What makes a fighter a fighter?
Is it running in the pitch dark at 4am while an opponent sleeps.
Is it the consistent dedication given to a sport that asks so much from all willing participants.
Is it the thousands of punches thrown in the boxing gym, or is it the thousands of skips
made with the jump rope.
Each repetition identical to the one before, each repetition one step closer to greatness.
Maybe it's the coachability of a fighter, or is it the ability to never give up.
Is it the heart and soul one shows in the ring, the ability to recover from uncomfortable
situations.
Is it the dominance of a fighter, how unbeatable they may seem to be.
Well if you had to ask what makes Iron Mike a fighter, it's out-right brutality.
An unstoppable force of nature fuelled by a burning heart,
with one objective clear as day, destroy the opponent.
Welcome to this video here on The Fight Game, where we take a look at 10 Times When Iron
Mike Showed Massive Power.
First up we look to Iron Mike's fight against Jose Rabalta.
It was Mike's 26th bout as a professional and it went just as you might expect.
Here Mike uses one of his signature combinations, a hook to the body, then an uppercut to the
head with the same hand.
It's a very difficult combination to throw, and it's also one of
the hardest to anticipate.
A hook to the body causes the opponent to concave, resulting in a drop
of the head for the uppercut to land.
After a knockdown and several vicious attacks to the head, the referee was left with no
option but to stop the fight for the fighter's safety.
Peter McNeeley took a different approach than most to a fight with Iron Mike.
Instead of defending, McNeeley decided his game plan would be to
go straight after Mike from the very beginning of the fight.
Perhaps this didn't go according to plan, but McNeeley can always look back on this
fight and say he went for it.
Here Mike lands a really accurate short right hand in the midst of McNeeley's attack.
Mike eventually sealed the victory with a crushing right uppercut.
In it's own unique way this was a great fight because against all the odds,
McNeeley went out there and shot his shot.
He may have missed, but he'll have no regrets.
Iron Mike is a boxing legend with a legendary collection of knockouts, there's no doubt
about that.
His knockout of Henry Tillman is one of his best,
demonstrating the sheer power one punch can hold.
Mike transfers massive amounts of power from the ground up through kinetic linking with
the elastic snap of various joints.
Watch the violent swing of Mike's torso from right to left.
He generates such an insane amount of power through excellent boxing technique.
Mike's knockout of Michael Johnson was pretty serious too.
Here Mike lands a left hook to the liver to drop his opponent.
In boxing you are often taught to punch through a target, not at a target.
This knockout demonstrates that.
Mike is often praised for his knockout power, but without skill that power would have no
means to get to a target.
Here Mike utilises a shift around his opponent to land a great right hook.
More often than not knockouts from Iron Mike are made possible
through some of the best boxing technicality you'll ever see.
Next up it's Mike's fight versus Alfonso Ratliff.
Here Mike lands a left hand after a roll.
Mike ends the fight with a series of punches in the second round.
Iron Mike is known for his power, and that made him one of the most feared fighters ever.
It's no secret that Michael Spinks refused to walk to the ring after hearing Mike
had hit a wall in the dressing room.
Eventually Spinks made his way to the ring, and whatever situation Spinks had feared in
his mind, came to reality in the ring.
Iron
Mike
had knocked out Michael Spinks in 91 seconds.
Here he lands a great short right hook as Spinks ducked below.
Mike's great accuracy and muscle-memory allows him to land from all angles.
Iron Mike's fight against England's Frank Bruno was a long time coming, and it was fireworks
for as long as it lasted.
Mike lands his signature hook uppercut combination along with more brutal attacks to the head,
leaving the referee no choice but to stop the fight.
A great man in Frank Bruno remained standing, but it was Mike who took home the win, with
another excellent destruction of one of the world's most loved fighters.
After fighting Frank Bruno, Mike would go on to fight Carl Williams.
Mike was undefeated and in his absolute prime, and was already a global superstar
renowned for his power punching capability.
Mike lands a gruesome left hook launching Williams to the floor.
Watch how again Mike pushes off the ground to generate massive power.
The violent twist Mike utilises in his punching technique is
fuelled with absolute ferociousness.
For our final feature we look to Mike's first world title, his record breaking win to become
the world's youngest ever heavyweight champion at 20 years old, a record that still stands
today and a record that will remain unbroken for a very long
time.
Mike drops Berbick with a series of attacks.
Mike eventually wins the fight with Berbick unable to return to his feet.
This win at 20 years old is absolutely extraordinary, there are few records that come close to it.
It took less than 6 minutes for Mike to set a record that will remain for decades,
if not centuries.
That brings a close to this video, we hope you enjoyed it.
We'll see you in the next video here on The Fight Game.