Mike Tyson Reveals Why He Avenged Muhammad Ali's Loss To 'Bully' Opponent

Mike Tyson never liked witnessing his idols get beat up by a bully inside the ring.

Over the course of his rollercoaster career, Tyson was generally known for viciously mauling his opponents until they are knocked out cold.

Though there’s too many to remember, “Iron Mike” will never forget the day he brutalized a foe to avenge the loss of a fellow boxing legend.

In recent exclusive interview with VladTV, Tyson admitted that his win over the late former WBC heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick was a revenge for Muhammad Ali.

According to the 54-year-old, since the moment he saw Berbick punish Ali in 1981, he already felt the itch to get in the ring and knock the Jamaican fighter out.

“100 percent (it was revenge for Ali). Yes. No Doubt it,” Tyson admitted of the Berbick win. “I was going to kill him [Berbick]. He was hitting Ali really hard with everything he had. Ali didn’t have nothing left. He was trying to kill him. I said, oh, I can’t wait until I get him.”

Five years after Ali’s loss to Berbick, Tyson finally got the redemption he wanted. “The Baddest Man on the Planet” knocked Berbick out in what would become one of the greatest victories of his career.

In 2006, Berbick was killed by his nephew over property disputes. Tyson wasn’t aware of the details of his former rival’s death but came clean about his experiences with him in the past.

“I don’t know what went down [on Berbick’s death],” the boxing legend pointed out. “But my experience with Mr. Trevor Berbick and people, he was kind of like a bully tough guy. So, you gotta be careful.”

“You are a fighter and you’re a tough guy,” he added. “The odds of you living long is not good. You’re bad enough that you’re a boxer or you’re a tough guy, Now you’re both of them? Yeah, you’re not gonna be around long.”

Tyson’s connection to Ali goes beyond just boxing. In his book “Iron Ambition: My life with Cus D’Amato ,” the Brooklyn native revealed how the late boxing Hall of Famer influenced him to also make a name for himself.

“Watching the [Ali] biopic was great,” Tyson recalled. “When the movie was over, the lights came on and all of a sudden Ali walked out on the stage and the place just exploded.”

“He (Ali) started talking to us about being in detention, how he had been in jail and lost his mind,” he continued. “He was saying beautiful, inspiration stuff--that speech was a game changer for me.”