IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is backing Mike Tyson to beat Muhammad Ali in a fantasy clash of heavyweight legends.

Recently, the World Boxing Super Series held a fantasy tournament at heavyweight – with several names of the past being involved.

In the final match of the tournament, Tyson powered his way to a twelve round decision over Ali – an outcome that didn’t sit well for some, especially Ali fans.

But Joshua does not disagree with the outcome of that fantasy match, because he believes Tyson had the style and the necessary tools to beat a fighter like Ali.

“It’s quite interesting because in the era of Muhammad Ali’s heavyweight reign, the heavyweights were ranked as the cruiserweights of the Mike Tyson era. With Lennox Lewis, you know how they started getting bigger, hence why in the amateurs they then created a super heavyweight division,” Joshua told JD Sports.

“The current heavyweight division in the amateurs is what we class as the cruiserweight division, so Muhammad Ali wouldn’t have been a fully fledged heavyweight. Let’s say we bulked Muhammad Ali up and put size and strength to him, I truly believe Mike Tyson would’ve won.

“The reason being [that I think Tyson would win], when you watch the fight with Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, you see a certain Tyson-esque to Frazier’s style. Tyson used to study that Joe Frazier…. the moving, the hooks. He managed to put Ali down in the [first] fight, it was a very tough fight for Ali. And I just believe Mike Tyson was better schooled, times have evolved, Mike Tyson was more developed, more science, more information – so I think that Mike Tyson would’ve won, in my humble opinion.”