Eddie Richardson dwarfed Mike Tyson when they stepped into the ring together, but his size advantage could not save him.
Iron Mike was almost always the smaller man throughout his heavyweight boxing career and in his 58 professional fights, the 5ft 10ins icon only once came up against an opponent shorter than him.
This was Orlin Norris, who stood at 5ft 9½ins.
In his other 55 bouts, Tyson always faced heavyweights over 6ft who often towered over him.
On three occasions, he even took on gigantic 6ft 6ins heavyweights who made face-offs appear as though they were a mismatch.
Richardson was the first 6ft 6ins boxer to take on Tyson in November 1985.
Tyson was a 19-year-old 11-0 (11 KOs) prospect at the time and the fight was booked for the Ramada-Houston Hotel in Houston, Texas.
The 26-year-old Richardson had a record of 10-2 (6 KOs).
Despite his two defeats, he was seen as an adequate opponent for Tyson to continue his development against at that stage in his career.
Especially because he provided a new test, being of a size the youngster hadn’t previously come up against.
When they stepped into the ring though, it quickly became apparent that this really wouldn’t matter in the slightest.
“It’s going to be a really fascinating contest to see how Richardson attempts to use that advantage of height and reach,” the commentator declared as the first bell rang.
However, under ten seconds later, Tyson had floored him.
The very first punch thrown by the 19-year-old was a rapid right hand which instantly landed on Richardson’s chin.
He wasn’t standing at 6ft 6ins tall for long as the impact made him collapse to the canvas in a second.
“Oh my,” exclaimed the commentator, “It was the first punch he threw.”
His co-commentator joked: “What took him so long?”
To his credit, Richardson returned to his feet and fought on.
He was immediately on the back foot though, not wanting to taste Tyson’s power for a second time.
Richardson skipped around the ring while the smaller man stalked and pursued him, waiting for his opportunity to land another power punch.
Just a minute or so later, that opportunity arose and he took it with aplomb.
Tyson hammered Richardson with one of his trademark leaping left hooks which knocked him down for a second occasion.
This time, he did not beat the count and had to be helped up by the referee and even Tyson himself.
The 19-year-old passed the 6ft 6ins test with flying colours and went on to become heavyweight world champion the following year.
Remarkably, at age 58, Tyson is now coming out of retirement to take on YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, 27.
The fight is set to take place on Friday night in Texas – the same state in which Tyson KO’d Richardson all those years ago.
Paul is just 5ft 11ins though, so will not provide the same sort of test as the 6ft 6ins giant did 39 years ago.
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