Boxing

Boxing Fans Furious Over Mike Tyson 'Greatest Punchers' Ranking Snub

Mike Tyson not being included on a rankings of boxing's greatest punchers has fans aghast.
Grant Young|
Mike Tyson attends the Pegasus World Cup 2025 at Gulfstream Park on January 25, 2025.
Mike Tyson attends the Pegasus World Cup 2025 at Gulfstream Park on January 25, 2025. | IMAGO / MediaPunch

Boxing legend "Iron" Mike Tyson was interviewed by FightCamp back in 2022. When the topic of boxing's hardest puncher came up, one of the world's most intimidating men didn't mince words.

"[It's George Foreman]," he said. "I can’t match somebody’s power who’s that big and that much, man. The only thing that allowed me to be exciting was that I did it faster than the other guys.”

While Tyson's humble response and display of respect for another boxing legend is praiseworthy, most boxing fans would assert that it's Tyson who should be crowned boxing's hardest puncher — or at least must be a staple in the conversation.

However, Ring Magazine made a February 15 X post that ranked, "The Top 10 Greatest Punchers of All Time, according to The Ring’s 2003 Yearbook:". Conspicuously absent from the list was Tyson.

"1️⃣ Joe Louis
2️⃣ Sam Langford
3️⃣ Jimmy Wilde
4️⃣ Archie Moore
5️⃣ Sandy Saddler
6️⃣ Stanley Ketchel
7️⃣ Jack Dempsey
8️⃣ Bob Fitzsimmons
9️⃣ George Foreman
🔟 Earnie Shavers," was the ranking.

It's worth noting that Tyson was still an active fighter in 2003, which might have affected him not making these rankings. Then again, Tyson was close to retirement at this point and had already produced the biggest knockout wins of his career.

This is why boxing fans were not happy about Tyson's snub from these rankings.

"How did Tyson not make it? No one was more feared as a puncher in the last 50 years," one X user wrote in a reply Ring Magazine's post.

Another added, "Absolute garbage. People were terrified of Tyson’s punching 😳".

"BS Mike Tyson is one of the single hardest punchers to ever fight period 🥊🇺🇸," wrote a third.

We imagine Tyson won't be missing from future "Greatest Puncher" rankings after this reaction.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.