It’s not often two titans from completely different sports square off against one another other – unless you’re Rocky and Thunderlips, of course.
But, back in 1988, Tottenham and England legend Jimmy Greaves faced up to Mike Tyson – then one of the most recognisable men in sport – in the ring.
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Football fans of a certain age were gutted to hear the news of Ian St John’s passing this week, the Liverpool and Scotland legend who helmed one of the most iconic football shows of the 80s.
The former striker died overnight on Monday at the age of 82.
And talkSPORT delved into the archives to bring you one of the great highlights of the popular show, when Saint’s right-hand man met Tyson… and got more than he bargained for.
Greaves travelled to Catskill, New York just to get some time with ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ who, at that point, had just won his 34th consecutive fight and was plotting a rumble with Britain’s Frank Bruno.
After knocking out Tony Tubbs in Tokyo, to retain his WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight titles, Greaves was perhaps an unlikely opponent for Tyson.
Nevertheless, the greatest English striker ever visited NYC to take on the 21-year-old boxing wonderkid as part of ITV’s fantastic coverage of the 1988 FA Cup final between Liverpool and Wimbledon.
And it’s a piece of TV gold as Greaves takes on The Champ – Jimmy even takes a few digs in the ribs too! Check it out below…
When it came to big-name captures, Saint and Greavsie didn’t just stop at the ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’. No, they also travelled to New York and visited the future President of the United States – and Donald Trump even took part in the draw for the Rumbelows Cup!
“To be fair to Donald, he was really good with us,” St John told The Guardian in 2016.
“He respected the fact Jimmy and I were former pros and asked about that as the crew set up to film the draw. We also had a good chat about golf as he was really into that and we played a bit.
But, as I say, he had no idea about football and certainly no idea what Rumbelows was. We didn’t bother explaining it to him.”
So he would have had no idea how big it was that he drew Manchester United and Leeds together.
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