Mike Tyson has been told he wouldn't have beaten Muhammad Ali or Joe Frazier ahead of his comeback fight against Roy Jones Jr.
Iron Mike will step back into the ring for an exhibition bout with Jones Jr on November 28 at the age of 54.
Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion ever at 20, but after a loss to Buster Douglas in 1990 and a prison sentence two years later, was never quite the same.
And top promoter Frank Warren insists that after his initial burst onto the scene, Tyson failed to achieve his full potential and doesn’t even make it into his top 10 fighters of all time.
Warren told talkSPORT.com: “Mike Tyson, when he was young and first got into boxing, he was exciting.
“A bit like Daniel Dubois in some ways, he sort of captured the public’s imagination in devastating style.
“He won a world title and everybody was talking about him. For me, he was one of the most exciting young heavyweights.
“However, he doesn’t get in my top ten because he just did not last the course.
“He was sodding around, drugging it and boozing, went to prison. He just didn’t do it for me.
“A lot of the fights that he had, he beat the guys before they got in the ring. He intimidated them.
“He was a street guy, most guys in boxing come from the streets, and he had the beating of them.
“But he could never intimidate Evander Holyfield and he didn’t intimidate Buster Douglas.
“When I put him in with Danny Williams [in 2004] in the latter stages of his career, I said to Danny, ‘just tuck up for a couple of rounds. He’ll be like vintage Mike Tyson for a round or two rounds, then you’ll do a job on him.’ That is what he did.
“As a young man he was very, very exciting and you’ve always got those fights that you think about.
“At his best, would he have beaten Muhammad Ali at Ali’s best? They would always have been great fights.
“But I don’t think he would’ve beaten Sonny Liston, I don’t think he’d have beaten [prime] Larry Holmes, I don’t think he’d have beaten Ali, I don’t think he’d have beaten Joe Frazier and I certainly don’t think he’d have beaten George Foreman.”
