Mike Tyson showed boxing prowess aged 12 as absurd sparring claim made ahead of Jake Paul fight

According to one of Mike Tyson's early trainers, the boxer possessed frightening power from a young age and was already knocking out professional fighters at 12.

Tyson's professional debut came at 18 against Hector Mercedes in 1985, and within two years, he was the unified world heavyweight boxing champion. However, he started fighting at a much earlier age.

His former coach, Teddy Atlas, told RingTV.com in 2019 that Tyson was beating fully-grown men as an amateur six years before turning professional. However, he was no ordinary child; Atlas recalls Tyson being a physical specimen as a pre-teen and impressing Cus D'Amato.

READ MORE: I fought Mike Tyson and Jake Paul stands no chance of beating him

READ MORE: Will Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson be cancelled? What we know ahead of the fight

"As far as most pure, God-given talent, raw, from the earliest stage that you saw, it would have to be a 12-year-old Tyson—who was 190 lbs but no fat," Atlas explained. The boxing coach fondly remembered Tyson's first time in the gym, where he immediately made an impression.

"He had to impress me and Cus. He had to box his first day with a 27-year-old man who was a professional fighter, and he was able to do that."

Reflecting on Tyson's extraordinary power at such a young age, Atlas remarked: "You can't put him in with kids to spar because there are none. So you're hiring sparring partners, and they're men, and he's hurting them and knocking them out.

"Anyone who could be knocking out men when he's 12, 13 years old is a pretty damn good puncher. He learned the technique to make you miss and catch you clean, but power's power, and punchers are born, not made."

Atlas added: "What wasn't strong was his will. That's what cracked. His will