Mike Tyson names the strongest boxer he has ever faced – and it's not Evander Holyfield or Lennox Lewis

11/09/2024 08:30

Mike Tyson has shared the ring with several physical specimens – but one stood out above the rest.

The stocky 5ft 10ins power puncher almost always fought bigger men during his illustrious career but made up for it with unrelenting pressure and vicious one-punch knockout power.

6ft 6ins and 271lbs behemoth Kevin McBride, is the largest opponent Tyson has ever squared off with.

Meanwhile, towering Lennox Lewis and muscle-bound Evander Holyfield are often highlighted for their brawn by former foes.

However, none of them received the distinction of being the strongest opponent Tyson has ever faced.

Instead, the former undisputed heavyweight champion went with the lesser-known Jose Ribalta.

“Jose Ribalta stood toe to toe with me,” said Tyson in his ‘Best I Faced’ Ring Magazine article back in January 2014. “He was very strong in the clinches.”

Tyson also claimed Ribalta had the ‘best chin’ of any boxer he had stepped through the ropes with.

He added: “I hit Jose Ribalta with everything, and he took everything and kept coming back for more.”

Watching back the fight, it’s easy to see why Tyson thought so highly of Ribalta.

The brave Cuban went toe-to-toe with Tyson for ten rounds at his absolute peak back in 1986.

‘Iron Mike’ landed 220 punches on Ribalta and downed him three times before the referee eventually stepped in and waved off the fight with 83 seconds remaining on the clock.

To put things into perspective, it took Tyson just two rounds to blast out Trevor Berbick three months later to become the youngest heavyweight world champion of all time at the age of 20 years and 145 days old.

"Ribalta was a game fighter who, unlike Green and Tillis, actually engaged me," praised Tyson in his autobiography, Undisputed Truth.

"I felt nauseous from all Ribalta's body blows, even hours after the fight… I never felt that much general pain again."

In the years that followed his loss to Tyson, Ribalta went up against a who’s who of great boxers from the talent-laden 80s and 90s heavyweight divisions.

In 1987, he recorded a first-round stoppage win over former undisputed heavyweight champion Leon Spinks while he also shared the ring with Frank Bruno, Larry Holmes and Vitali Klitschko.

Ribalata eventually hung up his gloves in 1999 with a 38-17-1 record after being dispatched in 100 seconds by Donovan ‘Razor’ Ruddock.