Mike Tyson has named the one current boxer that he would be ‘afraid’ to fight.

Tyson retired from professional boxing in 2005, but returned to the sport in 2020 to take on rival Roy Jones Jr in an exhibition match.

He will face Jake Paul under professional rules in November, with the bout having originally been scheduled for July but postponed after ‘Iron Mike’ suffered an ulcer flare-up.

Whether the 58-year-old will hang up his gloves permanently after that fight remains to be seen – but he has named the one fighter out of today’s current crop that he does not want to take on.

While you may expect Tyson might name the likes of Deontay Wilder or Oleksandr Usyk, he instead plumped for current WBC interim light heavyweight champion David Benavidez.

Tyson told ES News: “He’s so underrated but so over-polarised here.

“Listen, I’d be afraid to fight him too, if I was in that division. No-one even has a chance against him, and I’m talking facts.”

Benavidez, who is nicknamed ‘The Mexican Monster’, has won all 29 of his fights at professional level.

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He handed fellow American fighter Demetrius Andrade his first defeat via corner stoppage in November, and beat London 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Oleksandr Gvozdyk by unanimous decision in his most recent fight in June.

A match-up against Mexican star Canelo Alvarez has been mooted, although Alvarez’s recent comments indicate that he may be taking on an entirely different opponent for his next fight.

He told BoxingScene: “I just go fight by fight.

“Right now, I’m 100 per cent focused on [Edgar] Berlanga, and then I’ll come to other opponents in the future.

“You never know. There’s always a possibility [that I fight Benavidez]. If [Dmitry] Bivol wins that fight, I’d like to take that chance [instead] for the rematch.”