In unveiling his top five heavyweight boxers of all time, David Haye Can only name a greater warrior than his fellow Britons Lennox Lewiswho is known for defeating every opponent he faces in the ring.

Lewis remains one of only four three-time heavyweight world champions in historyhis legacy is victory over the likes of Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.

However, despite these wins, some fans respect “The Lion” more for his recovery from two career blips and two stoppage losses. Oliver McCall and Hashem Rahman Return the favor and take down two former enemies himself.

So when naming his top five big men, former world heavyweight champion Haye had all the respect for Lewis and ranked him at No. 2, but obviously left Mike Tyson out of his list.

superior Costello and Bangs BBC PodcastHaye explained the omission of “Iron Mike”, claiming that Tyson’s lack of improvement after becoming boxing’s youngest heavyweight world champion at the age of 20 meant he could not be considered.

“If he’s 21, he’s still a baby from a boxing perspective. He’s just getting better and better. But what happens is, he peaks at 21 and he doesn’t get better, he gets worse every fight. He trains less, has less sparring partners, less discipline, more money, more women. He gets worse and worse until he loses.”

Instead, Haye chose legendary champions Larry Holmes (#5), George Foreman (#4), and Evander Holyfield (#3), but reserved the top spot for “The Greatest” Muhammad Ali, whom he considered the only heavyweight better than Lennox Lewis.