Dave Allen: I'd beat Mike Tyson so he should never box again

Mike Tyson has sparked excitement by posting workout videos on social media, but Dave Allen does not want to see him near a boxing ring.

Dave Allen felt that Mike Tyson will not be able to challenge him for a bout due to latter's age.

Dave Allen believes he would beat a 53-year-old Mike Tyson and feels that provides ample reason for the heavyweight great never to set foot in a ring again. 

Speculation is mounting of Tyson's future plans after the former world champion posted several videos online of him thrashing through some explosive pad workouts. 

Tyson's old rival Evander Holyfield, now 57, has also suggested he is ready to comeback for exhibition and charity bouts – even stating he is open to a third meeting with the man who infamously bit off a chunk of his ear when they last met in 1997. 

Nevertheless, British heavyweight Allen – who holds a career record of 18 wins, five defeats and two draws – is uneasy over the prospect, with particular concerns over Tyson making a return over 33 years since the start of his first reign as champion. 

"If I got offered the Mike Tyson fight, the money would be fantastic but it wouldn’t sit right, would it?" Allen said in an interview with talkSPORT 2. 

"A lot of people would laugh at this, but this is the fact – I would beat a 53-year-old Mike Tyson. 

"And that is the saddest thing any boxing fan wants to hear. For that reason alone, he should never box again. 

"I think fighting’s a young man's game. I'm 28 years old, I've had a lot of hard fights and people are saying to me, 'David, you’re coming to the end of your career now'.

READ:

"I've talked to people saying I should stop before because I've had some hard fights. 

"People see him on the pads, a little minute clip, and say, 'Oh, he could come back and beat everybody'." 

Allen feels the romantic notion of Tyson giving Father Time the slip in his sixth decade obscures the reality of a painful career denouement at the start of the century, when a one-sided hammering against Lennox Lewis preceded defeats to Danny Williams and Kevin McBride – two fighters a prime 'Iron Mike' would have dealt with handily, in all probability.

"I remember 18 years ago him losing to Lennox Lewis after seven one-sided rounds," he added.

"A year later he lost to Danny Williams, then again he lost to Kevin McBride. This is 16 years ago.

"Mike Tyson's one of the greatest fighters of all time, but you can’t turn back the clock and he'll never be what he was. So I don't really want to see it."