I grew up watching/ following Iron Mike Tyson.  I was 12 years old when Mike Tyson destroyed Michael Spinks in the first round in one of the biggest PPV Boxing  events in history.

Growing up I believed Mike Tyson was invincible.  He just couldn’t lose.  The combination of determination, speed,  power and toughness was a force that no one really wanted a part of.

Mike Tyson’s career is nothing short of extraordinary, Tyson turned Pro at 18 years of age defeating Hector Mercedes and fought 28 professional fights in only 17 months. Tyson sometimes fought twice a month.

In November 1986, in capturing his 28th victory he also became the youngest Heavyweight Champion defeating Trevor Berbick in the second round in Las Vegas. In 1988 Tyson made short work of the  heavyweight lineal champion when he dismantled Michael Spinks in seconds.

Fans starting questioning whether it’s worth ordering  a Tyson PPV or evening seeing him fight live and in person since it seemed that if you blinked, you would miss the fight.

The world was  Mezmerize by this young lion,  he would defeat most opponents simply by looking them in their face during the stare down. Fighters, Warriors, the worlds top athletes in truth were  terrified to step into the ring with him. Scientists started  using the latest computer technology to build a man/ forecast how Tyson could be beat.

Mike Tyson had the world in his hand. Then between his wife, mother-in-law and friends pulling him in different directions, Tyson forgot to train for his title defense in Japan.

After his second longest lay off in his career, Mike Tyson fought Buster Douglas in Japan.  In what was really supposed to be a nice little showing for the richest region in Asia was something shocking.

Little known Buster Douglas came into the fight more determined and laser focused then ever, forty minutes after the  initial bell, we had the biggest upset in boxing history.  Oddsmakers today can play with the numbers all they want, but there will not be a bigger upset than what happened on February 11, 1990 in the Far East.

Mike Tyson style of aggression, speed and power was remarkable and now, whenever a boxer is coming forward and being aggressive, most call it, “Mike Tyson Stlye”.

Mike Tyson went to jail for four years and once he got out his prime was over and was never the same physically.  Tysons Iron chin was gone,  his number 1 pound for pound boxer in the world speed was gone and his stamina and hunger for training was gone.  It is very possible that no one in history has ever trained as hard as Mike Tyson.  Tyson truly believed that the victory was not won in the ring, but it was won in the gym.

Do I believe Mike Tyson was the greatest heavyweight champion of all time ? Yes he was. Mike Tyson was always respectful and said no matter how hard he trained he could never beat his idol Muhammad Ali. But in truth he would have ate Ali Up, just like he would have made short work of anyone when he was in his prime. Tyson had the speed,  agility and skills of a flyweight with one punch knockout power in both hands.

Tyson’s Legacy to generations to come will be compared to the great Dodger Pitcher Sandy Koufax. Koufax reign as the best pitcher in baseball was short, but he was such a force, he is known as maybe the Greatest of All Time.

Now let’s compare Mike Tyson to  Cuba’s Yuriorkis Gamboa:

Gamboa Body type, fighting style and P4P power is similar to Mike Tyson.

After winning  Olympic gold in the flyweight division in Athens in 2004, Gamboa  burst onto the scene three years later to make his professional debut.  Similar to Tyson, Gamboa started his career at a rugged pace winning his first 15 fights in only two years. Gamboa was a rising exciting superstar in the boxing game, but had some bad  contractual issues that kept him out of the ring for prolonged periods of time.

Similar to Tyson, Gamboa suffered his first loss by knockout after having the second longest layoff of his boxing career.

Really the fights in 2014 shouldn’t have taken place as Gamboa should have be better prepared and his opponent, Terence Crawford who had his coming out party that night was simply much bigger then Gamboa – similar to Lomachenko vs Rigondeaux and Spence vs Garcia. Sometimes size is to much to over come.

The damage was done that evening and as we saw with Tyson, once your chin goes, it’s gone.

Another current boxer that reminds me of Mike Tyson because of his body style is Showtime Shawn Porter.  Porter  might not have the punching power or speed of Mike Tyson,  but he sure has the training determination of a hungry boxer.

Furthermore, Porter really rejuvenated his career when he fought  Danny Swift Garcia.  Instead of brawling with Garcia he actually boxed and moved,  for a man with that type of muscle mass, that type of body style -for him to be able to box and move;  that shows that he worked harder in the gym than anybody else.  Porter is also blessed to have a terrific team around him lead by his father who of course has his son’s best interest in mind.

Mike Tyson and Yuriorkis Gamboa: An interesting  comparison.