‘Nobody stands a chance’ – Mike Tyson names the one boxer he’d be ‘afraid’ to fight

Mike Tyson was one of the most feared fighters in his prime.

The American boxing icon’s icy stare, destructive punching power and quotes about wanting to “drive nose bones into brains” made him one of the most intimidating and ferocious fighters of his generation.

Tyson left Michael Spinks physically shaking after punching holes in a wall before coming out to fight while a nervous Frank Bruno could be seen frantically making the sign of the cross on his way to the ring for their rematch.

But the “baddest man on the planet” admits there is one current fighter he would be “afraid” to face: “Mexican monster” David Benavidez.

“He’s so underrated but so overpolarized here,” Tyson told ES NEWS of Benavidez.

“Listen, I would be scared to fight him too if I was in that division.

“No one stands a chance against him, and I’m talking about facts.”

Benavidez is a former WBC super middleweight champion and one of the most avoided fighters in the sport today.

Boxing fans are eager to see him face Canelo Alvarez, but the super middleweight king has shown little interest in making it happen.

Canelo had previously suggested he would need a whopping $200m (£158m) purse to fight Benavidez, despite the Mexican-American puncher being his WBC mandatory for a full year.

Benavidez’s promoter Sampson Lewkowicz claims Al Haymon’s PBC had made a $55m (£43m) offer for the pair to fight on May 4, but Canelo opted to face Jaime Mungia instead.

That being said, Canelo’s trainer and manager Eddy Reynoso denied that such a proposal was made while Lekowicz’s tweet has since been deleted.

Tired of waiting for his shot at Canelo, Benavidez moved up to light heavyweight in June and earned a dominant unanimous decision victory over Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the WBC’s “interim” trophy.

As a result, it is now mandatory to face whoever emerges victorious from the first undisputed 175-pound clash of the four-belt era between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol – which has been rescheduled for October 12.

Delivering his verdict on the all-Russian showdown, Benavidez told Sean Zittel: “They’re both extremely talented fighters. But they’re two different types of fighters.

“Bivol is a boxer. He moves a lot but he’s solid. Beterbiev is a hell of a train. He comes at you and pulls at you to hit you.

“So what I expect from this fight is that Bivol has the power to hurt Beterbiev, because Beterbiev was hurt by Oleksandr Gvozdyk.

“I fought against both of them and Bivol is stronger than Oleksandr. It will be a really interesting fight.

“I think if Bivol stays up all night, uses his jab, and then when they exchange he holds on, I think he has a really good chance of winning.

“But also, when Beterbiev gets his engine running, that son of a bitch is a train. He’s got, what, 19 fights, 19 knockouts? It’s 50/50. A great fight.”

According to Lekowicz, the plan now is for Benavidez to fight in December before landing a fight against the winner of Beterviev-Bivol on Cinco de Mayo weekend – a date that has become synonymous with Canelo fights.