Mike Tyson says he suffered a worse beating at the hands of Buster Douglas than Errol Spence Jr. did opposite Terence Crawford.
Tyson, speaking during media rounds for his involvement in training Francis Ngannou for Tyson Fury, made the startling admission to Elie Seckbach.
“The Baddest Man on the Planet” saw this world fall apart in 1990 when the undisputed heavyweight champion at the time. Douglas took him out despite being down himself for longer than ten seconds.
It was one of the most controversial endings in the sport’s history. However, Mike being Mike, Tyson was as humble as ever when advising Spence not to retire.
Mike Tyson on Errol Spence
“Errol didn’t get his a** whooped worse than I did with Buster Douglas. Look at me. I came back.” Tyson told ES News. “I know he’s not talking about retirement.
“He needs to have a couple of fights, then come back and fight him [Terence Crawford again]. He doesn’t even have to fight Terence, fight somebody else, fight Charlo.
“Him [Terence] and Charlo don’t want to fight because they have the same trainer [in Derrick James]. That’s bull s***.”
Spence was beaten badly by Crawford in what is considered an uncharacteristic performance. However, some believe Crawford nullified Spence’s weapons in the fight.
“The Truth” has since activated the rematch clause, but disagreements are already rumbling. Crawford is demanding a re-run at 147 pounds. At the same time, Spence is open to taking the return up at 154.
Crawford rematch
Crawford wants to defend the belts he took from Spence, adding to his WBO version to become undisputed in a second weight class.
Moving to 154 negates that. But once Jermell Charlo faces Canelo Alvarez this weekend, the four-belt ruler is expected to vacate all the belts in that division.
That would give Crawford the perfect opportunity to lobby with one of the sanctioning bodies to get a title or two involved for Spence at super welterweight.
This could be the only way Crawford agrees to move up, as he had wanted to battle Charlo before the Canelo fight was secured.
According to the WBO, their belt will go vacant when the first bell goes in Las Vegas. However, mandatory challenger Tim Tszyu has already laid claim to that strap.
The World Boxing Council would certainly favor Crawford vs Spence II for the vacant 154 belt, provided the winner defends against the number one in its rankings system.
All to play for as talks continue.
Phil Jay is an experienced boxing news writer.
Editor of World Boxing News since 2010.
