MIKE TYSON will go down in heavyweight history as an intimidating bully who lacked the fighting heart to be considered an all-time great.
That is the brutal verdict of double world heavyweight title challenger Earnie Shavers, who pushed Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes to the limit in the 1970s.
Shavers, now living in Wirral, believes Tyson had most of his opponents beaten before the first bell - but was found out once Buster Douglas had became the first man to refuse to buy into the Tyson myth.
Shavers said: "Mike was a good fighter but he had no heart, and when people were not afraid of him, they beat him. Tyson intimidated people and already had them beaten but without that, he didn't have anything. He was the best in his era but in the '70s, you wouldn't have heard of him."
Shavers, one of the hardest punchers in the division's history who decked Holmes before his 11th-round defeat in 1979, said he hoped Tyson would remain true to his declaration that he would never fight again.
Shavers himself attempted an ill-advised two-fight comeback in 1995 at the age of 50 before quitting for good and becoming successful on the after-dinner speaking circuit.
He believes a fighter who extends his career too far into middle age runs the risk of irreparably harming whatever legacy he may have made for himself.
"You could fight for ever and win a thousand times but if you fight too long those are the fights you are remembered for," added Shavers. "I hope Mike does get out of the fight game because when your heart is no longer in it that is when he could become dangerous.
"Everyone just looks at Mike like a dollar sign and uses him like that. That is why he reacted like he did and made a lot of bad choices in his life."
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