Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali are without doubt the most iconic heavyweight fighters of all time, but if the pair were to meet in their primes, four-division world champion Shakur Stevenson believes he knows who would come out on top.
Ali ruled as a three-time world champion, with his reigns spanning across a 15-year spell when the heavyweight division was arguably at it’s best; besting the likes of George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Sonny Liston during his time in the ring.
As a result, Ali is understandably referred to as ‘The Greatest’, but his prime is something which is less discussed, given the fact that he was absent from action between the ages of 25 and 28 years old – a period which would likely have been his best years in the ring.
Meanwhile, Tyson is rarely referred to as a ‘greater’ fighter than Ali, but the way in which he ferociously tore through the heavyweight division during the late 1980s make a showdown with a ‘prime’ Ali one of the most difficult and intimidating propositions in boxing history.
Still, speaking on the Ball in the Family Podcast, Stevenson admitted that he would lean toward Ali in any fantasy fight between ‘The Louisville Lip’ and ‘Iron’ Mike, due to the fact that Tyson himself has admitted that Ali would have defeated him.
“Ali [would win]. The only reason why I say Ali is because Tyson said that Ali would beat him.”
Tyson was quizzed on how a clash between he and Ali would have played out back in 2020, conceding that ‘he wouldn’t win a real fight’ and that ‘Ali is the greatest that there has ever been’.
