Evander Holyfield Gave Honest Answer When Asked If He Would Have Beaten Prime Mike Tyson

The pair first met in 1996, with Holyfield heading into the bout as the former undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight champion, but was the challenger going up against Tyson.

‘Iron Mike’ was a former undisputed heavyweight champion in his own right, but after losing his belts and then having several years outside of the ring, he only held the WBA strap in the clash against Holyfield.

The first fight between the two men ended in an 11th round stoppage win for Holyfield to become the new WBA champion, while the second bout remains infamously known as the bite fight, as Tyson bit the ear of his rival in the third round, resulting in a disqualification.

While Holyfield may have been victorious on those occasions, he was once asked whether he feels he would have also been able to defeat ‘Iron Mike’ during his prime, which is widely considered to be the late 1980s.

During that time, Tyson defeated such as Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks, Tony Tucker and Trevor Berbick, as ‘Iron Mike’ became the youngest world heavyweight champion in history.

Holyfield still remained confident though, revealing in a past interview that he always felt he had what it takes to defeat Tyson.

“Yes. I don’t think a man in this world can’t be beat. Everyone has their day. Tyson has proven he is the champion that he is but I know that my day is coming.”

After defeating Tyson, Holyfield went on to continue boxing for a number of years, and he recently revealed that he feels he is deserving of being called as the greatest of all time.