely unnoticed.

Tyson, 58, talked about his idol when he sat down in a conversation with two former UFC champions, Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo. After disclosing his top 5 in the current boxing generation, he also revealed one stat that threw off the co-hosts—Ali never threw a body shot in his career. The Greatest’s style centered around headhunting, as he employed jabs, hooks, and his famed quick footwork. However, breaking down his opponents with a body shot was never a game plan he employed.

Tyson, at 50-6, said, “Muhammad Ali, look at all the film, all the 60 fights, whatever, he never threw a body punch in his whole career. He never threw a body shot. Never threw a body punch in his whole career and they say, ‘If you don’t throw a body punch, you’re an idiot’, right? And fighting, if you don’t throw a body punch you’re an idiot… Headshot. Pop, pop, pop.”

‘Iron Mike’ then detailed the art of body punching in boxing. He explained how one’s discipline could be gauged by body shots. How? He explained how even the baddest guys could be caught lacking and knocked out when hit in the jaw. But with the body shot, one had the option to quit or to continue. The former world champion declared, “But if you get hit in the body, you choose to quit or not. You choose if you want to go down. You choose to give up or not. It’s not up to him, it’s up to you to give up.”

In contrast to Ali, Tyson relied on his brute force, and his hooks did a dismantling job on his opponents. Despite drawing inspiration from Ali, he charted his own career path. What’s more? When he was merely 15 and was learning the sweet science, he made a promise to Ali—to exact revenge on his behalf.

A promise made to Muhammad Ali by then-15-year-old Mike Tyson

Ali bowed out of the professional stage with two consecutive losses in his last two fights against Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. Speaking on the All The Smoke Fight podcast, Tyson recalled the day and admitted, “Larry Holmes beat Ali, and Ali and Cus [D’Amato] were talking on the phone the next day. The next morning, they were talking. And he said, ‘I’ve got a 15-year-old black kid who’s going to be champion of the world. Talk to him. His name is Mike Tyson ’. And I said, ‘When I get big, I’m going to avenge you’.”

And the Brooklyn native stood by his words. He knocked out Berbick by TKO in 1986, and two years later, he scored another knockout, this time against Holmes. Tyson has always been vocal about his admiration and respect for Ali. He had even gone to the extent of confessing that he “worshipped” him. Therefore, whenever he stepped into the boxing ring, he looked up to his idol for some inspiration.

What do you make of this interesting stat shared by Mike Tyson about Muhammad Ali? Let us know in the comments below.