Former boxing world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes has explained why he believe Anthony Joshua would have knocked out Mike Tyson in his prime.
Holmes was the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight champion from 1978 until 1983 and won his first 48 professional fights.
He fell one short of matching Rocky Marciano’s career record of 49–0 when he lost to Michael Spinks in a 1985 upset.
In 1988, he lost to Tyson as he was knocked out in the fourth round of their title fight in New Jersey.
Now 73 years of age, the International Boxing Hall of Fame and World Boxing Hall of Fame inductee, gave his reason why Tyson would have been stopped by Joshua.
“If he fought a guy like Mike Tyson, he’d win,” Holmes said, as quoted by The Express. “He would have knocked out a prime Mike Tyson. There’s no reckon about it.
“Mike Tyson went down low and then came up and tried to throw roundhouses. But Joshua would just hit him with a straight right hand on the side of his damn chin and Mike wouldn’t get up.
“He never fought anyone who was coming up and trying to make their way in the sport. He just went in there – bang, bang, bang and knocked everyone out. That’s how he got the reputation as a puncher.
“I’m not taking anything away from Mike Tyson – he kicked my a**. But I was out for two years, I had quit boxing, I hadn’t done anything for two years apart from sing with the band and travel.”
Joshua is a two-time former unified world heavyweight champion, having held the World Boxing Association (WBA) (Super version), International Boxing Federation (IBF), and World Boxing Organization (WBO) titles.
Since losing in back-to-back fights with Oleksandr Usyk, Joshua has gone on to win his last two fights.
He bounced back from the defeats to Usyk with a unanimous decision win against Jermaine Franklin in April 2023.
Then in August, he recorded a knockout win against Robert Helenius.