One of Mike Tyson‘s past foes believes he could have been the first man to defeat the boxing icon.
Tyson is widely regarded as one of the best heavyweights of all time, having burst onto the scene in the 1980s and quickly establishing himself as a ferocious competitor.
He won his first 19 fights by knockout, 12 of them inside the first round, and then won the WBC heavyweight title at the age of 20 with a victory over Trevor Berbick, making him the youngest to ever do so, a record that still stands to this day.
Further wins over fighters such as Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks and Frank Bruno followed, before ‘Iron Mike’ suffered a shock first professional defeat to Buster Douglas in February 1990.
It is Holmes who believes things could have gone differently in their fight though, telling Tru School Sports why he thinks he would have been the first man to defeat Tyson.
“I would have whooped Tyson’s ass if they give me more time to get ready. I ain’t going to let him catch me with one punch. He’d have to get past this left hand and there would be a lot of punches that you’re going to have to rid of.”
Holmes suffered a fourth round TKO loss to Tyson when they met in January 1988, in what was his first fight for nearly two years. Prior to that, ‘The Easton Assassin’ had suffered back-to-back defeats to Michael Spinks, after an initial 48-fight winning run.
That unbeaten streak saw Holmes hold world honours from 1978 to 1985, earning a victory over the legendary Muhammad Ali, along with wins over Earnie Shavers and Ken Norton.
