The boxing match between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield on June 28, 1997, in Las Vegas, became one of the most infamous moments in sports history.
Mike Tyson Comeback, Training At 53
Background to the Rematch
Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield had fought seven months earlier, on November 9, 1996, at the same venue in Las Vegas. Tyson had been making his first defense of the WBA championship he had won from Bruce Seldon in a first-round knockout. Holyfield, despite being a former champion, was a significant underdog entering that match as his performance had been rather lackluster in several fights since having returned to fighting in 1995 after a brief retirement.
However, Holyfield surprised Tyson by controlling the 1996 contest and knocked him down in the sixth round. Tyson was seeking to avenge his 1996 loss to Holyfield, when Holyfield defeated Tyson to win the WBA heavyweight title in 11 rounds.
Controversy Before the Fight
When the 1997 fight was signed, Halpern was again assigned to be the referee. Tyson's management objected, with the official reason being that they wanted a different referee for the rematch. It was believed, though never confirmed, that the actual reason why Tyson and crew objected to Halpern's assignment was that Holyfield had clashed heads with Tyson several times during the course of the first fight and Halpern ruled them all accidental.
The Infamous Bite Fight
Holyfield won the first three rounds. At 2:19 of the first round, an overhand right punch from Holyfield stunned Tyson, but Tyson fought back, immediately pushing Holyfield backwards. At 32 seconds into the second round, Holyfield ducked under a right punch from Tyson. In doing so, he head-butted Tyson, producing a large cut over the latter's right eye (although trainer Ritchie Giachetti believed the injury happened in the first round). Tyson had repeatedly complained about head-butting in the first bout between the two fighters.
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The Biting Incident
As the third round was about to begin, Tyson came out of his corner without his mouthpiece. Lane 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. 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. Holyfield leapt into the air in pain and spun in a circle, bleeding profusely from the bite wound.
Lane stopped the action, but Tyson managed to rush Holyfield from behind and shove him into his corner. Lane separated the men, moved Tyson to a neutral corner, and went back to check on an enraged Holyfield. Lane called Marc Ratner, the chairman of Nevada’s athletic commission, up to the ring apron and informed him that because Tyson had bitten Holyfield’s ear, he was going to disqualify him and end the fight. Meanwhile, ringside physician Flip Homansky was performing his own check on the champion, and Lane decided to defer to him. Once Homansky cleared Holyfield to continue the fight, Lane decided to allow the bout to continue, but not before penalizing Tyson with a two-point deduction for the bite, as per rules regarding any intentional foul causing an injury.
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. During another clinch, Tyson bit Holyfield's left ear. Holyfield threw his hands around to escape the clinch and jumped back. Tyson's second bite just scarred Holyfield's ear. At the time of the second bite, Lane failed to notice it and did not stop the match, and both combatants continued fighting until time expired.
After the match was stopped, Tyson went on a rampage at Holyfield and his trainer Brooks while they were still in their corner. Lane told Tyson's corner that he was disqualifying Tyson for biting Holyfield. To protect Holyfield, security surrounded him in his corner, and Tyson was taken back to his corner by security. Lane was interviewed and said that the bites were intentional. He had told Tyson not to bite anymore, and said Tyson asked to be disqualified by disobeying that order. Holyfield left the ring seconds after the interview, which gave the fans and audience the hint that the match was over.
The Aftermath
Twenty-five minutes after the brawl ended, announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. read the decision: "Ladies and gentlemen, this bout has been stopped at the end of round number three." Later, during post-match interviews, Tyson was walking back to his locker room when a fan from the venue tossed a bottle of water in his direction. Tyson, his instructor, and a pain manager climbed over a temporary railing and up into the stands, made obscene gestures to the crowd, and made their way up the side of a stairway. Tyson had to be restrained as he was led off.
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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 $3 million plus legal fees.
Tyson's Explanation
In the early rounds of the bout, Mike Tyson complained about multiple headbutts from Evander Holyfield that were ruled accidental by Lane. Holyfield headbutted Tyson again in the second round of the fight, but referee Mills Lane also ruled the contact an accident. Tyson came out for the third round without his mouthpiece, but Lane ordered him to put it back in. Moments later, Tyson bit Holyfield’s ear.
"What am I to do? This is my career. I can’t continue getting ‘butted like that. I got children to raise and this guy keeps ’butting me, trying to cut me. I gotta retaliate," Tyson said in a post-fight interview.
Holyfield's Response
Holyfield addressed the controversial moment in the ring, later telling a reporter, "Well, I accepted his apology but when you look at it, is the person sincere? Only time tells that as well. But I don’t think that, regardless if a person apologizes or not, the [Nevada Boxing] Commission still has to do their job."
Punishment and Reconciliation
In the aftermath of the fight, the Nevada Boxing Commission held a hearing and fined Mike Tyson $3 million and imposed a one-year ban and lost his boxing license, which was eventually reinstated. Tyson later apologized to Holyfield for the incident.
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From Rivals to Business Partners
Years after the ear-biting incident, Tyson and Holyfield made amends and even went into business together selling cannabis edibles that pay homage to their 1997 fight. The two champions launched "Holy Ears," a THC and Delta-8 THC-infused edibles that are shaped like bitten ears, that launched in November 2022 through "TYSON 2.0," the boxer’s cannabis company.
Mike Tyson's Comeback
The 58-year-old former heavyweight champ is returning to the ring to battle Jake Paul on Friday, Nov. 15 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in a bout being aired on Netflix. Tyson is 31 years older than Paul, but told FOX 4 in Dallas in October you shouldn't compare him to other people his age.
"Other people my age haven't been training as long as me, been as consistent as me, and I'm just a different species of human being," Tyson told FOX 4 reporter Mike Doocy.