Evander Holylfield is in a unique position to compare a fighter to Mike Tyson having been only one of two men to face him twice in the ring – with the other being Frank Bruno.
Holyfield had two infamous encounters with ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’. He was the underdog going into their first fight but captured Tyson’s WBA title, stopping him in the eleventh round after landing a flurry of heavy punches.
The rematch is one of the most infamous fights in boxing history. With ‘The Real Deal’ controlling the action, ‘Iron’ Mike got visibly frustrated resulting in him biting the ear of his opponent and getting disqualified. He later claimed it was Holyfield’s consistent head-butting that led him to take action.
Tyson was a unique heavyweight standing at just 5 ft 10 inches tall and known for his low lateral movement and ferocious punching power with both hands. He still holds the record of the youngest heavyweight champion of all time.
In an interview with FightHype, Holyfield believes he has spotted the current fighter who is even more dangerous than his old foe – Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
“Davis is a very good fighter. He’s a very skilled fighter, he kind of reminds me of Pernell Whittaker.”
“Pernell Whittaker was a skilful boxer. ‘Tank’ is a skilful boxer, and a hard puncher – he’s got both of ’em! That would make him even more dangerous than Mike Tyson.”
Davis has often been compared to the heavyweight legend and although he fights in the lower weight classes is rated as pound-for-pound one of the hardest punchers in the game.
‘Tank’ is yet to taste defeat and has only been taken the distance twice in his 30 fight career. He is coming off the back of another sensational knockout victory over previously unbeaten American Frank Martin and is now looking for his next opponent after Vasiliy Lomachenko pulled out of negotiations.
