Mike Tyson Names his 5 Favourite Boxers Today

Mike Tyson is one of the most legendary heavyweights in boxing history. However, when recently asked to name his five favourite modern day fighters to watch, ‘Iron Mike’ had no room for today’s heavyweight stars, with the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and even current unified champion, Oleksandr Usyk, all missing out.

That trio is in good company too, as the 58-year-old also snubbed Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez during a recent appearance on the Pound-For-Pound podcast with former UFC champions Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo.

Not a single heavyweight made the cut on Tyson’s list, which was made up entirely of American fighters from lower weight classes. Each of the names he did mention, though, are current or former world champions and have been in or around the top 10 pound-for-pound rankings for much of their careers.

Mike Tyson’s Top 5 Boxers Right Now Revealed

Heavyweight legend picked some serious talent from the lower weight classes

The first name Tyson listed was David Benavidez, who was a world champion at super middleweight, before making the step up to light heavyweight, where he has also held championship gold.

Unbeaten in 29 fights, a major reason for Benavidez moving up in weight was his failure to land a fight with Canelo Alvarez at 168 pounds. With a 82% KO ratio, it’s easy to see why Canelo might not be too keen to step into the ring with the 29-year-old – and why Tyson loves watching him.

The next fighter Tyson highlighted was “Tank”, which is the nickname of Gervonta Davis. The Baltimore native has held multiple world titles during his 30-fight career, with 28 of those victories coming inside the scheduled distance.

If there’s one dream fight that Tyson would love to see, it’s a clash between Davis and the third entry on his list, Shakur Stevenson. A silver medal winner at the 2016 Olympics, the 27-year-old has had much success in the paid ranks, winning all of his 22 bouts.

However, his style isn’t the most fan-friendly and the New Jersey native has struggled to make a connection with the mainstream audience. One way to solve that issue would be to make fights that the audience – and Tyson – want to see, such as the Davis bout.

The next fighter Tyson mentioned that he loves to watch is another undefeated champion in the shape of Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford. The 37-year-old has held world titles in four different weight classes – from lightweight to light middleweight – and is widely considered to be one of the best boxers on the planet.

Crawford scored the biggest win of his career last July when defeated the fifth and final fighter that Tyson mentioned in Errol Spence Jr. Having gone unbeaten for the first 28 fights of his career, Spence was brutalised by Crawford for nine rounds in their welterweight unification clash in Las Vegas.

‘The Truth’ hasn’t fought since getting stopped in the fight, but the heavyweight icon is confident that the New York-born star could get revenge in a rematch.

“I think Spence can come back and still get his title back. I think Spence is an underrated fighter.”