Tyson Disqualified for Biting Holyfield's Ears - The New York Times The New York Times Sports |Tyson Disqualified for Biting Holyfield's Ears Search Tyson Disqualified for Biting Holyfield's Ears By TOM FRIEND Continue reading the main story Mike Tyson could not beat him, so he bit him. Tyson, the onetime heavyweight champion, was bleeding profusely from his right eye after a head butt in the second round, and his response was to literally try to rip off Evander Holyfield's ears with his teeth in the third round. Two points were deducted after the first bite of Holyfield's right ear, and a bloodied Holyfield turned his back on Tyson and howled in pain with 33 seconds left in the round. The referee, Mills Lane -- anointed referee only 24 hours before -- then disqualified Tyson after he bit the other ear in the final 10 seconds of the third round. Tyson's $30 million is being withheld pending an investigation by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Holyfield gets his $35 million immediately. ''He spit out his mouthpiece and bit me in the ear.

I breathed deep, came back out and he bit me again,'' said Holyfield, who won all three rounds and is obviously still the World Boxing Association champion. ''It doesn't show no courage to foul to get out of the fight,'' he said. ''Fear causes people to do the easy thing, the quickest thing.'' Advertisement Continue reading the main story Holyfield, who was taken to the hospital, added: ''I'm the man, and he can't handle me. This individual cannot handle that I did it before. He lost his cool.'' John Horne, Tyson's co-manager, said the bite was retaliation for the second-round head butt, but it was a rather vile act. ''He bit a hunk out of his ear and spit it on the floor,'' said Duane Ford, one of the judges at ringside. Tyson stood in a corner and explained his side. ''He butted me in the second round and he looked at me and butted me again,'' Tyson said. ''No one deducted points. This is my career. What am I supposed to do? I've got children to raise. ''He kept butting me. Holyfield is not a tough warrior. He got a little cut on his ear and he quit.

Holyfield didn't want to fight, regardless of what he did. Look at me. Look at me. I'll go home and my kids will be scared of me.'' A melee began as soon as the disqualification was announced, with Tyson charging Holyfield's corner and also taking a swing at a Las Vegas policeman who was trying to keep order. Lane said he had warned Tyson after the first bite, that he would disqualify Tyson if he tried it again, and he did again -- so it was over. But Holyfield was missing a portion of his right ear, and Tyson was booed vociferously as he left the arena. As he was leaving, a fan hurled a bottle toward Tyson, and Tyson, along with Horne and his other co-manager, Rory Holloway, attempted to climb into the stands. Policemen restrained them. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy There was angst from the beginning. There was a clinch 15 seconds into the fight, and Tyson took a quick glance at Lane for help.

Tyson threw a mountainous left hook then, and there was another tangle, and Lane brought them together for a conference. Tyson was taking wild swings, not necessarily boxing a technicians fight as his new trainer Richie Giachetti said he would. He did not jab, that is for sure. The clinching began again, and then Holyfield, at the tail of the first round, connected with big right to the chest and a left to the head. He said he was stronger, and he intended to show it. Holyfield then landed forceful rights to Tyson's body. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The ''Holyfield, Holyfield'' chants began in the last 10 seconds of the round, and Tyson had seemingly lost his opening round and the audience all at once. The second round began with Tyson almost charging Holyfield, but it was apparent right away that Tyson was cut over the right eye. It was ruled a head butt, an inadvertent one, and no points appeared to be taken away from Holyfield. But the upper corner of Tyson's eye was sliced and it was wide enough that Tyson thumbed at it.

Holyfield threw two rights to Tyson's face, although Tyson retaliated with his own right, but no damage was done. The fight's doctor, Skip Homansky, studied Tyson's eye between rounds, and Tyson entered the third round forgetting to put in his mouthpiece. Holyfield pointed at him to do so --the gentleman -- and Tyson repaid him by trying to bite his ear. He was landing a flurry of huge left hooks at the time, and the crowd began a ''Tyson, Tyson'' chant, and then in clinches, Tyson used an elbow to Holyfield's jaw. A Tyson combination also scored, and this was Tyson's best round. He landed a large right in the last minute, and then began jabbing. Tyson then bit him in right ear, and then when Holyfield hopped up and down in pain, Tyson shoved him in the back. Before the fight, Tyson could hear the gospel music seeping from Holyfield's locker room, and it is not clear if he asked him to turn it down. Holyfield was too busy singing to care. He was head-bobbing all right -- to the music -- and it was the same rhythmic dance he did prior to their first bout.

Holyfield is so spiritual, he had no apparent butterflies, but, on the surface, he was almost too serene. Tyson, on the other hand, was listening to rap -- on a stereo and from a man in his camp (known as Crocodile) who shouts, ''Guerrilla warfare'' repetitively. Mills Lane, the referee who replaced the deposed Mitch Halpern in the 11th hour, had no locker room to go to, so he loitered by the ring. He had been telephoned at 8 a.m. Friday morning in Reno, Nev. and was to officiate the fight, and he obliged, of course. Not that he was dying to be here. ''Every day in Reno is better than my best day in Las Vegas,'' Lane said. ''Regardless of all he did, he had butted me for two fights,'' Tyson said. ''I addressed it in the ring.'' SLAM! BOXING: Tyson vs. Holyfield Full story Fight bites into MGM earnings LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Mike Tyson's bite of Evander Holyfield's ears also bit into MGM Grand Inc.'s potential earnings for the latest quarter.

The casino company said Thursday it had record earnings for the quarter ending June 30, but would have done even better if it weren't for the way the heavyweight title fight ended. A bit part for Tyson By ROB LONGLEY -- Toronto Sun TSN plans to add some biting commentary to its re-broadcast tonight of the controversial Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield bout. The network has a two-hour show - airing at 7:30 p.m. - which will include the June 28 bout in its entirety plus features. A panel including boxing expert Russ Amber, The Globe and Mail's Stephen Brunt and TSN's Gord Miller will discuss the fight and its implications on the heavyweight division. Full story Coach offers to 'help' Tyson MOTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) <> Legendary Grambling football coach Eddie Robinson has offered to help Mike Tyson get his life straightened out. Speaking at the Southwestern Athletic Conference media day, Robinson said he was deeply disturbed to see Tyson bite off a chunk of Evander Holyfield's ear during the notorious June 28 heavyweight bout. TYSON PENALTY APPROPRIATE: SLAM! READERS We asked, SLAM! Readers responded.

540 people agreed with the decision of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. 154 people did not agree with the decision. PLUS THESE HEADLINES: #RememberWhensdays: Mike Tyson bites off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear — The Undefeated Email When boxers Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield pummeled each other with punches for the first time on Nov. 9, 1996, they did so for a fight that was billed with the tagline “Finally” during its promotion. It was a bout that had been scheduled as far back as 1990. And after Holyfield snatched one of the more jarring upsets in the history of the sport, a rematch was inevitable. That rematch, fought on June 28, 1997, was promoted as “The Sound and The Fury,” and rightfully so. After all, both men were beasts. Holyfield carried a 33-3-0 record into the ring, Tyson, a cool 45-2. The difference? Holyfield knocked out a respectful 24 of his opponents. Tyson? He coldcocked 39 of his. He was just more lethal.

Yet, by the end of rematch, the talk wouldn’t be about boxing, but biting. The fight might have been sold one way, but it’s remembered forever differently as “The Bite Fight.” It started with a head-butt. Not the fight itself, but Tyson’s unwavering rage. In the second round, Holyfield’s head crashed into Tyson’s, opening up a cut above Tyson’s right eye, but the referee ruled it accidental. “He butted me in the second round and he butted me again,” Tyson said following the fight. “He kept butting me and nobody would help me. This is my career. What am I supposed to do? I’ve got children to raise.” When the third round began, Holyfield spotting something odd: Tyson was missing his mouthpiece. He was ordered to retrieve it and pop it back in, but his motives had already been revealed. With 40 seconds left in the round, the two men clutched onto each other after exchanging strikes. Holyfield buried his head into Tyson’s shoulder, trying to rest for just a beat. Tyson turned his head, opened his mouth and clamped down on Holyfield’s ear, twisting and jerking his head.

A close-up of the injury to the right ear of Evander Holyfield of the USA after Mike Tyson Of the USA bit off a piece of it in the third round of their World Heavweight title fight on June 28, 1997 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images Tyson spit out a chunk of earlobe and grinned maniacally. Holyfield spun around furiously, screaming and in complete disbelief. When he turned his back, Tyson’s grin faded into a growl and he charged forward, punching Holyfield in the back. Why not? Referee Mills Lane initially wanted to disqualify Tyson, but after the ringside doctor determined that Holyfield was able to keep fighting, Lane announced he would be deducting two points from Tyson and the brawl would go on, missing ear chunk and all. In the final 10 seconds of the third round, Tyson and Holyfield locked into a clinch once more and, yet again, Tyson bit. That was enough for Lane, who disqualified Tyson, something that would ultimately cost the man his boxing license and a $3 million fine. An enraged Tyson berated Holyfield and his corner.

Security swarmed and Tyson tried punching them, too. One fan threw a rolled-up piece of paper at Lane. When Tyson tried ramming into Holyfield again, he bowled over a police officer. And when he finally tried to leave the ring, things got even worse. As the New York Daily News wrote that night: As Tyson … left the ring he made obscene gestures to enraged spectators, grabbing his crotch and pointing fingers. He walked through the crowd toward the dressing rooms in the back of the arena when a plastic bottle filled with mineral water hit a spectator. Tyson, according to several eyewitnesses with cameras, then jumped into the stands, knocking over temporary railings and swinging at customers, trying to reach the alleged bottle-thrower, who was later arrested. “It’s the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen in all my years of boxing,” Holyfield’s trainer, Don Turner, told the New York Daily News about the bite. Eventually, Holyfield publicly forgave Tyson, when the two appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2009. By 2013, nearly 16 years after The Bite Fight, Holyfield and Tyson completely buried the moment and became friends.

The two men stood elbow-to-elbow at an event promoting Holyfield’s barbecue sauce. A photo posted by Mike Tyson (@miketyson) on Sep 3, 2012 at 4:35pm PDT Still, the best and most full-circle moment between the two former boxers happened in August 2014 when Holyfield was inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame. Out came Holyfield’s buddy to introduce him to the crowd, calling him “one of the greatest fighters in the history of the world.” It was high praise coming from Tyson. Ryan Cortes is a staff writer for The Undefeated. Lemon pepper his wings. The Bonus:An oral history of the infamous 1997 Holyfield-Tyson 'bite fight' | SI.com An oral history of the infamous 1997 Holyfield-Tyson 'bite fight' Share Scott Tinley Friday June 29th, 2012 On June 28, 1997, Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield fought in Las Vegas in one of the most anticipated rematches in heavyweight boxing history.

Holyfield was the defending world champion after he had shocked Tyson seven months earlier in an 11th-round knockout. The two had wildly divergent personalities and were categorically different fighters. Holyfield was a warrior and a strategist; Tyson was a fearsome brawler. The events that followed remain some of the most inexplicable, bizarre and disturbing moments in a sport well-accustomed to pandemonium. For several weeks after Tyson bit off a piece of Holyfield's ear and was disqualified (Tyson actually bit Holyfield twice; he was only penalized after the first bite), the world focused on the controversy. Now 15 years later, questions still remain. What drove Mike Tyson to bite Evander Holyfield? And, perhaps more importantly: How did "The Bite Fight" affect boxing? (Note: Holyfield declined numerous requests to be interviewed for this story.) First, it's important to start with the first Tyson-Holyfield fight. In the four bouts since his release from prison in March 1995, Tyson knocked out all four opponents he faced in a combined time of 18:40.

In the two years before he fought Tyson, Holyfield lost to Michael Moorer in his last title fight, was knocked out by Riddick Bowe, and had most recently struggled in his fifth-round knockout of the aging Bobby Czyz. Tyson had a career record of 45-1; Holyfield had lost two of his last four fights. Holyfield opened as a 25-1 underdog and closed at 15-2. Tyson and Holyfield met for the WBA title in Las Vegas. Mike Tyson: Before I fought Evander, I had just knocked out Bruce Seldon for the WBC/WBA title after I had just gotten out of jail. I hadn't been out of jail for more than a year. But I was fortunate enough to win a couple of fights and a couple of belts when I came back. Jimmy Lennon, ring announcer for both fights: The first fight was called "Finally" because this was a fight that was in the making for so many years. This was finally going to happen, but there were a lot of people that were concerned about Holyfield getting hurt. I remember sitting ringside right before the fight and there were some Showtime executives nearby.

I overheard them talking not just about the quality of the fight, but they were really seriously concerned about Holyfield's health. Dino Duva, Holyfield's former promoter: The general public and most of the boxing industry and media thought it would be a massacre for Tyson. There was a feeling that Evander had gotten worse. There were some questions of whether he should even be fighting because there was the incident a couple years ago when he fought Michael Moorer and there were some supposed medical issues after the fight. Evander was rushed to the hospital after that fight and apparently doctors found some issues with his heart. SI VAULT: Richard Hoffer's cover story from the fight PHOTO GALLERY: Pictures from Tyson-Holyfield II Don King, promoter for both fights: It was a tough fight to make because of the idiosyncrasies between the two guys. Each had a different perspective on why the fight should or should not be made. The other was saying that they wouldn't fight. There were a lot of ghosts and apparitions that would cause for more negotiations. Tyson: I knew I wasn't in any kind of condition because I didn't have enough time to get prepared. I really hadn't been active for four years.

I was greedy and I wanted the money so I took the fight. Kevin Iole, former boxing writer at the Las Vegas Review-Journal , now with Yahoo!: It struck me how confident Holyfield was. He was a massive underdog, but he didn't believe anything anybody said. You look back and it's not surprising because that is how Holyfield has always been, but back then at the times it was shocking. Tyson was at his heyday at that point. There were people that feared for Evander's safety, but Evander had placidity and confidence that was amazing. I was tempted to pick him, but I didn't have the courage to. Marc Ratner, former executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission: We took a chance by putting in a referee that the public had not seen. It was not Mills Lane or Richard Steele. It was [the late] Mitch Halpern. Mitch had done about 35 title fights, but the public didn't really know him. This is one of the biggest fights in boxing history and we put a relative unknown in. He did a magnificent job.

Tommy Brooks, Holyfield's former trainer: We had a guy named Gary Bell who was so much like Mike Tyson it was unreal. We kept sending Gary at Evander because when the bell rings [Tyson is] right on top of you. So we had Gary going right at Evander. It the first couple of weeks [of training] it wasn't looking pretty. Holyfield couldn't get in the swing of things. Eventually, he got it. Teddy Atlas, trainer/ ESPN Friday Night Fights: I think that fight started and ended in the first round. Tyson did what he had done to fighters in the past and hit [Holyfield] late. He did it to make things easier. People that are weak want to make things as easy as possible. [Tyson] doesn't have the capacity to deal with things when they aren't as easy as possible. He pushed the borders by hitting him after the bell. Holyfield took the shot and hit him right back. He didn't have to use words, he told [Tyson] in his behavior and in his posture, that ain't workin' tonight, you're in there with a real man tonight. You're not going to get a free pass tonight.

Cheap shots aren't enough; you better be enough, and if you don't have that, you won't be enough. Atlas: We made (Tyson) into a demigod; we made him into a monster. I always thought that he was a monster as long as you allowed him to act like a monster. When you stood up to a monster it wasn't a monster anymore. We didn't know what Tyson wasn't. Tyson : I still believe that I could have beaten him. I know that I'm using my conditioning as an excuse, but I still believe that I could have beaten him. I was in jail for four years and he was out fighting for four years. Regardless of losing or not, he was fighting, he was sharp. He never got stale. Atlas: The greatest talent of Tyson was not his left or his right, it was his ability to look, hold on, embrace and take advantage of somebody else's weakness. When your best talent is thriving on weakness to be strong, you have a problem. By the end, he was a game quitter: a guy that doesn't allow himself to fall down, but not to fight back. He takes punishment but with the hope of getting out of there.

That's a game quitter. He can't overrun him with power, he can't intimidate him. Now he's got a real situation on his hands. Tyson: He was butting me a lot that night, and I [momentarily] blacked out a lot in the first fight. At that point, I really can't defend myself. I was taking a tremendous amount of heavy arm punches because I don't know where the hell I am at. He's not hurting me because I can hear the punches, but I can't get myself together. He had me off-balance. Boom! Boom! Boom! Then I'd reset, Pow! Pow! Pow! He rings my bell again. Boom! My bell is rung. King: Everybody was shocked. It was a shock to the world when he came out and beat Tyson. He knew how to use every part of his body. He was a magician like Siegfried and Roy. Now you see me and now you don't. He was fearless. It was an amazing thing. Tyson: I went 11 rounds and took a beating with a 3 1/2-, 4-year layoff.

Imagine if he fought me that type of layoff and I was at the top of my game. That's what happened with the great Larry Holmes when he tried that with me, right? That's what happens when you go up against a champion and you are not prepared. If you don't put the work in for a consistent amount of time, you are not going to perform with the same magnitude that you once did. Dubbed "The Sound and the Fury", the rematch was arguably the biggest heavyweight title fight of the decade. Don King spiced up the weigh-in with a memorable introduction, celebrities poured in to the MGM Grand by the dozens and scalpers sold tickets for as much as $12,000 apiece. The world focused on this fight. Nobody could envision its ultimately shocking conclusion. Jim Gray, Showtime ringside reporter: When Tyson first lost to Buster Douglas, people said he lost because he was out of shape, because he was in Tokyo, because it was a throwaway fight, and that the count was bad. There were 40 issues from that fight. So everybody kind of blew off the Douglas fight. Nobody expected that Tyson would lose to Holyfield.

So when he lost to Holyfield, the rematch was being built up back in the days of the Ali fights. It had commanded that kind of attention. King: Going into the first fight, they were two gladiators going into the center of the ring with a mutual respect. The second time, there wasn't any. It was total acrimony. Tyson now is lean and mean. That fight had a lot of activity and back and forth with the acrimony and vilification that was taking place. It was a tough scuffle to keep them from fighting before they got in the ring. Ratner: The commission thought that Mitch [Halpern] did a real good job so we put him in the second fight. Well, once we announced that Mitch was going to be the ref again, the Tyson camp vociferously complained and wanted a different ref. They had an emergency meeting of the athletic commission and there was no reason to take Mitch out. The commission decided to keep Mitch in. Steve Albert, Showtime play-by-play announcer for both fights: Tyson had his issues with Mitch as a result of what happened in the first fight because Tyson thought that he was repeatedly fouled with Holyfield's head-butting and holding.

That probably wasn't far from the truth. Bobby Czyz, former Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight Champion/ Showtime color commentator: [Holyfield] did it regularly. He did it in the first fight. He did it against me. He elbowed me and butted me. It's part of his way. He comes in and does it slick. We know the game. Evander Holyfield uses his elbows, forearms and whatever he need to do to win. King: Tyson complained that Evander had three arms. He said Evander could use his head better than anybody in the business. [Tyson] felt he could use it as a third fist or third arm. That's what his complaint was to me so we expressed that to everybody, and wanted to get back together again so that would be curtailed. It would be more of a level playing field because Holyfield had magnificent structure in his body, always well-conditioned, and he had awesome power of control on his body that he could move himself from harm's way. That was the biggest obstacle going on at that time. Ratner: Mitch to his credit didn't want to be the focal point of this fight and turned it down.

That is how Mills Lane became the ref. Lane was a real character in his own way, a law and order type referee, a judge in real life. If Tyson didn't want Mitch, [Holyfield's] camp certainly didn't want Mills Lane. They wanted Richard Steele. But Mills got the assignment. Atlas: The day of the fight, [late New York Daily News boxing writer] Jack Newfield was having his garden party. All these people that like to pool their head around boxing. It was getting closer to the fight. I said I don't want to stay, Jack. I don't want to watch this guy. I'll watch it privately at home. I don't want to talk to anybody about this guy. Jack asks "Teddy what do you think is gonna happen?" I said "I think Tyson is going to find a way to get disqualified." Ratner: I remember walking into the MGM that day. I could barely get through the crowd, and this wasn't even a crowd going to the fight! They were just hanging around. They were there for whatever reasons. It was an uneasy feeling of this crowd of people not getting in. Iole: The atmosphere was really charged. It was electric.

Don Turner, Holyfield's former trainer: We trained the same way because we knew that Tyson wasn't going to change because he had the same people in the corner. He only knew one way. Tyson: I prepared extremely hard for the second fight. He was butting me, but he did it so magnificently in the first fight that I didn't realize it. Chuck Giampa, judge for the second fight: I always tried to capture that moment, especially when Mills Lane did a fight, when all the hoopla is down. Mills would clear the ring and it's just the two fighters. It's the moment of truth. Iole: The first round started off very similarly to the first fight. In the second round, Tyson did better. It was a much better round. You had a sense that he went to a corner in the second round and it appeared to be a fight. Czyz: There were some flashes of brilliance by both. To this day, I wish that bite never happened. I wanted to see it go. I was excited about it. I assumed that Evander came ready to fight like he did the first time. That wasn't going to change.

But I thought that the second time that Mike would be prepared. This time Mike knew what to expect. He trained and he knew this was not going to be a 3-4 round blowout. So I was of the mindset that this should be a good long fight. Lennon: It was a really dirty and rough fight. There was everything from Round 1 on. There were head-butts, low blows, a lot of grabbing and wrestling, pushing and shoving. It was just a rough fight. But in the fight itself you could see that Holyfield was picking up from where he left off in his last fight and Tyson was getting more and more frustrated. Don Stradley, longtime contributor for The Ring: At the time [Tyson] was talking about the butts, but nobody wanted to hear it. As some years went by and everybody started noticing that Holyfield does use his head, they started looking back at that fight and realizing that maybe there was some head-butting going on. Czyz: Winning is what you need to do at all costs. And then after the fight [Holyfield] praises God so he looks like a great guy even if he forearmed and head-butted you in the eye.

You look at the fight and watch some of the clips, he gets inside, he gets his head down and he does head-butt, he does elbow, he does use his forearm, he does use the inside of the gloves and use his face. He uses everything he has, and against Mike Tyson, I probably would too. Rich Giachetti, Tyson's trainer for the second fight: [Mike] knocked out two different sparring partners in Florida when he didn't even mean to. He was in such good shape that when he hit the guys he'd do everything right and he'd knock these guys out. We were ready. Suddenly he gets butted and cut his eye in the first round. A cut heals from the inside out, so it wasn't healed up. Gray: His eye was bleeding really badly. He had suffered a terrible, terrible head-butt. I didn't think of [the bite] at the time as being retribution. I kept thinking that this fight can't go on long; perhaps he is going to do something to disable Holyfield because he's not going to be able to continue. Lennon: It was clear that Tyson was getting beat and Holyfield was not going to be bullied in this fight.

There was a lot of frustration on Tyson's part. You could see he felt he wasn't getting justice. He was complaining to the referee about getting head-butts and low blows. The ref didn't see the low blows and a lot of people didn't see the low blows. And then the head-butts, Mills Lane ruled it an unintentional head-butt and correctly so, but Tyson wanted more. He didn't like how this fight was unfolding. Tyson: I prepared extremely hard for the second fight. I realized in the first and second rounds of that fight I was blacking out and feeling dizzy like I was in the first fight. After that first fight, I said I am going to get in the best shape of my life. And then it was happening again. I started freaking out. I wasn't getting any help from the referee. (Holyfield) must have butted me 15 times. Iole: I see them fighting inside and their heads are against each other. That isn't unusual, sometimes guys fight inside. Suddenly, I see Holyfield jumping up and down. I thought Tyson might have hit him low. Lennon: When Holyfield leapt up into the air, that struck me.

I'll never forget that image. Fighters want to keep their feet on the ground at all times, and suddenly Holyfield is jumping up in the air? I had no clue what happened. Gray: Well, I saw the first ear bite and I couldn't believe it. I thought about that for a second. He bit his ear. Holyfield reacted, and then Mills Lane reacted. Tyson kind of lifted his arms as if to say "Who? Me? What?" Brooks: When he came back to the corner, I saw blood running down the side of his head and thought "what the heck?" Evander was saying "He bit me, man! He bit me!" Ratner: Mills came over and said he bit him and that he was going to disqualify him. As an aside, I was an NCAA football official. When you want to eject somebody, the ref will always ask "are you sure you want to do this?" He'll give you a second to think about it to make sure you don't get caught up in the heat of the moment. That was the first thing that came to my mind when Mills said he wanted to DQ him. I asked "are you sure you want to do this?

You want to disqualify him?" And then he said, let's get Dr. Homansky to take a look. Dr. Homansky said that he was OK to go. Giampa: My seat happened to be closest to Holyfield's corner. I remember his trainers going crazy saying "he bit him!" Holyfield immediately blocked out everything and I saw him just moving his lips like he was meditating or praying. He got back in the zone. He was ready to get back into the fight. Ratner: What I wonder to this day is that if Tyson somehow would have knocked Holyfield out, not only would have the course of boxing history have been changed, but the course of my life. I would have been the one that would have said in essence to not disqualify him. Atlas: I remember yelling to my wife "He's gonna bite him!" "He's gonna DQ himself!" you see Holyfield jumping. "He bit him!" Who would have thought that was it? Nobody could comprehend that he just bit his ear off? You could guess but you can't guess that. He's getting out of the fight. A little while later it's clear. For me, that's it.

That's how you put it together. That's the puzzle. Tyson: I was desperate at that particular moment. I was desperate. I was blacking out. I didn't know what to do. King: You have to understand the frustration of Tyson. Tyson said he was being butted and he couldn't appeal to anybody to get any type of help so he took it upon himself to bite the man. On Holyfield's part, it's a normal thing of going on with his business. Maybe he doesn't even realize that he's doing what he is doing whatever it is. He's out to win. He's in it to win it and you can't quit. You have to be able to go with what he has to offer. Nobody really knows if it was by calculation and design. Only Holyfield knows that. With Tyson, it was frustration and exasperation that exploded. It came to that one drop of water that makes the cup overflow. Giachetti: He lost it because he thought he was going to lose again. He felt like he was going to lose his pride and everything. Rage is all he had in him. It was a tragedy. I never expected anything like that.

Lennon: Here's how I remember that there was a second bite. I remember distinctly that the round ended and his trainer Don Turner stepped through the ropes and very calmly walked across the ring and taped Mills Lane on the back. I assume he said that he bit him again. Lane didn't see it either. Turner brought Lane over, observed the second bite on the other ear and then the fight was called at that point. Gray: You could never think that there would be anything more outrageous that would occur with until this. I never considered myself as one who would someday interview Jeffrey Dahmer. Iole: There were the angry Tyson fans, they lost control of their emotions because Mike lost control of his emotions. It was dangerous in the crowd. Holyfield's fans were jeering. Fights were breaking out throughout the stands and fans were throwing things toward the ring. It was really bad. It was a scary time. Nigel Collins, ESPN Friday Night Fights/Former editor at The Ring : I think what I remember most, what stands out for me more than anything else, was when Tyson left the ring he was walking back to the dressing room -- you have to go through a corridor where the bleachers are.

As he was walking in that area, fans were leaning over and throwing drinks at him and other objects. Tyson was enraged and actually tried to climb up the side of the bleachers to get to the fan and had to be pulled down by some of his men. That was an indication of how far off of the rails that it got. Tyson: I was doing my prima donna s---. F you and this and that and F you this is about my children. F you I want to fight you again. Lennon: Bedlam broke out. There is mayhem in the ring. It was dodgy. My next memory of that was how long it was before I was given the OK to announce the decision. It was 10-12 minutes later before I was given the signal. I remember a lot of the writers, commentators and so forth still asking what's happening. We don't know and it's been 10 minutes! Giachetti: It was tragic. I went and spoke to him afterward to try and ask him what happened. He told me it was like fighting in a street fight. He didn't plan it. It was just a rage thing that happened.

I told him he was in shape and that he could have finished the guy off. He was afraid with his eye bleeding that they'd stop the fight. Mitch Libonati, MGM Event Management: Eventually both fighters headed to their dressing rooms and that's when we were getting up into the ring. I remember the guys saying that it might be there. It was center-ring off to the left, and there was a piece on the ground. I said I'm going to grab this thing. I have my latex gloves on and I picked it up, put it in another latex glove and I took it to the locker room. Brooks: I went back out and somebody had found a piece of his ear and gave it to me. I brought it to the locker room. We put it on ice and eventually tried to put it back on. I have no idea what happened to it afterward. Libonati: I knocked on the door, I was a young kid and I was a huge fight fan. I came to the door and I said I think I have something of Evander's. He kind of just looked at me like "are you kidding me?", and I told him I've got the ear inside this latex glove.

They looked at me like "holy crap!" They took it out of my hands and I was told it was put on ice. Turner: Tyson bit the ear because he was looking for a way out. Plain and simple. He didn't think he could beat Evander Holyfield. So if he could get disqualified it wouldn't be a loss on his record. The fight sent shock waves through the boxing world. Shots were reported at the MGM Grand after the fight (it is now believed to have been a champagne cork), and the fight became instant front page news. The state of Nevada would end up fining Tyson $3 million and suspending his license. Though Tyson suffered one of the harshest financial penalties in sports history, there were cries to ban Tyson for life. The headline of Sports Illustrated read "Madman!"; The Hollywood Wax Museum moved its statue of Tyson from its Sports Hall of Fame to its "Chamber of Horrors" and next to Hannibal Lecter.

In her article, "Defending Tyson," author Katherine Dunn said "the press could scarcely be more inflamed if the guy had reached up Holyfield's rectum and ripped out his heart in front of the TV." Tyson never won another major fight in his career, while Holyfield would compete in high profile title bouts against Lennox Lewis and John Ruiz. The fight still resonates within the boxing community 15 years later. Ratner: In the days following, it was absolute bedlam. This was not a sports page story; it was a front-page story. When that happens, it isn't just press. You have TV, morning shows, late night shows. Everything gets exacerbated even more. I remember when we had the hearing. It was at the City Hall downtown. It looked like one an antenna farm, all the trucks with all the antennas. They had to close streets down around the city. We ended up fining him $3 million and took a year out of his life. Stradley: At the time [Tyson] was talking about the butts, but nobody wanted to hear it.

As some years went by, and everybody started noticing that Holyfield does use his head, they started looking back at that fight and realizing that maybe there was some butting going on. The media jumped all over Tyson, the media wanted a bad guy and they got a bad guy. The media just went way overboard. They made it like the darkest day in American history. Czyz: Look, Mike Tyson lost his mind. People say he's an animal. A piece of him is, but a piece of us all are in the fight game. I've said many times that you can't understand the pressure of a world championship fight. In fractions of a second, punches are whizzing past your head at 80-90 miles per hour. Some of them can take your head off. If I knew the very next punch I threw would kill the guy or I lost, that guy is going to die. It's an enormous amount of pressure especially in a title fight when it's all or nothing. You can make some mistakes earlier in your career on the way up to the title fight, but when you're in the title fight, that's it. King: It was such an awesome event and so high profile.

Naturally it had an impact on boxing because from one perspective, it made boxing more interesting because it got much more play in the news than it would have had it been a knockout. That would have been tremendous in itself, but this kind of action in an ear-biting, it got tremendous exposure and media concern. ... You had a boxing turmoil, but it always kept boxing in the limelight. It was the act that took place, not the sport that caused that to take place. Stradley: The funny thing is that boxers have been biting each other for a long time. Holyfield admitted that he bit somebody when he was starting out boxing. I remember that Andrew Golota bit somebody. Renaldo Snipes bit Trevor Berbick in a fight. Just on ESPN a couple of years ago a guy was bitten. Biting goes on in boxing, but if you told somebody that in 1997 they didn't want to hear it and their eyes would glaze over. They would say that Tyson invented this. Collins: I worked for Ring/KO for 15 years, maybe longer. The only time during that span of time that the owner of the company had any editorial interest was after that fight.

Apparently he had a lot of people come over and watch the pay-per-view broadcast with him. They knew that he owned Boxing magazine. He was very, very upset. It was the only time he showed the slightest interest in boxing. Even people that didn't follow boxing seemed to be outraged at what happened Lennon: I felt pretty down after the fight. So down that so many causal and non-boxing fans saw something so strange and so absurd and disgraceful for the sport of boxing because that's not what boxing is about. It's about two boxers doing their best and then hugging and congratulating each other at the end no matter what. It was just the opposite of that. It was a caricature about what people don't like about boxing. It was such a horrible and violent, incorrect reflection on the sport. I really think we lost fans that night. I think it was not good for boxing. Stradley: Everybody remembers Tyson and nobody remembers Holyfield. About two or three years after the fight, people forgot Holyfield won the first one. All they remember was the bite. You would talk to people and they forgot that Holyfield knocked Tyson out. But they remember that bite. It was crazy.

In a way, it's like Tyson took back the spotlight. Albert: When I finally got back to my room, I remember putting my briefcase down and plopping down on the bed in total darkness, staring at the ceiling and wondering after what I had just seen if I wanted to continue calling fights. I was quite disgusted about the way things unfolded and I seriously questioned if I wanted to continue. As it wound up, I continued working 14 more years after the incident so I guess I had a change of heart. Stradley: If anything it marked the end of boxing in America in a way. Boxing still gets big audiences in Vegas, but there is a great disparity to what goes on in Vegas as opposed to the rest of the country. There are not many big shows anymore. Boxing tries to support itself on a couple big fights per year. That bite fight marked the end of an era. Some might say it happened sooner. That was the nail in the coffin, I guess. Ratner: [Boxing] is still one of the cherished sports. I mean it's the heavyweight championship of the world. It certainly hurt the sport. In a lot of ways it brought unwanted attention, but it became an iconic night.

And now we're talking about 15 years later and it is still talked about. Mike talks about it a lot in his one man show. Boxing is the most resilient sport of them all. This Pacquaio-Bradley controversy is simmering down now. It will be raised again if they every fight again. But that's boxing. Gray: It will always be remembered. It will always go down as is bite night at the fights. Mike Tyson, who at the time was regarded as one of the greatest heavyweights in the game, will always go down as the youngest heavyweight champion until somebody else does it. That he would have this happen, even for his improbable and impossible of a life he had, it just didn't seem like this would be in the realm. And it happened. Hard to believe it was 15 years ago. Tyson: At that particular moment I realized I was an undisciplined soldier, and that's what really bit me in the butt. It's never supposed to be personal and I took it personal. And that's when my career fell. I never took boxing personally before. I took it as a business and I was very successful.

Then, I took it personally and I wanted to be grand in what I was and I didn't respect the sport. I was all about me. More More Sports We've Got Apps Too Get expert analysis, unrivaled access, and the award-winning storytelling only SI can provide - from Peter King, Tom Verducci, Lee Jenkins, Seth Davis, and more - delivered straight to you, along with up-to-the-minute news and live scores. A clean presentation that helps you get everything you need to be in the know. Personalized Find the stories and scores that matter most to you. Fast Mike Tyson Bites Ear - Evander Holyfield - YouTube Mike Tyson Bites Ear - Evander Holyfield Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Published on Nov 21, 2013 Mike Tyson Bites Ear - Evander Holyfield Sport Videos Facebook : Rick Reilly: Mike Tyson in Vegas print Down the red carpet came the impersonator with the sewn-in hairline, the magician with the elevator shoes, the comic with the face so sutured it could be an artist's rendering -- even a man in a lime-green zoot suit carrying a faux-silver chalice made of rhinestones. All of them were there to see a Las Vegas act try something unheard of -- the truth. This was opening night for "Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth -- Live on Stage," his six-night, one-man, is-he-really-going-to-do-this? show at the MGM Grand. The mind reeled. Would the crowd be issued ear muffs? Would he release his pigeons? Would he eat your children? "I don't think so," guessed comedian George Lopez. "He's a vegan now." Instead, Tyson surprised them with medical-grade honesty. For two hours, it poured out of him like lava, raw and awful and sweet and funny and disgusting. He mangled words and got hopelessly lost and then found paths you'd hope he wouldn't.

And yet, if you liked comic tragedy, he had you at, "I'm Mike Tyson. I used to knock [expletives] OUT." Performing in The Hollywood Theater, the usual home of David Copperfield, Tyson magically turned the 740-seat venue into the world's largest confessional booth. Tales of psyche wards, hookers, robberies, beatings, pits of loneliness and zeniths of championships. He forgave on one hand and accused -- "Robin Givens used me" ... "I had no idea I was going to meet the devil (Don King)" -- with the other. He would celebrate his three years of sobriety one minute and then shout out to "my old cocaine buddies in the crowd" the next. You should've heard what he left out. "I didn't talk about getting a prison official pregnant," he told me for a "SportsCenter" interview after the Saturday show. Excuse me? You got a prison official pregnant, while you were IN prison? "Oh, yeah. In prison, stuff happens.

But she had no baby." He left out how he came to have a tattoo on his face, or how he rode $300 million straight into bankruptcy, or all the time he spent on a morphine drip, for the pleasure of it. "I just liked morphine," he told me, "but I had to take a lot of it because it didn't stay in your system for a long time. ... And I'd have my cocaine, and I had my marijuana, and I had my Cialis and Viagra and my little friends all sitting there. That's just how I lived my life." Ohh-kay, maybe he'll save those for the sequel. The original alone was enough to singe eyebrows. Working from a script mostly written by his wife, Kiki, based on years of his storytelling, standing on a spare stage with only a band, Iron Mike Tyson tried to explain what it was like to be lionized for his violence inside the ring and vilified for it outside. Remember when Tyson was on the cusp of being world champion under his Catskills mentor Cus D'Amato? Turns out he would return to his hometown of Brooklyn to rob people with his gang-banger friends.

"We were about to do this guy," he recalls, "but my friend, he had a .38 [revolver] in his belt, and he says to me, "Get the f--- outta here. Go back to them white people. Them white people love you. I wish I had some white people to love me.' That guy was dead a week later. I wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for him." Remember in 1997, when Tyson bit both of Evander Holyfield's ears, the beginning of the end? "They sent me to the Mayo psych clinic," he told the crowd. "A nuthouse. And there was this little white lady in there, looking at me. She looked like Thelma from Scooby Doo. She asked me why I was in and I said, 'Aw, these people think I'm crazy 'cause I bit a guy in a fight. But he wouldn't stop head-butting me!' She said, 'Oh, you was in a fight!' I was so grateful she said that.

She made me feel like a human being again." Remember when Tyson was arrested for cocaine possession after nearly ramming a parked sheriff's car in Scottsdale in 2006? He wasn't supposed to be. "The cops told me, 'Mike, we were gonna let you go, but you just came right at us!' I was driving right at them. They were going to shoot me! If I hadn't gone to rehab right then, I'd have been a dead (expletive)." It wasn't exactly Sinatra at the Sands. There were too many times you couldn't understand him, or he'd KO the language ("I had my mother's coffin resumed"), or he'd murder songs, turning the night into a kind of a Cirque du Sore Ears. But if you could abide all that, you were rewarded with gold nuggets. Did you know that as a boy, he saw his mother, Lorna, throw boiling water, cups of lye and hot coffee in the face of her boyfriend, and yet would see her get back with him the very next week? Did you know he was close friends with John F.

Kennedy Jr., and that he warned him not to take the light-aircraft flight that killed him in 1999? Did you know that before his infamous 1990 loss to 42-to-1 underdog Buster Douglas in Tokyo, he "smoked pot," "didn't take training too seriously" and went through "too many of them Japanese prostitutes"? "I shoulda won that fight," Tyson added. "That ref [Octavio Meyran] hated my guts. I knocked [Douglas] down in the eighth but that a--hole gave him 13 seconds to get up!" (Actually, Douglas was staring at the ref the whole time. OK, so not all the truths were undisputed.) It was a schizophrenic two shows I saw. He'd talk of moving on and then insist that 1992 rape victim Desiree Washington made it all up. He'd talk endlessly about his "mad-dog" hunger for boxing glory and yet he hardly spent two minutes on all of his fights, combined.

At one point, he confessed that he was terrified of failing and comedienne Rosie O'Donnell hollered out, "You're doing great, Mike!" If not great, then bravely. Broke boxers have forever been forced to find ways to make money. Joe Louis wrestled, Jake LaMotta did stand-up, and Mike Tyson copped. At $99 a ticket, it's a living. He seems happy. He is down 140 pounds from his self-described "fat cokehead" high of 370. And he's in a forgiving mood, of everybody but himself. "I'm all dressed up tonight," he said, open-palmed, "but I'm still an animal underneath." A Vegas show with an animal that could still bite? It'll sell. June 28, 1997: Mike Tyson bites off chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear in world title fight - BT June 28, 1997: Mike Tyson bites off chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear in world title fight Controversial boxer Mike Tyson shocked the boxing world when he bit heavyweight champion Holyfield on both ears during their WBA title fight in Las Vegas.

Print this story In what was to become arguably the most notorious and bizarre moment in boxing history, ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson bit a one-inch chunk from the right ear of his opponent, WBA world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, in the third round of their title fight in Las Vegas. To compound matters, after the fight resumed following a warning to Tyson, the former undisputed champion sank his teeth into Holyfield’s left ear, once again drawing blood, and leaving referee Mills Lane with no option but to disqualify him. The two men had fought for the first time seven months earlier, with underdog Holyfield wresting Tyson’s WBA crown from him with an impressive and dominant performance, stopping the New Yorker in the 11th round. In that fight, a headbutt by Holyfield, ruled accidental, had opened up a cut on Tyson’s eye and upset the shorter boxer, but after the bout Tyson told his vanquisher: “I have the greatest respect for you.” Despite this, Tyson’s camp had demanded a different referee for the rematch to ameliorate against what they felt was illegal use of the head by Holyfield.

In the second round of their rematch, another clash of heads again opened a cut above Tyson’s eye, clearly enraging him. As he came out for the third round, Holyfield was the first to notice that his opponent was not wearing his gumshield. Referee Lane sent Tyson back to his corner to retrieve it, but with 40 seconds of the round remaining the challenger would spit it out and launch his assault on Holyfield’s ear. Tyson was docked two points from his scorecard, but would then take a second bite at the champion and was disqualified. In a rage, he would try to attack Holyfield and his trainer in their corner (pictured above) but was prevented from doing so. On his way from the ring, Tyson would also attempt to attack a spectator who threw a bottle of water at him, before being restrained. The former champion would have his boxing license revoked, and would be fined $3 million plus legal costs as a result of his actions. What did you make of the ‘Bite Fight’? Was Tyson lucky to box again afterwards? Let us know in the Comments section below. Tyson vs Holyfield – Did you know?

Mike Tyson had been discovered by legendary boxing trainer Cus D’Amato, who became his legal guardian on the death of Tyson’s mother when he was 16. The young man made his professional debut two years later, and won his first 19 fights by knockout. He won the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title by knocking out Trevor Berbick in 1986 when he was just 20 years and four months old, making him the youngest world heavyweight champion ever. Tyson was tried and convicted of rape in 1992 and served three years of a six-year sentence, during which time he converted to Islam. Former Olympic bronze medallist Evander Holyfield won the undisputed world heavyweight title in 1990 by beating James ‘Buster’ Douglas – the man who had handed Tyson his first professional defeat. Holyfield was due to fight Tyson in late 1991, but the latter withdrew with a rib injury. After his incarceration, Tyson had defeated Frank Bruno to win the WBC title, but had relinquished the belt and taken the WBA title from Bruce Seldon before meeting Holyfield.

After the second fight between the two, Tyson and his corner would claim his actions were in retaliation to Holyfield’s unpunished headbutts. Though his license was revoked ‘permanently’, it would be returned to him a year later after an appeal. Holyfield claimed to have forgiven Tyson immediately, but Tyson would formally apologise on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2009. The men are now friends, and Tyson introduced Holyfield when the latter was inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014. Mike Tyson 'returns Evander Holyfield's ear' 16 years after infamous bite fight in Footlocker advert | Daily Mail Online comments It is considered one of the most famous sports scandals of all time, but is seems Mike Tyson has finally made full amends with Evander Holyfield – at least on screen. The imaginary scenario is played out in a Footlocker advert which sees Mike hand back Holyfield’s missing piece, explaining he ‘kept that in formaldehyde’. Mike Tyson was disqualified after the 1997 incident when he bit off the top of his opponent’s ear during their heavyweight world title fight.

VIDEO: Scroll down to watch Mike Tyson give Evander Holyfield his ear back Making amends: The Footlocker ad sees Mike Tyson return Evander Holyfield's ear with a remorseful look The commercial sees basketball player Kyrie Irving imagining that ‘all is right with the world’, going into a daydream featuring the legendary boxers. The dream shows Mike Tyson turning up at Evander Holyfield’s door, presenting him with a small box. ‘I’m sorry, Evander,’ Tyson says. ‘It’s your ear. ‘I kept that in formaldehyde.’ Surprise visit: Evander looks lost for words when he sees Tyson turning up at his door Keepsake: Mike Tyson apologies and explains that he has kept Evander Holyfield's ear in formaldehyde Back where it belongs: Evander reaches out to take the 'ear' which has been missing since the 1997 match Since reuniting on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2009, 12 years after the ear-biting fight, the pair have rekindled their 90s friendship. Last year they famously exchanged quips about the incident on Twitter as Holyfield began promoting his Real Deal BBQ Sauce.

Holyfield posted: ‘My realdealbbqsauce.com will make you take a bite out of someone's ear! Ask Mike Tyson – Luv ya bro!’ Reunited: Evander seems moved by Mike's gesture Friends again: The former foes embrace, putting all their differences behind them at last In support of his buddy, Tyson responded: Holyfield's ear would've been much better with his new BBQ sauce.’ When the two heavyweights met earlier this year at a promotional event for Holyfield’s barbeque sauce Tyson said‘I just wanted to see Evander, man. I love Evander. I'm forever linked with him for the rest of my life.’ The Footlocker commercial also features staff and travellers in an airport cheering as Dennis Rodman books a one-way ticket to North Korea. Famous fight: Mike Tyson bites off the top of Evander Holyfield's ear during their 1997 fight

Question: Whose ear did Mike Tyson bite in Las Vegas 1997?
Answer: Evander Holyfield