JEFF POWELL’S GREATEST FIGHTS
THE BITE THAT SHOCKED THE WORLD EVANDER HOLYFIELD V MIKE TYSON MGM Grand, Las Vegas, June 28, 1997
In the latest of a 12-fight series, our Boxing Correspondent recalls the outrageous behaviour of the ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’...
THIS was the over-heated night in the desert when The Real Deal became The Real Meal. Evander Holyfield had stopped Mike Tyson seven months earlier to win the WBA world heavyweight title and Iron Mike was still festering about what he regarded as deliberate head-butting. The seething was to turn into teething in the second round when Holyfield ducked and his forehead rammed into Tyson’s, opening an ugly cut above his right eye. Come a clinch, Tyson bit off a chunk of Holyfield’s right ear and spat it onto the canvas. Holyfield shrieked in pain and referee Mills Lane called a time-out which lasted several minutes before he decided to deduct two points from Tyson instead of imposing instant disqualification. At the start of the third Lane had to order Tyson back to his corner to put his mouth-guard in place before he launched an enraged attack. Tyson then bit Holyfield’s other ear but without gnawing off any cartilage. At the end of the round Lane checked that there had been a second bite and called the disqualification. Tyson rampaged around the ring screaming that he was retaliating for headbutts and blaming Holyfield for making it a gutter fight. He had to be restrained from clambering into the seats to confront jeering fans. It was 25 minutes before enough calm prevailed for ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jnr to declare the official result. Holyfield was taken to hospital. He was followed in haste by a security man who had retrieved that piece of ear from the floor of the ring and arrived in time for it to be sewn back on. Meanwhile, chaos was breaking out in the MGM casino. Amid the scuffles came what sounded like gunshots and there were reports of a police officer drawing his weapon. Some of the crowd dived under the gaming tables, others took the opportunity to scoop up thousands of dollars’ worth of chips before running for the exits. Tyson would be suspended indefinitely from boxing — as well as fined $3million — but he had his licence reinstated by the Nevada State Athletic Commission a year later. In the context of boxing history, this outrage signalled the end of the turbulent, sometimes scandalous, often terrifying, prison-interrupted but utterly compelling reign of the