Former IBF cruiserweight champion Glenn McCrory began sparring Mike Tyson in 1987.

At the time, the then-23-year-old had just won the Commonwealth title on points against Zambia’s Chisanda Mutti.

Although he was still early in his pro career, McCrory had made a name for himself as an excellent sparring partner for several top heavyweights.

‘The Gentleman’ shared the ring with James ‘Quick’ Tillis before his fight with Tyson in 1986 and had impressed the former world title challenger no end.

Following his win over Mutti, McCrory received a phone call from Tillis’ trainer Beau Williford offering him some sparring with then-WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight champion, Tyson, on the recommendation of his fighter.

“He said ‘Do you want to spar’, and I said ‘Yeah, of course I want to spar,” McCrory told talkSPORT.com.

“And he said ‘It’s with Mike Tyson’ and I was like, ‘Woah’. James Tillis was a sparring partner for Mike and James thought I would be fine with my movement.

“The Tyson camp were very worried that they might kill me or something but I took it. It’s just what I needed to get my confidence back.

“I had lost a lot of confidence boxing at heavyweight and I’d lost my way a bit even after moving down in weight.

“So it seemed like a great opportunity to get something back. I thought if I could last with Tyson then I could last with anyone.

“And it went well. James Tillis was right. He had given Tyson trouble with his movement and his good jab and I found my success there as well.

“I sparred Tyson for two world title fights with Tyrell Biggs and Larry Holmes and did 96 rounds with Mike and blacked his eye which got massive press in the States.”

Tyson is widely considered to be one of the hardest hitters in boxing history so it may come as a surprise to many that McCrory didn’t name him as the biggest puncher he had exchanged leather with.

In fact, ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ didn’t even make McCrory’s top three.

“I’ve been in with bigger punchers [than Tyson], stronger guys, Lennox Lewis was one,” McCrory added.

“Getting hit off Lennox was something else. The difference with Tyson is he could hit you five times really hard.

“He’d be in front of you, then he would be on one side, then he’d be on the other.

“But Lewis was a bigger, stronger, heavier-handed fighter whereas Tyson was a smaller guy.

“Trust me, he hit very hard but his speed and combinations are where he really hurt you.

“I also sparred Trevor Berbick and James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith, those guys were like being hit by a wet bag of cement. It’s hard to say who hit the hardest out of the lot but they all stood out.”

All three boxers fought Tyson during their careers. Tyson became the youngest world heavyweight champion of all time when he snatched the WBC title from Trevor Berbick at the age of 20 years and 250 days in November 1986.

In his next fight, five months later, he unified his WBC strap with the WBA belt by beating ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith.

However, he wasn’t able to get the better of Lewis when they locked horns in June 2002 as Tyson was knocked out in the eighth round of his final world title fight.