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Today in history… the battle of Holyfield’s ear

12:00am | & Lifestyle

One of the most bizarre boxing bouts in the history of the sport took place on June 28th, 1997, between heavyweights ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson and Evander ‘The Real Deal’ Holyfield.

The two accomplished fighters faced each other in the ring at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in a hugely hyped rematch that attracted a massive worldwide TV audience. But the fight would end in farce and controversy after an enraged Tyson bit off a chunk of Holyfield’s ear.

After turning professional in 1985, Tyson had a meteoric rise, winning his first 19 pro fights by knockout, 12 of them inside the first round. His explosive and aggressive style was new to boxing and saw him become the youngest ever fighter to win a world heavyweight title at just 20.

However, his life outside the ring was often chaotic and in 1992 he jailed for six years following a conviction for rape. Released on parole in 1995, he embarked on a boxing comeback, winning a series of high-profile fights including knocking out Britain’s Frank Bruno to win the WBC heavyweight title in 1996.

He also won the WBA title and made his first defence of it in November 1996 against former champion Evander Holyfield. After a brief retirement, Holyfield was making his own comeback and entered the fight as the underdog, but surprised Tyson by dominating the early rounds and knocking him down in the sixth. Though Tyson fought on, he couldn’t recover and the referee stopped the fight in the eleventh round, with Holyfield winning the WBA title in a surprise victory.

Commentators speculated that Tyson had been complacent and paid the price for failing to take the returning Holyfield seriously, despite his impressive record in the ring. Tyson’s camp immediately called for a rematch, scheduled for the same Vegas venue on June 28th, 1997, 21 years ago today.

This time Tyson prepared and was in good shape, but so was his opponent, both weighing in at 218lbs. In the first round Holyfield dominated Tyson, stunning him with an overhand right. In the opening minute of the second, Holyfield ducked under his opponent’s right hook, but in doing so clashed heads and opened up a cut above Tyson’s right eye. Tyson’s camp claimed it was a deliberate headbutt, but TV replays showed it was unintentional.

Tyson seemed enraged and at the start of the third round came out of his corner without his protective mouthpiece. The referee spotted this and ordered Tyson back to his corner to insert the mouthpiece. Tyson then began round three with a furious attack, seemingly going for a knockout, but the experienced Holyfield withstood the onslaught as Tyson became frustrated.

With 40 seconds remaining the two tiring fighters fell into a clinch, when Tyson rolled his head above Holyfield’s shoulder and bit down hard on his right ear, severing a one-inch piece of cartilage from the top of the ear and spitting it out onto the canvas. With blood streaming, Holyfield shouted in pain and jumped in circles, repeatedly gesturing at the referee to look at his ear.

Incredibly the fight wasn’t stopped there and then. Although the referee intended to disqualify Tyson, a ringside doctors examined Holyfield and said he could fight on. After several minutes’ delay, the referee gave Tyson and his team a formal warning, announced he would be deducting the fighter two points, and that the contest would go on.

The fight then resumed, but during another clinch Tyson bit Holyfield’s left ear, with Holyfield this time this time able to break free before losing any of it. As the third round ended, Holyfield’s camp called on the referee to examine their fighter’s left ear and, with clear evidence of a second bite, he had no option but to stop the contest.

Even then, Tyson went on a rampage at Holyfield and his corner men and had to be restrained. The referee told Tyson’s corner he was being disqualified for biting, but the ruling was only announced publicly from the ring some 20 minutes later, with Holyfield declared still the WBA world heavyweight champion.

In post-bout interviews Tyson’s camp claimed the biting was in retaliation for Holyfield’s persistent and unpunished headbutting. Holyfield’s camp countered that Tyson deliberately sought disqualification instead of being knocked out, after their man dominated the first three rounds.

In light of outrage at Tyson’s behaviour in the ring, his boxing license was revoked indefinitely and he was fined $3m plus legal costs. He later got his license back but never regained the ferocious form of his early career and retired from the ring in 2006 after a series of defeats. In later years the two boxers, both now retired, reconciled and became close friends despite the bizarre events of what has gone down in boxing history as “The Bite Fight”.

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