Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach has revealed former undisputed heavyweight world champion ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson clocked him so hard during one training session, he was left seeing stars.
Tyson, who has just turned 50 years old, is widely regarded as one of the most ferocious punchers to grace a ring.
“He was very explosive. He hit me in the chin one day, I didn’t go down but I was definitely knocked out on my feet!” recalled Roach to FightHub.
Reliving the encounter, the Wild Card owner explained: “He hit me so hard! His speed was the big factor. He has it on tape somewhere but he won’t give it to me!”
Roach helped Tyson during the latter part of his career and this incident is thought to have taken place in the run up to Tyson’s first round stoppage win over Clifford Etienne in February 2003.
“I knew going into that training camp, I knew I was going to get hit at least once and it came true,” stated Roach, who is currently working with Viktor Postol ahead of his world title unification bout against Terence Crawford.
Roach, a former fighter himself, is no stranger to getting tagged by one of his fighters. He's been accidentally clocked several times in his many training camps with eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao.
Tyson holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight titles at 20 years, 4 months, and 22 days old. He retired from boxing in 2006, after being knocked out in consecutive matches against Danny Williams and Kevin McBride.
