Heavyweight boxing icon, Mike Tyson, won the world title on three occasions, faced numerous legends of the sports, and was involved in some of the most viewed fights of all time – but the now 57-year-old says one night really made him feel the pressure.
Tyson went up against the likes of Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis in the squared circle, with his victory over Holmes finally completing his well-documented goal of avenging his idol, Muhammad Ali.
However, despite achieving that goal , which he had since he was just fourteen-years-old, Tyson told the Daily Mail that he felt the most pressure when he had his first world title fight against Trevor Berbick, where he became the youngest ever heavyweight world champion, a record that still remains to this d ay.
“The first time that I fought for the title, against Trevor Berbick. There was a massive amount of pressure on me but then I realised ‘pressure is a privilege’, not many people ever have that in their life and they may live to be ninety.
So I look at it as a privilege to be under that kind of pressure and to perform great under it as well.”
Although, fans wouldn’t have been able to tell that ‘Iron’ Mike was feeling the heat on the night. In one of the division’s most famous performances, Tyson dominated Berbick at just twenty-years-old, scoring a second-round TKO to claim the WBC crown.
Almost thirty-seven years later and Tyson is still involved in boxing’s high-profile events, working as head trainer for Francis Ngannou ahead of the former UFC champion’s boxing debut, where he takes on current world champion, Tyson Fury, in Saudi Arabia on October 28.