Iron Mike vs Mohamed Ali
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On 2nd October 1980, Mohamed Ali went up against Larry Holmes in Las Vegas. At the age of 38, this boxing legend attempted the impossible, to take down Holmes and put an end to his scorecard of 35 consecutive wins with no defeats.
That evening, however, Holmes really took Ali for a ride. In the arena, a young boxer was enraged to see his idol taken down at the end of the 10th round and couldn’t stand to see what his hero had to go through during this fight.
The next morning, Tyson’s mentos Cus d’Amato was on the phone with Ali. He explained that a young boxer, who would one day become a world champion, wanted to speak to him. 14-year-old Mike picked up the phone and promised Ali that he would get his revenge on Holmes.
7 years later, just as Cus d’Amato predicted, Tyson was crowned a heavyweight champion and was defending his title against Larry Holmes. D’Amato invited Ali to attend the fight and watch from the sidelines and while the boxers were being presented, Mohamed Ali made an appearance in the ring. Just before retaking his seat, Ali approached Tyson and reminded him of the promise he had made him 7 years before:
‘I’m going to beat him for you one day, champ.’
Mike Tyson made good on his promise and took Holmes down by knockout in the 4th round. Holmes probably never expected that his victory against Ali would have motivated a young boxer to plan such a vendetta.
