"I was ranked No. 6"- Mike Tyson's former notorious brawl rival reveals 'Iron Mike' earned $1M while he only got $30K for their 1986 fight

Retired boxer Mitch Green recently reflected on his fight against Mike Tyson and the payment disparity between the two. In their May 1986 match, Green lost to Tyson by unanimous decision. Following the fight, he ended his professional relationship with promoter Don King, alleging that he had mismanaged his career.

In a recent interview with Vlad TV, Green alleged that King "sold him out" for the Tyson fight. He stated that although he was the higher-ranked fighter then, he agreed to fight a relative newcomer in Tyson. When asked if Tyson was indeed paid $1 million to fight him, Green claimed:

"They say 750 thousand, some interviews they said, he got a million."

Green stated that Tyson had not fought against ranked contenders at the time, and he was unfamiliar with the up-and-comer's credentials. Despite this, Green agreed to fight. However, he claimed that King deceived him into agreeing to fight Tyson for a small sum of $30,000, explaining:

"So [Don King] made the fight. So everybody said, 'Oh yeah, you got him.' So I say, 'How much he got?' That's the question. 'Or how much I am going to get?' He said, 30 thousand.' [I asked] How much is [Tyson] getting? He said, 'A little more!' I'm glad you said what you said. I was ranked No. 6."

The 67-year-old expressed that he was not invested in the fight after learning about the payment disparity and publically threatened to withdraw. However, he agreed to continue after his mother insisted on doing so.

Check out Mitch Green's comments below (0:01):

According to online sources and articles published during the controversy, Mike Tyson's co-manager, Bill Clayton, had revealed that his fighter was paid $200,000 for the fight. In addition, he was expected to receive a portion of his three-fight, $1 million deal with HBO.

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Mitch Green discusses the Mike Tyson fight

In the aforementioned interview, Mitch Green said that his training camp for the fight was not satisfactory because he did not get enough opportunities to spar. He then described how the fight unfolded from his perspective:

"When we were fighting, I was hitting him a lot, like that was a sparring session. So, to preserve my energy to go to the 12th round, I was hitting him, but I wasn't hitting him like I wanted, and he knew it. I was hitting him, I was talking to him. He spoke back a couple of times." [2:35]

He added:

"He got knocked down. I ain't get knocked down. I wasn't supposed to go the distance."

Green claimed that the outcome was rigged and believes he landed more impactful punches in the fight. When asked if he thought he won, Green replied:

"I lost when I got into the ring, because I was sold out. The only way I could have won the fight is if I knocked him out." [4:45]

Green and Tyson crossed paths again in 1988 and were engaged in an infamous street fight. Tyson sustained hariline fractures in his hand, which postponed his next fight against Frank Bruno.