Muhammad Ali is considered a great trash talker and many are inspired by the Great to this day. While introducing, Cus D’Amato Ali surely had a ton of respect for the coach but could not hold back on his trash-talking. ” Cus D’Amato can be seen from a great distance when the sun is shining because his head shines. The genius of boxing, he knows all about boxing. He can tell you about all the fighters, from the face first fighter up until myself.,” said Ali.
Although D’Amato and Ali were friendly with each other, both never trained together. Muhammad Ali was known to be the boss in his training camp and as such his coaches had a laid-back approach. Meanwhile, Cus D’Amato wanted his fighters to follow every part of his approach. This helped him create Mike Tyson’s famous peek-a-boo fighting style. Cus D’Amato also did not like how often Ali would get hit during his sparring sessions adding another reason to not work with ‘The Great’.
Regardless, both worshipped each other as the best. Ali has called D’Amato the Bible of boxing but again could not hold back with his amusing trash talk and called him ugly as well. Meanwhile, Cus D’Amato believed Muhammad Ali was the greatest boxer, and even Mike Tyson started worshipping Ali due to his coach.
Despite being a huge influence, Mike Tyson did not want to be a fighter like Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is known as one of the biggest inspirations for all the boxers to this day. Through his fighting style, trash-talking, and personality ‘ The Great ‘ has left a huge mark on the sport of boxing. Boxing legend Mike Tyson has also made known that Ali had a huge influence on his career and he deeply respected him.
Despite having a huge impact on his life, Tyson has confessed he never wanted to be like Ali. Growing up Tyson came from a very rough neighborhood. He would often get into fights and end up in the juvie. He had the opportunity of meeting Ali in his teens which heavily inspired him to become famous. However, due to his background and upbringing, he wanted to be more like Roberto Duran, Sonny Liston, and others.
“I wanted to be mean like Sonny Liston and Jack Dempsey. I wanted to be ferocious, I wanted to kill you with my stare,” said Tyson. Although Tyson did not want to mirror Ali’s persona inside the ring he was surely inspired to become famous by ‘ The Great’.