Iron’ Mike Tyson has faced some of the toughest fighters in heavyweight boxing history, such as Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, and Donovan Rudduck. But none of them were as tough as Cuban native Jose Ribalta.
On August 17, 1986, Ribalta stepped into the ring with Tyson inside the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Standing at 6’6″ tall, Ribalta was a physically imposing figure compared to the 5’10” stocky build of Tyson.
For 10 rounds, ‘Iron’ gave Ribalta everything he had, landing an impressive 220 strikes and sending the heavyweight gatekeeper to the canvas three times before the referee saw fit to step in and call a stop to the bout with less than 90 seconds on the clock.
“Jose Ribalta stood toe to toe with me,” said Tyson in his ‘Best I Faced’ Ring Magazine article back in January 2014. “He was very strong in the clinches. I hit Jose Ribalta with everything, and he took everything and kept coming back for more” (h/t talkSPORT).
Following the loss to Tyson, Ribalta continued to test himself against a who’s who of heavyweight talent. ‘El Nino’ squared off with the likes of Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes, Vitali Klitschko, and Donovan Rudduck before retiring in late 1999.
“Ribalta was a game fighter who, unlike Green and Tillis, actually engaged me,” praised Tyson in his autobiography, Undisputed Truth. I felt nauseous from all Ribalta’s body blows, even hours after the fight… I never felt that much general pain again.”
Mike Tyson looks to reclaim some of his boxing glory against Jake Paul
Nearly 20 years from his last professional boxing match, Mike Tyson will return to the ring on Friday, November 15 for a clash with YouTube star Jake Paul inside the 80,000-seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Paul (10-1) is the odds-on favorite to come out on top in The Lone Star State with ‘The Problem Child’ currently sitting at a -150 compared to Tyson who goes into his first legitimate boxing bout since 2005 as a +170 underdog. Of course, those odds can and probably will swing significantly as we get closer to fight night.
Tyson ended his career in the mid-noughties with a 50-6 record, including 44 wins by way of KO.