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'I would have battered Mike Tyson' says Brit boxing great as he names hardest hitter

You never knew what would happen when Michael Sprott was in the ring, but he knows what would have been the outcome if he'd fought Mike Tyson

[Michael Sprott after winning Prizefighter: The Heavyweights in 2010]

Michael Sprott after winning Prizefighter: The Heavyweights in 2010(Image: by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

It's the most obvious question to ask of someone like boxer Michael Sprott, yet its one that he cant answer: Who is the best youve fought?

You know, I get asked that all the time, he says. I should know the answer. He racks his brains again, for the umpteenth time, and still comes up short. Nah, he says, with a shake of the head, and a self-deprecating laugh. Sorry. To be fair, its a lot to ask, to single out one fighter above all others on a record that spans 71 professional contests and almost every significant name in European heavyweight boxing (and a few beyond this continent) over a stretch of nearly 22 years.

But theres nothing wrong with Sprotts memory. He shows remarkable levels of recall, with no signs of ill-effects from taking shots from some of the worlds hardest-hitting men. Not only does Sprott, at 50, look barely a day older than when I last saw him on TV, more than a decade ago, but he can tell you precise details about his fights, even those from long ago, right down to the exact shots he finished them with or even those which finished him.

And so, one question that he does find easy to answer is that of who hit him the hardest. One hundred percent, the hardest puncher I ever faced, by far, was Corrie Sanders, he says.

[Corrie Sanders]

Corrie Sanders punched harder than any man Michael Sprott ever faced(Image: Getty)

Sprott had a brief shootout with the South African southpaw back in November 2001, rocking the former WBO champion before Sanders roared back and finished him, all inside half a round.

Ive never met someone who punched so hard, and I dont know where it came from, he says. He had no muscle definition, thin biceps, a soft body, small, soft hands, and he shook hands like a woman. But, oh my f****** God, he could punch!

Sprott was put down with a body shot but got up before the 10-count finished, ready to fight on, but failed to convince the referee and was ruled out. It was a disappointing ending to an eventful month in South Africa, but it could have been worse.

My trainer said youre lucky he got you with a body shot if hed hit you to the head, youd have been asleep for a week, says Sprott in another reminder of Sanders vaunted power something noticed even by the biggest names who fought him.

[Michael Sprott says training with Wladimir Klitschko helped him win Prizefighter Heavyweights IV]

Michael Sprott says training with Wladimir Klitschko helped him win Prizefighter Heavyweights IV

Sprott was in Austria for a sparring stint with the Klitschko brothers many years later when, trading war stories, Sanders name came up. All three men had fought Sanders, who famously stunned Wladimir with a second-round stoppage for the WBO belt in March 2003, and then gave Vitali a wild ride for the WBC title 13 months later before losing in seven.

Wladimir said I thought he was just some guy I was going to beat, and he tore me apart. Vitali just said woah, recalls Sprott, mimicking the Ukrainians wide-eyed reaction to remembering Sanders punching prowess. And Hasim Rahman said the same.

Rahman had traded knockdowns with Sanders en route to winning a slugfest in 2000, and still vividly remembered the encounter when he turned up in New Zealand 14 years later to box alongside Sprott in the Super 8 tournament, a Prizefighter-style eight-man elimination that also featured Kali Meehan and Martin Rogan.

Sprott beat Rogan in the semi-finals and lost to Meehan in the final. It was the fourth time hed boxed in such a tournament, having competed in three Prizefighters in the UK, winning two of them. I did like the format, he says. It suited me.

Evidently so, given hes one of only two boxers to win two Prizefighters, the other being Audley Harrison, one of his foremost rivals.

Sprott and Harrison split a pair of hellacious knockouts Sprott rendering Harrison unconscious in the third round of their 2007 encounter, before Harrison got final-round payback three years later and in between, both had entered a Prizefighter tournament in October 2009.

Sprotts presence would have added significant further intrigue to a field that also included Danny Williams, but sadly he had to withdraw after his sister Ginette passed away shortly before.

My mum said you aint getting in that ring unless you fight me first, says Sprott.

His rivalry with Harrison was just one of several storied feuds he engaged in over that long career. There were also three-fight series with Williams and Matt Skelton, both of whom he beat at the third time of asking, and he went 1-1 with continental contenders Timo Hoffman and Edmund Gerber.

[Michael Sprott knocked out Audley Harrison in their 2007 meeting]

Michael Sprott knocked out Audley Harrison in their 2007 meeting(Image: Getty)

Elsewhere on that long record are names like Wayne Llewellyn, Pele Reid, Mike Holden, Mark Potter, Colin Kenna, Cengiz Koc, Paolo Vidoz, Volodymyr Vyrchys, Ruslan Chagaev, Rene Dettweiler, Taras Bidenko, Lamon Brewster, Aleksandr Ustinov, Tye Fields, Alexander Dimitrenko, Kubrat Pulev, Robert Helenius, Erkan Teper, Damian Wills, Brian Minto, Carlos Takam, Adrian Granat, Lukasz Rozanski and even, well into the sunset of Sprotts career, a 9-0 Anthony Joshua.

Usually, when you rattle off a long list of notable names on a boxers record, youre talking about a journeyman, but while Sprott did close out his career as a road warrior, there was a time more than once when he was a contender, possibly no more than a fight or two away from a world title shot.

But while he was more than capable of springing upsets he scored wins against roughly half of the top-level names he fought Sprott never quite maintained enough momentum to break into the elite.

He was just as likely to lose to an underdog as he was to win as one. Whenever he made a breakthrough, a defeat would surely follow, and when he was written off, the Reading man tended to roar back with yet another upset. It was the ultimate yo-yo career.

It started well, with an 11-fight winning streak between November 1996 and March 1998, before a surprise defeat in a vacant Southern Area title shot to Harry Senior set the tone for the unpredictable form to follow. A man who could lose to someone like the 4-4 Senior would go on to beat the likes of Harrison, Williams, Skelton; and a man who failed at Area level would later win British and Commonwealth championships.

[2007: Audley Harrison of England is attended to by doctors after being knocked out by Michael Sprott ]

Audley Harrison is attended to by doctors after being knocked out by Michael Sprott(Image: Getty)

That honour came courtesy of beating Williams at the third attempt especially satisfying not just for the revenge aspect but for the circumstances of their first two fights.

In February 2002, Sprott had been enjoying a family holiday when he received an offer he couldnt refuse.

I was in Barbados, having a good time for a few weeks, he says. I was enjoying myself, laid back, drinking, partying, lots of food. I got a phone call: Keith Longs pulled out [of a British and Commonwealth title challenge against Williams]; the BBC is desperate to keep the fight on.

I thought, what have I got to lose? and went back [to the UK]. My missus stayed out there with my parents.

Sprott flew back four days before the fight, holiday food and drink accounting for the 14lbs hed gained since his last fight, and was unsurprisingly stopped in seven one-sided rounds. (My sister said, when you came out [to the ring], your belly was out here!.

[The latest edition of Boxing News]

The latest edition of Boxing News(Image: Boxing News)

This article was originally published in BOXING NEWS, the worlds oldest boxing magazine and the longest-running sports weekly. Published every Thursday, it offers unrivalled coverage of the sweet science. Buy it now here.

But thereafter, Sprott hit the best form of his career, winning eight in as row, including resounding stoppages of Reid, Holden, Potter and Kenna, to earn another shot at Williams in September 2003 this time with the benefit of a full training camp.

A much better effort ensued, but Sprotts spirited challenge ended in controversial circumstances in the fifth round when he complained about a low blow not the first and was flattened by a left hook before the referee could react.

I was in better shape, Id been stopping everyone he knew it was a different me, Sprott says. I was winning that fight, thats why he started throwing low blows, to slow me down.

I turned to the referee: Are you gonna then boom! People were throwing coins at Danny, chanting cheat, cheat, cheat!. The Board gave us a straight rematch.

Which was when, in January 2004, Sprott finally got over the Williams hump with a close points decision that gave him the two belts. Not for the first time nor the last he finally seemed poised to push on towards world level. But, also for neither the first nor the last time, that progress would be immediately undone.

Next up was a mandatory title defence against Skelton.

[Mike Tyson pictured in 2005]

Mike Tyson pictured in 2005

[Manager] Dean [Powell] said, Ive got a bit of news for you I was speaking with [Mike] Tysons people, and they want to fight you but youve got to beat Skelton. Easier said than done.

He was pushing me to the ropes, punching me to the back of the head; it exhausted me, says Sprott of the 12th-round stoppage defeat that relieved him of the titles three months after hed won them.

Ill give it to Matt, hes strong. Not a technical boxer, but very strong.

The defeat cost him not just the belts but also the rumoured Tyson fight, which, in an example of boxings weird logic, went instead to the man hed beaten Williams who would score a famous win over Iron Mike in July 2004.

If Sprott had got that opportunity instead, he wouldnt now be unable to name the best hed faced and he also doesnt struggle for an answer when asked what would have happened had he fought Tyson: Id have battered him, mate!

He laughs, because hes aware it sounds far-fetched. But then so too did the idea of Williams beating Tyson.

[Matt Skelton and Michael Sprott]

Matt Skelton and Michael Sprott

I heard rumours he was struggling to do three-four rounds. For two rounds, hed have been very dangerous, but after that, the fight is yours. Which is exactly how Williams-Tyson panned out.

From there, Sprott went back and forth with a selection of European contenders until what was arguably his signature night, when he knocked Harrison spark out in Wembley Arena in February 2007.

I trained eight weeks for the fight, he says. I wrote Audleys chin on the bag and kept training the right hand-left hook to land on it. And land it he did.

I caught him clean and knocked him out. I didnt even think about it; it just came.

Again, Sprott looked on the verge of a breakthrough. I thought Id go for the world title, then, he says.

Again, though, defeat would immediately follow, and again, it came at the hands of Skelton, their July 2007 Commonwealth title fight going the way of the Bedford Bear on points.

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But a world title shot would be teased once more, this time ahead of another rematch, against Harrison in April 2010.

Come fight night, I was in my changing room when I got a phone call, Sprott says. It was Vitali [Klitschko, then WBC champion]. He said if you beat him and win this [European] title, Ill give you a shot at my title.

After 11 and a bit rounds, Harrison was hopelessly behind on points and suffering a torn pectoral muscle that had rendered him a one-armed boxer for much of the fight. All Sprott had to do was navigate three more minutes against a wounded foe who had no mathematical hope of victory.

It was the last round; I could have just held, but my trainer said, Mike, hes gonna come out hard, youve gotta show him whos the boss.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Sky Sports commentator Jim Watt was of a similar mind.

[Michael Sprott collapses into the ropes as Audley Harrison lands a knock-out punch]

Michael Sprott collapses into the ropes as Audley Harrison lands a knock-out punch(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Sprott was expecting a big drive from Harrison in the last round, but hes taken the play away from him great tactics, said Watt 13 seconds before Harrison scored a one-punch sudden-reversal knockout.

I was gutted, mate we only had half a round left, says Sprott of perhaps the greatest sliding doors moment in a career of many.

Harrison would fight for a world title in his very next fight, while Sprott would return to his win-some, lose-some ways, although among the wins were the two Prizefighter triumphs, one of which saw him finally get the better of Skelton.

His career came to an end in 2018, at the age of 43, but only because the fight offers dried up, not because of any deliberate decision to retire.

I just didnt get offered any more fights. Id have still fought.

And he still would.

Im back in training, he says. At first it was just to get back in shape. Ive been doing PTs and coaching my sons Darnell [aged 24] and Nathaniel [21]. Im looking to get my own gym going. And Id fight again if the right opportunity is out there.

What kind of right opportunity might be out there for Sprott at 50?

I was chatting with Audley on Instagram and said we should do an exhibition. He said, Mike, were old men now.

That may be true in an athletic sense, anyway but that doesnt always stop old men fighting. Tyson boxed last year at 58, and Ike Ibeabuchi recently returned at 52.

Ike Ibeabuchi, thats the fight I want, says Sprott, with a chuckle that, like the one which accompanied his claim that he could have battered Tyson, suggests the presence of enough self-awareness to understand this is unlikely.

Unlikely, but perhaps not impossible. After all, his old foe Danny Williams had initially been lined up as Ibeabuchis comeback opponent until he was injured in training.

Sprott, you sense, would take an Ibeabuchi fight if it was offered. After all, he made a career out of fighting the best.

He just cant tell you who WAS the best.

This article was originally published in BOXING NEWS, the worlds oldest boxing magazine and the longest-running sports weekly. Published every Thursday, it offers unrivalled coverage of the sweet science. Buy it now here.

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