Mike Tyson was on the wrong side of one of the biggest upset losses in boxing history when 42-to-1 underdog Buster Douglas knocked him out in Tokyo, Japan,
Tyson was 22 years old and the undefeated heavyweight champion at the time.
Fast forward 33 years, and Tyson will be involved in the biggest crossover heavyweight boxing clash to date when his namesake Tyson Fury fights the Iron Mike-trained former UFC champion Francis Ngannou.
Ngannou (17-3, 12 KOs MMA) will be making his boxing debut, and if he were to beat the WBC heavyweight titlist Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs), Tyson thinks it would be a bigger upset than his loss to Douglas.
“Tyson Fury got dropped by a small guy early in his career,” Tyson said on The Jim Rome Show. “[Ngannou] punches like God knows who, man. He’s an athlete, he moves quicker, works with his speed, and listen man, he only has to land one or two.
“Tyson’s never been in the ring with somebody that can punch this hard.
“[Ngannou] asked me to go all-out aggression. He’s moving his head. He’s getting it together, and he’s determined to do this stuff for his country, his people, his patriotic pride. This is really interesting. I’m very excited about doing this.”
“[An Ngannou win over Fury] – that would be a bigger upset than Douglas-Tyson.”
Fury and Ngannou will fight on October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on ESPN+ pay-per-view.
Tyson hosted Ngannou on his podcast Hotboxin’ to further discuss the fight.
“This is what you have to look [at] when you think about him fighting Tyson Fury — Conor McGregor went 11 rounds or 10 rounds with Floyd Mayweather, the greatest fighter of his generation, if not all-time. If that can happen, why can’t [Ngannou] give Tyson a capable fight?” Tyson wondered. “Floyd Mayweather is the greatest fighter in the world as far as technique and style. So why doesn’t he have a chance if McGregor did well and did a great account of himself? Everybody respects him for his effort. Nobody said, ‘He’s a b!tch.’ No one is saying that.
“[Ngannou and I] worked out and I saw a lot of good qualities. He pretty much just needs to shake off some of the cobwebs and then it’s full speed ahead. You learn pretty quick, too, which I was really impressed with.”
The soon-to-be 37-year-old Ngannou brought a boxing-first background to his career as a mixed martial artist.
“If I land a bomb on Tyson Fury, I think the lights turn off for him,” Ngannou said. “But now the problem is how to sharpen the weapon properly to land that bomb, because it’s good to have a bomb, but the great Teddy Atlas always says, ‘delivery system.’ You have to have a proper delivery system. That’s something that’s always stuck in my mind. You have to have a bomb, that’s cool, but how to have a good delivery system to aim and shoot [is more important], and that’s why Mike Tyson is here.”