Who is the one boxer Mike Tyson bows to?

Mike Tyson at a press conference

Legendary former heavyweight champion of the world, Mike Tyson was truly a menace when he was in his prime. There was a time in which ‘Iron Mike’ was feared by absolutely everybody. It was only after his prime that he started losing fights in spectacular fashion. A number of great fighters got to knock him out but they did it when he was already past his prime. During that era in which many still believe he was the scariest boxer to ever set foot inside a ring, there seemed to be no boxers who could outbest him. But Mike Tyson does have a name to throw around when he talks about the one boxer who could take his power during that era.

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Mike Tyson reappears with a scary video to Jake Paul

The boxer who could take Mike Tyson’s punches

Amongst the boxers who knocked Mike Tyson out, we have Buster Douglas, Danny Williams, and Kevin McBride. He also lost twice against Evander Holyfield, and Lennox Lewis also knocked him out in 2002. But all of those were past Mike Tyson’s prime, there is one fighter who can stand proud above the rest as the one who could actually withstand his punches when he was in his early ’20s. His name is Jose Ribalta and he fought Tyson back in 1986, when the heavyweight was on the rise to become a world champion. Although Mike won that fight via TKO, he recalls this to be one of his most difficult fights.

Before the 10th-round TKO at the Trump Plaza Hotel in Atlantic City, Mike Tyson really struggled to get the Ribalta’s chin. The Cuban boxer was active between 1982 and 1999 but he was never able to win a world championship. Mike Tyson is also a boxing nut, so he knows what he is talking about because he knows every boxer in history. Imagine being a 20-year-old Mike Tyson and having a hard time to knock someone out when you are supposed to be the up-and-coming name in the division. Ribalta must be happy with what Mike said back in 2014: “I hit Jose Ribalta with everything, and he took everything and kept coming back for more. Jose Ribalta stood toe to toe with me. He was very strong in the clinches.”