Buster Douglas Names The Only Current Heavyweight Who Could Beat A Prime Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson was a fearsome and fearless heavyweight in his prime.

The Brooklyn native fought his way to the world heavyweight championship at just 20-years-old and became undisputed one year later. He lost that status in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport, knocked out by massive underdog James ‘Buster’ Douglas.

Douglas, who was relieved of his belts in a first defence against Evander Holyfield, recently spoke to Gambling Zone about ‘Iron’ Mike’s controversial comeback fight against Jake Paul, during which he claimed his former foe could still hang with some of today’s heavyweights.

“It’s not like he is derelict or something like that. He’s got an opportunity doing something he feels he can do and he will put up a good showing. He’s not doing something that he’s not done before.

And the clips I saw of him before, he’s looking pretty good. Better than most of the heavyweights out there today. I think he could hold up for sure. The way they fight now, I’m sure he could handle himself. The talent pool isn’t that great. They are alright, but it’s not like the strong top ten or top 20 from our day. There are a lot of weak links.”

Expanding on the matter, Douglas addressed some of the biggest names of the current era, dismissing both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua as opponents for ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ but saying that recently undisputed Oleksandr Usyk might have a chance.

“I speak to my trainer about today’s heavyweights and he has a low opinion of them and says they [Fury and AJ] wouldn’t have been in the top 30 in my era, I have to agree. They have skills, but as far as endurance, I don’t know. They don’t seem to be able to withstand power and aggressiveness.

“I would say Usyk would have had the best chance to beat Mike, then AJ, but Mike was a tough individual … All of Mike’s opponents were easy for him until he fought me. Joshua is no different than anybody else, so yes, Joshua would have been an easy fight for Tyson.”

Usyk has beaten both ‘AJ’ and Fury to become four-belt king of the division. He will rematch Fury in December, one month on from Tyson’s fight with Paul.