On This Day: Mike Tyson’s Underrated Battle With Jose Ribalta

Heavyweight great Mike Tyson fought just one Cuban fighter; the tiny island has produced so much exceptional boxing talent, but Cuban boxers are smaller guys, with precious few heavyweights. Jose Ribalta – who had fled Cuba with his family in the 1960s and had embarked on a pro boxing career in the early 1980s, pro boxing not condoned by long-time Cuban leader Fidel Castro – is today most well known for the quite incredible war he engaged in with a 20-year-old Tyson.

Ribalta, at 6’6” and with a reach of 80 inches, was athletic, he could punch, he had a ton of fighting heart, and, as he showed in graphic detail in the Tyson fight, he had a heck of a chin. Tyson, a student of the game, will have known about Ribalta and his boxing family before tangoing with him (Jose’s two older brothers also boxed, with one of them boxing perhaps the greatest Cuban boxer of them all in Teofilo Stevenson; this no less than three times).

And for sure, Tyson came out of the ring at The Trump Plaza full of respect and admiration for “El Nino.” It was August 17th of ’86 and Tyson Vs. Ribalta proved to be two things: it was Tyson’s toughest fight up until that time, and it was also one of Tyson’s most underrated slugfests. It’s quite amazing this fight is not far more celebrated than it is.

Tyson, snarling and ferocious, met a far from intimidated foe in 23-year-old Ribalta, who was 22-3-1 and had been stopped just once, this by Ricardo Richardson in February of 1983. Tyson was perfect at 25-0, coming off a chilling, 30-second icing of common opponent Marvis Frazier, who had won a close decision over Ribalta.

Tyson was as fast as ever, and his shots to both head and body were punishing. But Ribalta had come to fight. Hard. Round two saw the future heavyweight king land a superb two-punch combination, Tyson’s right to the body/right uppercut to the head sending Ribalta down. But Ribalta got back up, and he fought back. Hard. The two men traded shots, and it was thrilling to see. Tyson had been tested by James “Quick” Tillis earlier that year, but this was shaping up as a real acid test for Tyson.

Ribalta came on strong in the middle rounds, even if he wasn’t winning too many rounds on the cards. Ribalta was hitting Tyson far more than any man had ever managed at that time. Tyson smashed Ribalta’s gumshield out of his mouth in round eight, with Ribalta then being decked by a sizzling left hook. But once again, Ribalta got up, and he fought back. Ribalta, who knew some tricks of the trade, was also tying Tyson up and frustrating him while Jose slung in the odd low blow.

Then, just as it seemed, Ribalta would join Tillis and Mitch “Blood” Green as the only men to have taken Tyson all the way, “Kid Dynamite” scored a third knockdown, this time with an even meaner left hook to the head in round 10. Yet, astonishingly, Ribalta got back up again quite quickly. However, the fight didn’t last much longer, as Tyson’s follow-up shots forced third man Rudy Battle to end the battle. Some felt the stoppage was a little premature.

Ribalta never stopped asking for a rematch (even today, as you will know if you look at Ribalta’s Facebook page!)

Tyson went on, as we know, to ruin Trevor Berbick to take (see rip) the WBC heavyweight title in November of that year. Ribalta fought guys like Tim Witherspoon, Bruce Seldon, Frank Bruno, Michael Dokes, Larry Holmes (an old version), Tony Tubbs, Vitali Klitschko, and Razor Ruddock. Ribalta finally hung ’em up long after he had seen his best days go by in 1999. Jose’s final record reads 38-17-1(27).

Years after his superb, all-action fight with Tyson, Ribalta kindly recalled the action for ESB:

“I had planned for my punches to get to Tyson late in the fight. My team and I had planned to come on strong in the middle and late rounds,” Ribalta said. “I knew I was behind in the fight, and actually, my manager, Luis De Cubas, had wanted to pull me out of the fight beforehand, as I was ill and weighed just 211 pounds. In my next fight, I was 221 pounds. I was weak in the Tyson fight, fighting a virus. I was so disappointed a rematch never happened. At full power and strength, I feel I would have done much better against Tyson. Also, I had his style figured out after the first fight.”

Tyson never engaged in too many rematches during his career; to be fair, he didn’t need to fight many guys twice, what with Tyson doing a job on most of the opponents he fought during his peak. But Jose Ribalta perhaps deserved a second go at Tyson more than anyone else “Iron Mike” defeated.