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It is the ultimate sporting debate. Who would win a fight between Muhammad “Cassius Clay” Ali and Mike “Kid Dynamite” Tyson.
ADIDAS famously uses the slogan “Impossible is Nothing”.
To me, picking a winner in a boxing match between these two is impossible. Both legends of the sport, they bring to the table unique skills both mental and physical that could win or lose this fantasy match.
Let’s have a look at what they are, as well as a bit about their careers.
We’ll start with the man from Louisville, Kentucky. Known early on as the “Louisville Lip”, before becoming the “People’s Champ” and eventually “The Greatest”, Cassius Clay was and still is the only man to hold the Heavyweight Championship of the World three separate times.
Sports Illustrated named him “Sportsman of the Century”, and his battles out of the ring are just as famous as the ones inside it.
From changing his name to Muhammad Ali and converting to Islam, to refusing to go to war in Vietnam and risking time in jail, Ali had plenty of reasons to attract a crowd.
It all started with someone stealing his bike at the age of 12, where he famously said he was going to “whup” the thief.
It all ended with a loss to Trevor Berbick, the third loss of his last four fights.
In between however were famous battles with Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Leon Spinks and Ken Norton.
Ali’s strength was his speed and quick feet, something rare in a heavyweight.
With 37 knockouts in 56 wins however, he didn’t lack power. Perhaps his most famous quote was “Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see”.
This quote sums him up perfectly as a boxer.
There was also the mental side to his game. Ali was a quick talker and thinker, and loved to predict the round he would knock his opponent out in, as well as tease their appearance and skills as a boxer.
He are some of his quotes that scared, confused and defeated his opponents before they had even entered the ring by putting them off their game and directing their thought process onto distractions that meant they weren’t on top of their game.
“I’m so fast that last night I turned the light off in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark”.
“If you even dream of beating me you better wake up and apologise”.
“My toughest fight was my first wife”.
“Ain’t no reason for me to kill nobody in the ring, unless they deserve it”
Ali, like many other champions of sport went too long, and consequently now has Parkinson’s Disease.
Ali was 22 years old when he first won the Heavyweight title by beating Sonny Liston. He was 36 when he defeated Leon Spinks to win it for the third time. It is hard to say when his prime was, because despite being perhaps quicker and sharper at a younger age, a boxer’s punch only gets more powerful as they get older.
One final point I will make on Ali is his ability to adapt. He was not a man with one style. He could dance all night and taunt opponents, knock them out, or even take punishment and adopt a “rope-a-dope” tactic until they were too tired to carry on and he could finish them.
Mike Tyson on the other hand had one thought only – wow can I knock my opponent out?
This isn’t to say he couldn’t last the distance and wasn’t a supremely fit athlete, because he was.
The facts are however that 44 of his 50 wins came by knockout, with 22 coming in the first round!
He was a scary prospect, and unlike Ali only used his fists and menacing look to get the job done.
The fact he was a convicted rapist and a boy from Brooklyn, New York definitely helped this.
Would it scare Ali? Who knows. Would Ali get inside Tyson’s head and put him off his game? Who knows.
Tyson’s career can be split into two parts. The first part under famous trainer Cus D’Amato. Cus was famous for a “peak-a-boo” style of boxing, which there is no doubt suited Tyson perfectly.
Despite being known for his hard punches, Tyson was impossible to hit early on his career, no doubt thanks to Cus’s training.
Ali was definitely quicker on his feet, but perhaps Tyson’s head moved quicker. Once again it’s hard to say.
There is a strong feeling that Tyson fought in a much weaker era of Heavyweight boxing.
Whether this is true or not, you can only fight who you are asked to fight, and Tyson was 37-0 before he lost in 1990 to Buster Douglas.
In 1989 however, he split from trainer Mick Rooney who had trained him post Cus D’Amato’s death in 1985. Rooney had been tutored by Cus, and it’s obvious to see Tyson’s style changed and he became easier to hit under his new trainer.
The 90s for Tyson did not go well. He was jailed for three years and no doubt lost a lot of fitness and strength during this time.
He then fought Evander Holyfield twice, the second bout famous for Tyson biting the ear of Holyfield after becoming frustrated over headbutting tactics.
Tyson however clearly struggled against bigger and stronger opponents with more reach, which is something Ali had over him.
Like Ali, Tyson went too long. Instead of pride however, it was for the simple reason that he was bankrupt, so his last four fights included three losses just like Ali.
Trevor Berbick, the man who Tyson beat to win the Heavyweight title at just 20 years old, beat Ali towards the end of his career. He is the only man to have fought both, but there is no doubt he fought them at different points of their career, thus not giving a clear answer.
Tyson’s power literally caused boxers to quit. Ali however came across the likes of Joe Frazier and George Foreman, who were noted for their power and knockout ability, and he beat them both while taking their best punches.
So who do you think would win? This blog has taken a glance and both fighters, and research will show you that they had even more trouble in their life outside of the boxing careers that may have hurt them in the long term.
Personally, I feel that if Ali was able to get through the first couple of rounds, he would outlast Tyson and frustrate him.
Tyson hardly ever went the distance, and Ali I feel would have tired him down before knocking him out. It would however have only taken one punch early on to knock Ali out, so if this happened it would be a different story.
A great debate in sport, and let’s just hope someone can bring Heavyweight boxing back into the limelight, because in its prime there was nothing like it.
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