For a Brief Moment, “Iron” Mike Tyson Was the Greatest Heavyweight Fighter of Them All

Ali wouldn’t have had a chance.

If Muhammad Ali did not defeat George Foreman in The Rumble in the Jungle, you would not be reading this. There would be no point.

Foreman, great as he was, is rarely in the conversation of top heavyweights ever. He was a prime player in one of boxing’s great eras, the 1970s, and became the oldest world’s heavyweight champ ever in the midst of a remarkable comeback in 1994, but rarely is he considered one of the best of all-time.

That’s because Ali picked him apart, and knocked him out.

Mike Tyson was never a George Foreman. Nor was he an Ernest Shavers, along with 70’s Foreman considered the strongest puncher in the game.

Tyson had it all, which broke him from the pack: the blazing hand and foot speed of a middleweight such as Sugar Ray Leonard — someone several weight classes below him — power at least the equivalent of Foreman’s, and a center of gravity that gave larger opponents fits.

And he was more intimidating than Sonny Liston.

My opinion and I’m sticking to it.