MIKE TYSON broke down in tears the day after seeing his hero Muhammad Ali take a pasting from Larry Holmes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The former undisputed heavyweight champion returned from a two-year layoff in 1980 at the age of 38 to challenge Holmes for the WBC and Ring Magazine titles.<\/p>\n
Father Time had well and truly caught up to\u00a0The Greatest\u00a0– who had been struggling with vocal stutters and hand tremours – who was beaten from pillar to post until trainer Angelo Dundee halted the fight in the tenth.<\/p>\n
A 14-year-old\u00a0Tyson\u00a0watched on in horror with trainer Cus D’Amato as Holmes battered his hero and was stunned into the silence<\/p>\n
Iron Mike told\u00a0Boxing Arabia:\u00a0“We went to see Muhammad Ali fight Larry Holmes on closed circuit. [Holmes] beat the s**t out of\u00a0Ali.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all went back home, 30 miles south, nobody said a word in the car for 30 miles.<\/p>\n
“We got in the house, went to our beds, all went to sleep, nobody said nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next morning [Tyson\u2019s trainer Cus D\u2019Amato] is on the phone with Ali.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m hearing him say, ‘He\u2019s a bum, Ali, why you let that bum beat on you?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
D’Amato eventually passed the phone on to Tyson – who vowed to avenge his fallen hero.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI was on the phone, I said [to Ali], \u2018When I get big I\u2019m gonna avenge you.<\/p>\n
“‘I\u2019m gonna knock him out for you.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAli said, ‘Yeah I\u2019m the greatest fighter ever and I took medicine.<\/p>\n
“And I got sick and I\u2019m gonna come back and knock out Holmes.’<\/p>\n
Ali’s words, however, didn’t have the desired comforting effect on a teenage Tyson.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/div>
He said: \u201cI\u2019m on the phone crying.<\/p>\n
“He thought he was making me happy but he was making me sad cause he ignored the fact of me saying I\u2019m gonna avenge you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tyson got his opportunity to avenge Ali eight years later when he fought\u00a0Holmes\u00a0in Trump Plaza, Atlantic City in January 1988.<\/p>\n
Ali was in attendance for the fight, and told Tyson seconds before the tussle: “Get him for me.”<\/p>\n
“Get him” Tyson did as he overwhelmed Holmes and stopped him in the fourth round to retain the WBA, WBC and IBF heavyweight titles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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