Mike Tyson: David Haye on why Iron Mike isn't a top five heavyweight in history

David Haye’s top 10 heavyweights of all time list omits Mike Tyson from its top five, with the Brit questioning the mental fortitude of ‘Iron Mike’.

The former cruiserweight champion doesn’t place Tyson in his top five greatest heavyweights there’s ever been because of a lack of testing bouts in his career.

Haye believes Tyson rarely, if ever, came from behind to win, which means in his eyes that he shouldn’t be in the conversation to be called a divisional legend.

During a glittering 20-year career in the world of professional boxing, Tyson secured important victories against some of the best to ever do it such as Frank Bruno, Trevor Berbick, Larry Holmes and Michael Spinks.

However, Haye reckons these wins aren’t enough to make his list.

Speaking on an episode of BBC’s Costello and Bunce podcast, Haye said: “How many fights did he have where he was behind on points? Where he got put down, hurt and came back, that’s the question.

“If he fights [Muhammad] Ali and hits Ali in the first round and has Ali on the ropes and finishes him off, ok he can beat Ali. But if Ali boxes his head off and gets him tired, ties him up, taunts him, gets him missing, makes him pay, does Tyson have the mental capacity and the mental fortitude to get through that problem? I haven’t seen him get through many problems ever.

“The moment he started to lose, or it started to get tough, it seemed to go the other way. Buster Douglas, Holyfield twice, even Danny Williams. Obviously, that’s way further down when he was completely washed up, but so was Danny Williams at the time if you really think about it.

“Many fighters – Holyfield, Lennox Lewis – they’ve all had tough fights where they are on the brink of losing and found a way to win, I’ve never