Mike Tyson name-dropped five active fighters when Ring Magazine asked him to name the one fighter that gets him excited about boxing in the modern era, ahead of the Mike Tyson Invitational — a three-day event in Las Vegas, culminating with an amateur fight night Saturday.
“Quite a few of them,” Tyson told the publication.
“I like Shakur Stevenson, Keyshawn Davis, Naoya Inoue and Jermall Charlo,” he said. “And I can’t forget about the Mexican Monster, David Benavidez.”
Though Tyson revealed four American names in his list, and a Japanese fighter, they possess different stylistic qualities through separate weight classes from Stevenson’s mastery of defense at lightweight, Inoue’s merciless punching prowess, and Benavidez’s extraordinary gas tank that allows him to fight even harder in the championship rounds, with more grueling activity, than what he shows early in bouts — even though he starts hard and fast.
Benavidez is set to challenge for a world title in a third weight class on Cinco de Mayo weekend when he competes against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez at cruiserweight — the latest stop in a career swing that has seen him single out top tier names despite seemingly being frozen out by the elite.
Tyson touched on this.
“He’s been done dirty because he should have gotten some of those big fights,” he said, referencing talked-about showdowns against the likes of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and, to a lesser extent, Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev.
“That’s something he’s going to have over boxing. They didn’t give him the big fights. If he doesn’t get the money that he’s supposed to get after he finishes boxing, it’s because boxing screwed him,” the 59-year-old said.
The five fighters who most excite him weren’t the only boxers he praised, as he also commended Terence Crawford, who recently retired after outclassing Canelo in front of approximately 70,000 people at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
A five-weight world champion, Crawford also holds one of the most impressive victories of the last 10 years when he dominated, dropped, and stopped Errol Spence Jr in a welterweight unification bout.
For Tyson, Crawford has shown such an extraordinary skillset he’d have been able to compete against The Four Kings of the 1980s — Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler, and Roberto Duran.
“That would have been some beautiful fighting,” said Tyson of a match-up against one of those guys.
“He would have done well,” he said. “If you’re a fighter and really want to test yourself, you do it like those guys and fight until you get beaten. Fighters in my time didn’t stop until they got beaten.”
READ MORE:
Jake Paul Advises MMA Fighters to Sign With Matchroom After Ronda Rousey Blasts UFC
MUST READ: