By Keith Idec

Mike Tyson fought until he was 38 years old, so he understands just how dangerous it’ll be for Wladimir Klitschko to fight Anthony Joshua on Saturday in London.

“It’s gonna be an uphill battle, but you never know,” Tyson told Showtime’s Jim Gray during an interview airing as part of the network’s coverage of Joshua-Klitschko. “It’s not gonna be an impossible battle. I’d like to see Klitschko win, but it’s gonna be tough because I saw these highlights of this other guy, Joshua, and he’s knocking guys out everywhere.”

For the 41-year-old Klitschko, a 2-1 underdog, to pull off an upset at Wembley Stadium, Tyson thinks he’ll have to rely on what worked so well for the former champion during a nearly 10-year reign from 2006-2015.

“He has to use his old movement and use his jab like he used to,” Tyson said. “If I was advising Klitschko, I would advise him to pressure Joshua with his jab and use his movement, and try to counter him with a good, hard right hand.”

Tyson is impressed by Joshua, but if anyone knows you shouldn’t assess someone’s place in heavyweight history too soon, it’s him.

“He is big,” Tyson said. “He is really big. He got the look of a champion and everything, but we’re gonna find out when he fights Klitschko.”

Gray followed up by asking Tyson if Joshua is the “future” of the heavyweight division.

“I don’t know,” Tyson replied. “He could be.”

The 50-year-old Tyson does consider Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs), the IBF heavyweight champion, to be better than WBC champion Deontay Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs).

“He seems like a more put-together fighter, a fighter that you should take serious,” Tyson said. “And Deontay Wilder, even though he has improved much, I don’t think he’s ready for the top heavyweights.”

Whatever happens Saturday, Tyson feels Klitschko deserves credit for rebuilding his career after technical knockout losses to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster in 2003 and 2004. Klitschko won 22 straight fights from October 2004 until Tyson Fury upset him to win the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles in November 2015.

“Well listen, you have to consider what he did,” Tyson said. “He’s the best during his era because beat everyone in his era. He got beaten; he came back. You know, most times when you see these built-up, hyped, white heavyweights, normally they get blast away and you never see ‘em again. These guys [the Klitschko brothers] lost, they got the beatin’, they came back, they didn’t get discouraged. I think that makes all the classifications of a great fighter.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.