Better is a challenging position to justify. Tyson went 0–3 against those two greats, granted Mike was past his best, but still…

Perhaps the underlying question here is why are so many, to this day, fascinated with prime Mike…

The answer is simple.

Mike Tyson had a huge impact on popular culture.

In fact Tyson’s mainstream impact is probably second only to Muhammad Ali.

So how did Mike capture the public imagination?

First his aura of invincibility was downright palpable. The media portrayed him as an unstoppable juggernaut – the ‘baddest man on the planet’.

Mike Tyson WTKO1 Marvis Frazier (1986)

Second he didn’t just win, he destroyed opponents. Tyson’s YouTube friendly highlight reel is awesome, in particular devastating KO’s of Marvis Frazier, Berbick, Thomas, Biggs, Holmes, Spinks and Bruno.

Mike Tyson WTKO5 Frank Bruno (1989)

Lastly Tyson was intimidating and scary as hell. After stopping Jesse Ferguson with an uppercut he stated…

“I try to catch them on the tip of their nose because I try to punch the bone into the brain.”

After brutalising Olympic gold medal winner Tyrell Biggs over seven rounds in 1987 he said…

“I was hitting him with body punches and I hurt him. Actually he was crying in there making woman gestures like uh uh”

This wasn’t Ali entertaining crowds with wit and humour – this was a bad man punching with very bad intentions.

Would you be afraid to meet the guy below in a dark alley?

I know I would.

Tyson was one of the most famous men on Earth in the late 80s, transcending sports to become a pop culture phenomenon.

Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis were wonderful fighters and are rightly ranked above Tyson in most all time lists.

But they never captured the public imagination like ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson did.

Very few athletes ever have.