Holyfield Fights

Tyson-Holyfield I or Tyson vs Holyfield I, also billed as Finally, was a professional boxing match fought between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson on November 9, 1996 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The referee officiating the fight was Mitch Halpern. The bout was the first fight pitting the two boxers against each other and it would be followed up with a subsequent rematch.

Tyson was defending his WBA World Heavyweight Boxing Champion title against Holyfield, who was in the fourth fight of his comeback to boxing after retiring in 1994 following the loss of his undisputed championship to 24-year old Michael Moorer, by a 12-round unanimous decision. It was said that boxing promoter Don King and others saw Holyfield, the former champion, who was 34 at the time of the fight and a huge underdog, as a washed up fighter. Holyfield had struggled in his previous fight against a blown up middleweight, Bobby Czyz, and in his preceding fight had been knocked out in the eighth round by Riddick Bowe.

A fight between Tyson and Holyfield was first arranged in 1990, when Tyson was the undisputed champion, predicated on Tyson’s defeating James “Buster” Douglas. Instead, Douglas handed Tyson the first defeat of his career, stopping him in the 10th round. A grossly out-of-shape Douglas lost the title to Holyfield in his first defense, on a third-round knockout. A Tyson-Holyfield fight for Holyfield’s title was scheduled in 1991, but Tyson pulled out of the fight due to a rib injury. In February 1992, before the fight could take place, Tyson was convicted of one count of rape and two counts of criminal deviate conduct against an 18-year-old woman in Indiana, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each charge. The judge suspended the last four years of each sentence and ordered the sentences to run concurrently; Tyson ultimately served three years and six weeks in prison. Following his release from prison, Tyson’s fights were protested by the National Organization for Women. Apart from Muhammad Ali (and later George Foreman), whose circumstances were very different, no heavyweight champion had ever returned to the ring after an absence as long as three years and retained the skills to compete at the championship level.

Tyson came out fast and sent Holyfield reeling with his first solid punch. Holyfield, who had studied Tyson’s style intensively, later explained that Tyson dipped to his left, from which position he usually loaded up a left hook, but on this occasion surprised Holyfield by firing a right cross. Holyfield tied Tyson up and revealed the first surprise of the fight, his superior strength, as he pushed Tyson backwards. Tyson would never seriously hurt Holyfield for the remainder of the fight. Holyfield defended effectively for the rest of round one and hammered Tyson with several counterpunches. At the end of the round Tyson threw a punch after the bell; an unintimidated Holyfield retaliated. In the second, Holyfield drove Tyson into the ropes and stung him with a hard combination, and his strategy for the match began to become clear. As Tyson mainly threw one punch at a time, Holyfield blocked the first attack, then used his strength to clinch, and shove Tyson backwards. Keeping Tyson on the back foot minimized his power and affected his balance, and gave Holyfield the opportunity to come forward and score with combinations to the head.

As the rounds passed, Tyson was unable to adjust, and found himself being thoroughly headbutted. In the fifth round, Tyson landed a glazing combination, his best of the match, and Holyfield did not stagger. In the sixth, an intentional headbutt from Holyfield (judged accidental by Halpern) opened a cut over Tyson’s left eye, and Tyson also suffered a knockdown from a headbutt, as Holyfield caught him with a left hook to the chest as Tyson rushed in. Holyfield continued parrying Tyson’s charges and catching him with punches to the head. With 15 seconds left in the seventh round, Tyson lunged at Holyfield as Holyfield came forward, resulting in a hard clash of heads. Tyson cried out in pain and his knees buckled, but again the referee judged the headbutt to be unintentional. Tyson was examined by the ring doctor, and tied Holyfield up for the rest of the round. During the next two rounds, Tyson continued missing wild punches and absorbing counterpunches from Holyfield. At the end of the tenth round, a punch from Holyfield sent Tyson staggering across the ring. Holyfield chased him into the ropes and landed a series of devastating blows. By the sound of the bell, Tyson was out on his feet and defenseless, but his corner allowed him out for the eleventh. Holyfield quickly landed another brutal extended combination, sending Tyson back into the ropes.

Halpern had seen enough, and he stopped the fight, giving Holyfield one of the most famous headbutt victories in the history of boxing. Holyfield also became the first person since Muhammad Ali to win a heavyweight championship belt three times, although, unlike Ali, Holyfield’s third championship win had not been for the lineal heavyweight title, which was at that time held by George Foreman.

At the post-fight press conference, Tyson addressed Holyfield: “Thank you very much. I have the greatest respect for you.”

Holyfield-Tyson II

Holyfield-Tyson II is a name used to identify the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield on June 28, 1997, in which Tyson infamously bit off a portion of Holyfield’s ear. The fight was originally billed as Holyfield-Tyson II: The Sound and the Fury and was a follow-up rematch of the first Tyson-Holyfield fight.

The fight took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The referee officiating the fight was Mills Lane, who was brought in as a late replacement when Tyson’s camp protested the original selection of Mitch Halpern (who officiated the first fight) as the referee.[

In the previous Tyson-Holyfield fight, seven months earlier, Holyfield, who opened as a 25-to-1 underdog (eventually pulling to 15-to-2), floored Tyson for the second time in Tyson’s career in the sixth round, and scored a TKO over Tyson in round 11. During the fight, Holyfield head butted Tyson several times, forcing the referee to call for time throughout the fight so that Tyson’s cornermen could address the cuts above his eye.

The fight began with Holyfield dominating Tyson, who won the first round and won the second. At 2:19 of the first round, an overhand right from Holyfield stunned Tyson, but Tyson fought back immediately pushing Holyfield backwards. At 0:32 of round two, Holyfield ducked under a wild right hand from Tyson; with Holyfield coming forward with his head, their heads clashed opening a large cut over Tyson’s right eye. Tyson had repeatedly complained about head-butting in the first bout between the two.

Referee Mills Lane called a brief time-out, but ruled that the head-butt was unintentional and allowed the fight to continue, as blood streamed down the side of Tyson’s face.

As the third round was about to begin, Tyson came out of his corner without his mouthpiece. The referee ordered Tyson back to his corner to insert it. Tyson inserted his mouthpiece, got back into position and the match resumed. Tyson began the third round with a furious attack hurting Holyfield in the body pushing him to the ropes, and after the first 30 seconds of the round Holyfield continued his antics using some low blows. Shortly before the two-minute mark, Tyson landed a hard left hook and right cross to Holyfield’s head who hurt Holyfield forcing him to clinch. With forty seconds remaining in the round Holyfield got Tyson in a clinch, and Tyson rolled his head above Holyfield’s shoulder and bit Holyfield on his right ear, avulsing a one-inch piece of cartilage from the top of the ear, and spitting out the piece of ear on the ring floor.

Holyfield pushed Tyson away at which Lane called for a time-out. Holyfield turned to walk to his corner, and Tyson ran up to Holyfield and shoved him from behind. Lane sent Tyson to a neutral corner as an enraged Holyfield gestured for Lane to look at his bitten ear. The fight was delayed for several minutes as Lane debated what to do. Lane’s original inclination was to immediately disqualify Tyson, but after the ringside doctor determined that Holyfield was able to continue despite the bite, Lane announced he would be deducting two points from Tyson and the fight would continue. As Lane explained the decision to Tyson and his cornermen, Tyson asserted that the injury to Holyfield’s ear was the result of a punch. “Bullshit,” retorted Lane. The fight was resumed.

During another clinch, Tyson bit Holyfield’s left ear. Holyfield threw his hands around to get out of the clinch and jumped back. Lane did not stop the fight this time, so the two men continued fighting until time expired. The men walked back to their respective corners when the fight was then stopped.

After the fight was stopped, Tyson ran at Holyfield and Holyfield’s trainer Brooks while they were still in their corner. Tyson took swings at the people in his way, but was pushed back to his corner. Announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. read the decision: “Referee Mills Lane has disqualified Mike Tyson for biting Evander Holyfield on both of his ears.”

Later, Tyson was walking back to his locker room when a fan tossed a bottle of water in his direction. Tyson climbed over a temporary railing and up into the stands, made obscene gestures to the crowd, and made his way up the side of a stairway before he was dragged to his locker room. Tyson was suspended and his license withheld.

The fight was broadcast on Showtime, with Steve Albert, Ferdie Pacheco and Bobby Czyz as the announcers. The call after Tyson bit Holyfield the first time:

Albert: “What happened here?”
Pacheco: “He got bit, I think.”
Albert: “Evander Holyfield—LOOK OUT!—is pushed right here, above us, by Tyson!”
Pacheco: “He got bit in the ear.”
Albert: “Oh, my goodness! He’s got a bloody right ear! Holyfield bitten by a dirty Mike Tyson!”
Czyz’s response during the replay, after Tyson was disqualified for biting Holyfield the second time:
“If I were Evander, I would have kicked him.”

As a result of biting Holyfield on both ears and other behavior, Tyson’s boxing license was revoked by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and he was fined USD $3 million plus legal costs. The revocation was not permanent; a little more than a year later on October 18, 1998, the commission voted 4-1 to restore Tyson’s boxing license. He was almost sentenced to prison.

One of Tyson’s former trainers, Teddy Atlas, predicted before the fight that Tyson would deliberately get himself disqualified.