Former undisputed world champion Mike Tyson is regarded as one of the most feared punchers in the history of the heavyweight division.
The retired boxer, 57-years-old, is currently the head trainer of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who is preparing for his crossover boxing match against WBC world champion Tyson Fury.
The non-title contest takes place on October 28 in Saudi Arabia.
Ngannou was widely regarded as a big puncher in MMA, but he’s never fought with boxing gloves.
Tyson has been impressed with the punching power and overall abilities of Ngannou.
“I am helping Ngannou. I am learning what he is able to do. He’s able to do so much more than I anticipated. He has what it takes to knockout anything or anybody standing in his way. Once he lands a punch on Tyson Fury’s jaw he is going to knock him out too. Nobody can survive that,” Tyson explained to The Daily Mail.
Tyson made a very successful career of knocking opponents out – and now he’s trying to pass on the same tools to Ngannou.
“My philosophy for fighting people and knocking them out was just put as much pressure on them as I could,” Tyson said. “It was just pressure, pressure, pressure. Make them make mistakes and then counter with a knockout. Simple as that.”
While many have been highly critical of Fury’s decision to fight Ngannou – Tyson sees no issue with his decision.
“He’s taking advantage of his celebrity status. Why does he always have to jump to the boxing administration? Can they give him time to make some money and put some bank roll away? He’s making some money for his family. ‘Let me do what I need to do and then when it’s time to box I will box. Boxing people need to keep out of my personal business.’ Fury’s not the all-time great but he’s one of the all-time greats. He’s really high up. He can do greatness right now,” Tyson said.
“He’s always going to bring a good night of boxing, fight hard. You’ve got to try and hit him with a shot to knock him cold out because he always gets back up and fights hard.”