On June 28, 1997, exactly 27 years ago, the rematch between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield took place at the famous MGM Grand arena in Las Vegas. Seven months earlier, in their first fight, Tyson’s winning streak was sensationally interrupted and he suffered the second defeat of his professional career, losing the WBA championship title.
Revenge promised to be not only interesting, but also hot. The tension was present even in the stage of preparation for battle. For example, Tyson’s team insisted on replacing referee Mitch Halpern, who officiated the first fight. It was noted that Halpern ignored Holyfield’s minor violations and allowed her to secure his opponent for a long time. So Mike insisted on a replacement: Mills Lane officiated the meeting.
Fight between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield
Photo: Fake Images
Focusing on the unsportsmanlike aspects of the fight was a cruel joke. By that time, Tyson had already started to lose, but he was still dangerous and was considered the favorite of the fight. That is why Mike started quickly and immediately showed that he was ready for a knockout. Holyfield withstood the opponent’s attacks and went on the offensive. He conducted powerful exchanges, attacked with dangerous series and did not forget about clinches. True, this time the referee did not really let the champion go crazy in this regard. However, Evander managed to interfere with Tyson with “dirty” boxing and took the first round. Mike was very confused as he went to his corner.
In the second segment, Holyfield began to fully use his entire arsenal of dubious techniques. He first hit Tyson with his head and opened a cut, fell into the clinch and did not disdain blows to the back of the head. Mike tried to appeal to the referee too often and because of that he wasted time and missed unnecessary hits. Tyson came out very angry for the next round, and this three-minute fight went down in boxing history forever.
Iron Mike started strong again and looked much better than he did in the first two segments. Holyfield, in response to the attacks, landed blows to the head from the clinch, and then Tyson, unable to break through an experienced opponent, lost all traces of self-control and grabbed Evander’s right ear with his teeth, biting the part superior. of the auricle and spit it on the ground. Holyfield grabbed his head, started spinning around his axis and everyone around him didn’t understand what would happen next. The champion was given time to recover and Mike was deducted two points, despite claims that Evander’s blood was the result of a missed punch.
The fight continued, but seconds before the gong, Holyfield hit Tyson with his head again, and Tyson bit him again, but this time on the left ear, and then threw several more powerful blows to his opponent’s head. The round ended, but the fight did not continue. The referee examined the champion’s ears and disqualified Tyson. Mike, enraged, tried to force his way towards his opponent, a fight broke out that miraculously did not end in a mass brawl.
Fight between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield
Photo: Fake Images
Tyson later explained that he was very angry at Holyfield: “At that moment I was ready to kill him, I was beside myself with anger. He constantly hit me on the head. I lost control, the battle plan went out of my head. I do not exclude that I could still repeat this again. If Holyfield did the same thing he got it for again, he would bite him again.”
There was also a version that Tyson was furious about the impending defeat and tried to avoid it in such a non-trivial way. By the time the fight was stopped, Mike was losing on all the judges’ scorecards: 26-29. As a result, Mike was disqualified for 15 months and fined $3 million. Then it became clear to everyone that the Tyson era was over.
Years later, Holyfield commented on Iron Mike’s actions: “They said I wasn’t that good because I didn’t beat Tyson. But I wasn’t afraid of anyone. We fought and I stopped him, then we met again and he bit me twice. I knew I could beat him. After these bites, I realized that Mike was afraid. When you do this, it shows your desire to escape. When I fought my brothers, I would bite them and run away. It was a similar situation. For me it was the easiest thing to bite.”
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Tyson later claimed that the bite was the best thing he ever did: “I’m going to tell you something very funny, and I don’t want it to seem in bad taste. But the best thing I did was bite his ear. It’s not that he wants to bite his ear, but from a business point of view. Yes, that’s what happened. I didn’t even think about that. However, I think about how much money I made. I look back three or four years later and think, “Wow, that’s what I won?” That’s what makes me laugh. Yes, I bit his ear, but I made money from it. So I can’t beat myself up about that.”
Now the former rivals are no longer at odds, but communicate quite peacefully when they meet at major events. The confrontation between Tyson and Holyfield went down in world history, and even today it is extremely difficult to find a person who has not heard of the fight in which one boxer tore off the other’s ear.
