It’s often exciting to think about who would win in a fight Mike Tyson vs Muhammad Ali or who was the better fighter comparing two titans who never had a chance to meet in the ring. Mike Tyson in his prime and Muhammad Ali in his prime were two very different fighters, but both were feared in the ring.
Mike Tyson has openly said he wouldn’t beat Muhammad Ali, but that comes from a man who admired Ali since he was a child. Similarly, Muhammad Ali “secretly confessed” to George Foreman that he wasn’t sure about beating Mike Tyson, but who knows how true any of those statements are. We’ll never really know who would win.
We can compare the two and draw our own conclusions about dreams about who would win or even who would win won 2 out of 3 battles in the ring.
Mike Tyson vs. Muhammad Ali: Fight Comparison
Looking at Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali, there are various factors involved in determining who wins and potentially how they win, and don’t think either of them couldn’t win.
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Style
Muhammad Ali he danced around the ring, keeping his opponents at bay, and his arms were long. Mike Tyson vs Muhammad Ali So, although his opponents tried to reach him, fell back but was still able to deliver heavy headshots to them. Being almost 6’3 it gave him great reach, and his magical footwork allowed him to maneuver quickly away from punches.
Mike Tyson propelled forward to attack his opponents from the front, with a peek-a-boo guard as he approached; he then unleashed hell on his opponents with a powerful body and headshots meant to go straight through them. But at 5’8, he needed to get in close to eliminate his opponents, and he did just that.
Strength training
Ali wasn’t a weak puncher, but often his goal was to wear down opponents, and many of his wins came in multiple later rounds, if not the final round. Thus, strength was not necessarily Ali’s goal in his struggles.
Training on Mike Tyson’s heavy bag
Tyson he wanted to end the fight as soon as possible, hitting his opponents as hard as possible, as many times as he could. This approach worked for Tyson as most of his wins came in the earlier rounds.
Speed training for Ali vs Tyson
Part of Ali’s style he was supposed to dodge and get out of the way of the punches instead of trying to keep his hands up and block and Ali’s footwork was second to none and I don’t think there’s a person who would disagree with that, especially when compared to But to Tyson. Ali’s hand speed was great, but people are talking about his footwork.
Muhammad Ali Speed Bag Training Bag
Mike Tyson Speed Training Boxing Bag
Tyson did not use speed on his feet against opponents; he approached them directly and followed them around the ring as needed until they could no longer run. His punches packed power, but the speed behind them was incredible, so he could land 4-5 powerful punches in the blink of an eye and that could be the end of his opponent.
Watch Mike Tyson’s latest training videos; his punching power and speed are still amazing at 55 years old.
Defense
Ali wasn’t a fan of keeping his hands up to protect anything, so he used his hands footworko get out of the way; However, Mike Tyson vs. Muhammad Ali if the footwork fails and sometimes it did, he took big hits. So nothing negative to say about Ali, there was certainly a problem that some opponents took advantage of.
Muhammad Ali
Mike Tyson
Tyson used a peek-a-boo defense and an attacking strategy that provided him with some defense, although it was known what that defense would be, so some could work around it. Constantly moving forward with almost no steps back also meant that hits kept landing; whether they were blocked or not, they would still add up.
Personality differences
Ali was a smart, brilliant boxerr who used psychological tactics against his opponents in and out of the ring. He loved to taunt and make fun of his opponents, all to annoy, anger and frustrate them into making mistakes in the ring.
Tyson, on the other hand, used fear against his opponents, staring at them, hunting them around the ring and never backing down. Tyson openly admitted that it was much more difficult for him to win against an opponent who was not afraid of him in any way.
Tyson even said that he would not win against Ali because he has too much heart and would never back down or give up.
Stamina was part of Ali’s style, he wanted to tire out his opponents, and the vast majority of his fights were at a distance. Not only did the fights go from a distance, but Ali spent the entire fight moving fast as that was part of his defense as well. So Ali apparently had fantastic stamina that could last 12 rounds.
Tyson openly admitted that he had lung problems and that 12 rounds can be a challenge. Part of his winning approach was to eliminate opponents early so that stamina wouldn’t become a factor in many of his fights. Of Tyson’s six losses, 5 of them came after the fourth round when he was probably tired.
Mike Tyson vs. Muhammad Ali: time to ring the bell
Mike Tyson had 58 professional fights, 50 wins with 44 KOs, six losses and two no contests. In his career, he spent 211 rounds in the ring.
Muhammad Ali had 61 professional fights, 56 wins with 37 knockouts and five losses. In his career, he spent 541 rounds in the ring.
Consider that Muhammad Ali has won more fights and spent more time in the ring than Mike Tyson.
Mike Tyson vs. Muhammad Ali: Findings from a Fight Comparison
When many factors are compared between the two fighters, it becomes clear that Mike Tyson would have to knock out Muhammad Ali very quickly; otherwise, his stamina would fail him in the later rounds, and Ali would defeat him.
The question then becomes whether Mike Tyson would have hit hard enough to knock out Muhammad Ali, and while it is possible, no one has ever knocked out Muhammad Ali in his entire career.