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Who really said it

I'm the best ever. I'm the most brutal and vicious, and most ruthless champion there's ever been. There's no one that can stop me. Lennox is a conqueror? No, I'm Alexander! He's no Alexander. I'm the best ever. There's never been anybody as ruthless. I'm Sonny Liston. I'm Jack Dempsey. There's no one like me. I'm from their cloth. There is no one that can match me. My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat his children. Praise be to Allah!

Spoken by Mike Tyson Born 1966 · American heavyweight champion, undisputed 1987–1990
Verified In copyright

He really said it, on live television. It is the tail of Tyson’s answer to Showtime’s Jim Gray in the ring at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on 24 June 2000, minutes after he stopped Lou Savarese in 38 seconds — transcribed the same weekend by Boxing Chronicle ↗ and carried in the sourced section of Wikiquote ↗. The circulating version is faithful but trimmed: the rant actually opens “I was gonna rip his heart out.”

Last verified 7 Aug 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Verified quote & credit

“I'm the best ever. I'm the most brutal and vicious, and most ruthless champion there's ever been. There's no one that can stop me. Lennox is a conqueror? No, I'm Alexander! He's no Alexander. I'm the best ever. There's never been anybody as ruthless. I'm Sonny Liston. I'm Jack Dempsey. There's no one like me. I'm from their cloth. There is no one that can match me. My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat his children. Praise be to Allah!” Mike Tyson, post-fight interview with Jim Gray on Showtime, after stopping Lou Savarese at Hampden Park, Glasgow, 24 June 2000. Verified by Quotle.info. · Verbatim: “I was gonna rip his heart out. I'm the best ever. I'm the most brutal and vicious, and most ruthless champion there's ever been. There's no one can stop me. Lennox is a conqueror? No, I'm Alexander — he's no Alexander. I'm the best ever. There's never been anybody as ruthless. I'm Sonny Liston, I'm Jack Dempsey. There's no one like me. I'm from their cloth. There's no one that can match me. My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat his children. Praise be to Allah.”

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Mike Tyson (the spoken remarks); Showtime Networks Inc. (the 2000 broadcast recording)). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Mike Tyson — American boxer · youngest heavyweight champion, at 20. Theme: "I'm the best ever. I'm the most brutal and vicious, and most ruthless champion there's ever been. There's no one that can stop me. Lennox is a conqueror? No, I'm Alexander! He's no Alexander. I'm the best ever. There's never been anybody as ruthless. I'm Sonny Liston. I'm Jack Dempsey. There's no one like me. I'm from their cloth. There is no one that can match me. My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat his children. Praise be to Allah!". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "I'm the best ever. I'm the most brutal and vicious, and most ruthless champion there's ever been. There's no one that can stop me. Lennox is a conqueror? No, I'm Alexander! He's no Alexander. I'm the best ever. There's never been anybody as ruthless. I'm Sonny Liston. I'm Jack Dempsey. There's no one like me. I'm from their cloth. There is no one that can match me. My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat his children. Praise be to Allah!". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The documented source

Speaker
Mike Tyson
Documented in
Post-fight interview with Jim Gray, Showtime, 24 June 2000
Occasion
Minutes after stopping Lou Savarese in 38 seconds, Hampden Park, Glasgow
Full wording
Opens “I was gonna rip his heart out…” — usually cut

I trained probably two weeks or three weeks for this fight. I had to bury my best friend, and I dedicate this fight to him. I was gonna rip his heart out. I’m the best ever. I’m the most brutal and vicious and most ruthless champion there’s ever been. There’s no one can stop me. Lennox is a conqueror? No, I’m Alexander — he’s no Alexander. I’m the best ever. There’s never been anybody as ruthless. I’m Sonny Liston, I’m Jack Dempsey, there’s no one like— I’m from their cloth. There’s no one that can match me. My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable, and I’m just ferocious. I want your heart, I want to eat his children. Praise be to Allah. The fuller answer, as transcribed

Transcriptions of the tape differ in small ways. This follows the Genius transcript ↗; Wikiquote ↗ completes the broken sentence as “there’s no one like me,” and the 2000 Boxing Chronicle text ends “Praise to Allah” and reads “there’s never been anyone like me” where the others have “there’s never been anybody as ruthless.”

Broadcast footage
The interview, posted by the fight’s promoter, Queensberry
Boxing Chronicle (2000) — “Tyson unleashes his rage on Savarese”

How we traced it

  • The fullest contemporaneous transcript is Chris Bushnell’s report for Boxing Chronicle ↗, written the same weekend and captured by the Internet Archive in January 2001. It quotes the rant end to end and names Showtime’s Jim Gray as the interviewer.
  • The Associated Press dispatch that night, carried by ESPN ↗, independently prints “I am Sonny Liston and Jack Dempsey. There is no one who can match me” and “I want your heart. I want to eat your children.”
  • BBC Sport’s Alasdair Lamont, reporting from Hampden Park on 25 June 2000 ↗, records Tyson closing the night with “ill-advised remarks about eating Lennox Lewis’ children” — independent confirmation of date and place.
  • Wikiquote ↗ lists the quotation in its sourced “On Lennox Lewis” section, cited to the Jim Gray interview of 2000 — not under any “Misattributed” or “Disputed” heading.
In copyright

These are Tyson’s own extemporaneous words, spoken live during a Showtime broadcast on 24 June 2000 — a work of 2000, so nothing here is public domain. Quoting a passage for reporting and commentary is ordinary practice, but the broadcast itself ↗ remains the property of the network that produced it.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

What usually goes wrong with it

Nobody disputes that Tyson said this. What gets mangled is when and where — and the circulating text has quietly lost its first line.

A pre-fight taunt aimed at Lennox Lewis misdated

American University’s Contemporary Quotations ↗ files it, undated, as Tyson “on his upcoming fight with Lennox Lewis.” It was not build-up for that fight: it was an unscripted answer in the ring after beating Lou Savarese, and Lewis did not fight Tyson until 8 June 2002 ↗.

The missing first line trimmed

Contemporaneous transcripts start the outburst with “I was gonna rip his heart out” — see Boxing Chronicle ↗ and Wikipedia ↗. The version that travels online drops it and begins at “I’m the best ever.”

“I want to eat your children” variant

The Associated Press report filed that night, carried by ESPN ↗, prints “I want your heart. I want to eat your children.” Later transcripts render the second pronoun as “his.”

A piece of pure showmanship context

The full transcript ↗ shows the same interview opening with Tyson dedicating the fight to his murdered friend Darryl Baum and saying he had trained two or three weeks. The rant is the end of that answer, not a standalone soundbite.

Genuine, on camera, and precisely datable: Showtime, ringside at Hampden Park, Glasgow, 24 June 2000, in answer to Jim Gray — as Wikiquote’s sourced section ↗ records it.

Context

Why he was saying it

Tyson had come to Glasgow badly out of sorts. His close friend Darryl Baum had been shot dead in Brooklyn the week before; Tyson delayed his flight to attend the funeral, and told reporters ↗ he was rusty and needed more training. He opened this very interview by dedicating the fight to Baum and saying he had trained two or three weeks. The rant everyone quotes came out moments later, in the same answer.

The Lennox Lewis fight Tyson was calling for did not happen for nearly two years. When the two finally met — on 8 June 2002 at The Pyramid in Memphis ↗ — Lewis knocked Tyson out in the eighth round.

He opened the interview burying his best friend and closed it threatening to eat a man’s children.

Read the full story

The fight itself was a 38-second farce. Tyson dropped Savarese with a left hook about twelve seconds in, kept punching after referee John Coyle stepped between them, and knocked Coyle down in the process. Neither fighter turned up to the post-fight press conference, which is why the Gray interview is the record of what Tyson said that night.

Contemporaneous reporting from that week noted Tyson had admitted being taken off the prescription drug Zoloft, and Boxing Chronicle ↗ framed the whole evening around that rather than around the boxing.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Success Power Character

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Wikiquote — Mike Tysonen.wikiquote.org

Carries the quotation in its sourced "On Lennox Lewis" section, credited to the 2000 Jim Gray interview.
Wikipedia — Mike Tyson vs. Lou Savareseen.wikipedia.org

Date, venue, 38-second TKO result, Showtime as broadcaster, and the full post-fight quotation.
Boxing Chronicle — "Tyson unleashes his rage on Savarese" (2000)web.archive.org

Chris Bushnell's contemporaneous report, archived January 2001, transcribing the rant in full.
ESPN / Associated Press — "38 and out" (24 June 2000)m.espn.com

The wire report filed that night, printing the "eat your children" wording alongside the fight details.
Genius — full transcript of the interviewgenius.com

The complete Gray-and-Tyson exchange, including the Darryl Baum dedication that opens it.
Speakola — Tyson post-fight rant, 2000speakola.com

Speech archive entry filing the rant to 24 June 2000, Hampden Park, interviewer Jim Gray.

The speaker

About Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson

Born 1966 · American boxer · youngest heavyweight champion, at 20

Michael Gerard Tyson was born in Brooklyn on 30 June 1966 and took the WBC heavyweight title from Trevor Berbick on 22 November 1986 at 20 years and 4 months — still the youngest heavyweight champion in the sport’s history. He was undisputed champion from 1987 to 1990, and by the summer of 2000 he was a former champion chasing one more shot at the belt Lennox Lewis was holding. He is one of the most quotable athletes alive, which is exactly why so many sentences he never said get hung on him — and why the ones he did say, like this one, are worth pinning to a date.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Cite this

Mike Tyson, post-fight interview by Jim Gray, Showtime, Hampden Park, Glasgow, 24 June 2000. Transcribed contemporaneously in Chris Bushnell, “Tyson unleashes his rage on Savarese,” BoxingChronicle.com, 2000 (Internet Archive capture, 25 January 2001).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘I'm the best ever. I'm the most brutal and vicious, and most ruthless champion there's ever been. There's no one that can stop me. Lennox is a conqueror? No, I'm Alexander! He's no Alexander. I'm the best ever. There's never been anybody as ruthless. I'm Sonny Liston. I'm Jack Dempsey. There's no one like me. I'm from their cloth. There is no one that can match me. My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat his children. Praise be to Allah!’?” Last verified 7 Aug 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/im-the-best-ever-im-the-most-brutal-and-vicious-and-most/

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