June 28, 1997: Mike Tyson Bites Evander Holyfield's Ears

June 28, 1997: Evander Holyfield defends the Heavyweight Championship of the World against Mike Tyson. He puts his heart into it. And another body part that he didn't expect.

"Iron Mike," then the Champion, and "The Real Deal," then the Number 1 contender, were supposed to fight for the title on October 25, 1990. But in a warmup fight, Tyson got knocked out by James "Buster" Douglas, one of the greatest upsets in boxing history. So Holyfield fought Douglas on that date.

After Holyfield won that fight, they tried a 2nd time to set up a fight between Holyfield and Tyson, but Tyson went to prison. By the time he got out, Holyfield had lost the title to Riddick Bowe. And regained it from Bowe. And lost it to Michael Moorer. The title was once again splintered among the various governing bodies. In 1995, released from prison, Tyson regained the WBA version of the title. Meanwhile, Holyfield fought Bowe a 3rd time, without either man holding any piece of the title, and lost.

But Holyfield got another shot at the title, facing Tyson on November 9, 1996, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on the Las Vegas Strip. (Like most of the major Vegas casinos, it's actually outside the city limits of Las Vegas, in Paradise, Nevada.) The fight was billed as "Finally." Tyson, 45-1, was heavily favored, but Holyfield, 32-3, beat the hell out of him, knocking him down in the 10th round. In the 11th, referee Mitch Halpern stopped the fight.

There had to be a rematch, and it would also be at the MGM Grand. This time, after Tyson's camp refused to have Halpern officiate again, the referee was Mills Lane, a former boxer himself, and a Judge in nearby Washoe County, Nevada.

Holyfield dominated the 1st round. Early in the 2nd round, Holyfield ducked a Tyson punch, resulting in him, apparently, head-butting Tyson. Tyson had complained about Holyfield's head-butts in the 1st fight, and now, he just plain lost his cool. At the start of the 3rd round, Tyson came out without his mouthpiece. Lane noticed this, and told him to get back in his corner and put the mouthpiece in. He did.

Holyfield dominated this round as well. With 40 seconds left in the round, the fighters clinched and Tyson... reached around and bit Holyfield on the right ear, tearing a piece of it off, and spitting it onto the ring floor.

Holyfield jumped in pain. Lane saw it, and had the timekeeper stop the clock. Holyfield started back for his corner, thinking Lane had already disqualified Tyson. He hadn't. And Tyson blindsided Holyfield with a shove. Lane sent Tyson to a neutral corner, and looked at the bleeding ear.

Lane decided the fight would continue, but he deducted 2 points from Tyson, and restarted the fight. There was another clinch, and, this time, Tyson bit Holyfield's left ear. This one wasn't nearly as damaging, but, given that it happened after the first bite, it was even more blatant.

Lane stopped the fight, and disqualified Tyson. Tyson and his men rushed Holyfield's corner, but security officers were able to prevent a much bigger fight.

I thought the media missed the obvious headline: "TYSON'S MIDNIGHT SNACK!" I had forgotten that the fight was in Las Vegas, thus there was a 3-hour time difference, so it was around 9:15 PM, not 12:15 AM. Instead, the headlines were things like "HEAVYWEIGHT CHOMP," "BITE OF THE CENTURY," and "EARMARKED."

Tyson did it for the same reason that Sonny Liston had liniment put on his gloves, to try to blind Muhammad Ali in their 1st fight in 1964: Because he was getting his head handed to him.

In the coming days, Holyfield said he forgave Tyson. Tyson continued to complain about Holyfield's head-butts. Eventually, however, bygones were bygones. Like many other multi-fight rivalries -- Jack Dempsey & Gene Tunney, Joe Louis & Max Schmeling, Muhammad Ali & Joe Frazier -- they became friends. The professional respect overcame the momentary personal animus.

Holyfield held the title until 1999, when he was beaten by Lennox Lewis. He regained the WBA version of the title in 2000, by beating John Ruiz; then lost it to Ruiz 7 months later. Tyson got another shot in 2002, for the WBC and IBF titles held by Lewis, but Lewis ruined him, too.

*

June 28, 1997 was a Saturday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 12-8 at Yankee Stadium. David Wells had nothing, nor did his replacement, Kenny Rogers. Tino Martinez and Cecil Fielder hit home runs, and Derek Jeter went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs, to no avail.

* The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-1 at Turner Field in Atlanta.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Montreal Expos, 4-2 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 12-6 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 11-5 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-3 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants, 9-2 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 2-0 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the Network Associates Coliseum).

* And the Anaheim Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

March 13, 1999: Lewis-Holyfield I, a Heavyweight Debacle

March 13, 1999: Lennox Lewis, recognized as the Heavyweight Champion of the World by the World Boxing Commission (WBC), fights Evander Holyfield, recognized by the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the International Boxing Federation (IBF).

It turns out to be a disaster. As a result, it turns out to be, so far, the last major prizefight at Madison Square Garden, "The Mecca of Boxing."

Evander Holyfield had won the heavyweight title, as recognized by the World Boxing Association (WBA), the World Boxing Council (WBC), and the International Boxing Federation (IBF), by beating James "Buster" Douglas in 1990.

However, despite all 3 major organizations recognizing him as such, he was not the "undisputed" champion: People wanted to see him fight Mike Tyson, seeing Douglas' win over Tyson 8 months earlier as a fluke. They still thought of Tyson as "the real champion."

But Tyson had gone to prison for rape. In the meantime, Holyfield had lost the titles to Riddick Bowe, regained the WBA and IBF titles (but not the WBC title) from Bowe, then lost them to Michael Moorer -- who then lost them to 45-year-old former Champion George Foreman.

One thing led to another, and the titles were split again. Tyson got out of prison, and got the WBA title back. But Holyfield beat him twice, and was, again WBA Champion. Moorer regained the IBF title, and Holyfield beat him to regain it.

Lennox Lewis was born in London, and spent his teenage years in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. In 1993, he was awarded the WBC title because Bowe had refused to fight him. He lost the title to Oliver McCall. The title was vacated again, and in 1997, Lewis and McCall fought for it, and Lewis won it.

Both men were older than most Heavyweight Champions: Lewis was 33, Holyfield 36. Lewis went into the fight 34-1; Holyfield, 36-3.

The referee was Arthur Mercante Jr. His father, Arthur Mercante Sr., had officiated the 1st Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier fight at The Garden, also a unification bout, in 1971. He had also officiated in 1973, when George Foreman took the title from Frazier; and in 1960, when Floyd Patterson took the title back from Ingemar Johansson. Arthur Sr. was still alive, and in attendance.

It was generally agreed that Lewis dominated early, with Holyfield winning only Round 3 out of the 1st 5. Holyfield won Round 6, Lewis Round 7. Holyfield then took control, winning Rounds 8, 9, 10 and 11. But Lewis dominated the 12th and final round.

The television commentators expected Lewis to be named the winner by the judges. What followed stunned everybody. Stanley Christodoulou had Lewis a 116-113 winner on his card. But Eugenia Williams scored it 115-113 for Holyfield. And Larry O'Connell had it at 115-115, a flat-out draw.

By all rights, the points should have been totaled up, which would have made it 344-343, the slimmest of margins, for Lewis. But, under the rules, it was a "split draw," and each fighter kept his respective belts.

The Garden crowd booed. On HBO, Jim Lampley called it "a travesty," and Foreman called it "a shame." Boxing historian Steve Farhood, who had edited the magazines The Ring and KO, said, "I've been covering boxing 20 years. I would put this in the top 5 for the worst decisions I've seen." Roy Jones Jr., then the undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion, called it, "the type of thing that makes him not want to stay in boxing." Rudy Giuliani, then the Mayor of New York, was in attendance, and he agreed with Lampley's assessment, calling it "a shame."

A rematch was inevitable. On November 13, Lewis-Holyfield II was held at the Thomas & Mack Center outside Las Vegas. This time, there was no controversy: It went the full 12 rounds, but Lewis won a unanimous decision, becoming the undisputed Heavyweight Champion.

Lewis remained Champion until 2001, getting knocked out by Hasim Rahman. He took the title back by knocking Rahman out 7 months later, humiliated Tyson with an 8th-round knockout in Memphis in 2002, and knocked Vitali Klitschko out in the 6th round in Los Angeles on June 21, 2003. That was his final fight, and he retired as Champion, with a record of 41-2-1. He remains the last undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World.

*

March 13, 1999 was a Saturday. A few hours earlier, and 20 miles to the southwest of The Garden, the girls' basketball team from my Alma Mater, East Brunswick High School, defeated Columbia, the school representing South Orange and Maplewood in Essex County, 63-57, to win the State Group IV (large-enrollment schools) Championship at the Thomas G. Dunn Sports Center in Elizabeth. I was there.

There were 7 games in the NBA:

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Toronto Raptors, 86-75 at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum in Atlanta. The Hawks were playing here, on the Georgia Tech campus, at an arena now named the McCamish Pavilion, while what's now named the State Farm Arena was being built on the site of The Omni.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, 91-74 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 100-89 at The Summit in Houston. (That arena is now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets, 92-61 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 99-72 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 106-96 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

* And the Orlando Magic beat the Golden State Warriors, 87-74 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (then named The Arena in Oakland).

Major League Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. And there were 9 games played in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the NHL's oldest rivalry is played, and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1 at the Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre) in Montreal.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Washington Capitals, 5-4 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington. Valeri Bure scored the winning goal, with 1:29 left in overtime.

* The Florida Panthers beat their arch-rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, 1-0 at the National Car Rental Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Boston Bruins, 3-1 at the Marine Midland Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat their arch-rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-0 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-4 at the Kiel Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 1-0 at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Ottawa Senators, 3-2 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat Everton, 2-0 at Goodison Park in Liverpool.