July 22, 1991: Jeffrey Dahmer and Mike Tyson Are Arrested

July 22, 1991: Jeffrey Dahmer and Mike Tyson are arrested. Not at the same time, and not for the same thing, although Tyson did once (actually, twice) bite a man's ear.

Tyson had been Heavyweight Champion of the World until February 11, 1990, when he was knocked out by James "Buster" Douglas. When Douglas was subsequently knocked out by Evander Holyfield, an attempt was made to set up a fight between them. It was scheduled for November 8, 1991.

But Tyson was arrested in July 1991 for the rape of 18-year-old Desiree Washington at the Canterbury Hotel in Indianapolis. Washington, who had previously been crowned "Miss Black Rhode Island," was a contestant in the Miss Black America pageant, which was being held in Indianapolis. Tyson was convicted on February 10, 1992, and sentenced to 6 years in prison. He ended up serving 3.

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer was born on May 21, 1960 in Milwaukee, and grew up in the Cleveland suburb of Bath, Ohio. As a boy, he became fascinated with dead animals and collected their bones. As a teenager, he discovered that he was gay, and, thinking himself weak, began to develop fantasies where he would be stronger than his partners, killing them and even dissecting them like animals. He developed a drinking problem.

He committed his 1st murder in 1978, shortly after graduating from high school, in nearby Chippewa Lake Park. The following year, at his father's urging, he joined the U.S. Army, but he was discharged in 1981, due to his drinking.

Since his grandmother, who lived in the Milwaukee suburbs, was the only family member who seemed to respond well to him, his father sent him to live with her. Things seemed to go well until 1985, when a male coworker propositioned him. Although he didn't accept, it reawakened his repressed tendencies, and he immersed himself in Milwaukee's underground gay subculture. In 1987, at a hotel, he awoke from a drunken stupor to discover he had killed his partner, with no memory of having done so.

He began taking men home, drugging them, sometimes only having his way with them, sometimes also killing them. He did not always properly dispose of their remains, and, in 1988, complaining about the drinking, the strange men, and the strange smells, his grandmother threw him out. Shortly thereafter, he was arrested for molesting a teenage boy, and pleaded guilty, serving 10 months. But law enforcement was still unaware of the murders he had committed.

On July 22, 1991, with Dahmer having killed 17 victims, ranging in age from 14 to 32, an intended victim, Tracy Edwards, escaped from Dahmer's Milwaukee apartment, and flagged down a police car. The policemen found the knife under his bed, and arrested him.

On February 15, 1992, after hearing evidence of Dahmer's sadism, including storing body parts in his freezer for alleged later consumption -- but, contrary to popular belief, he was never accused of eating the flesh of his victims -- Dahmer was convicted on 15 counts of murder, and sentenced to life in prison, plus 10 years, for each of them. He later pleaded guilty to a 16th count.

He was sent to the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Columbia County, Wisconsin. By the time Mike Tyson got out of prison and started boxing again, Dahmer had left prison -- in a coffin. On November 28, 1994, inmate Christopher Scarver bludgeoned Dahmer and another inmate, Jesse Anderson, to death. Dahmer was 34 years old.

Tyson has since, sort of, been rehabilitated. Dahmer is still considered a monster.

*

July 22, 1991 was a Monday. These 4 Major League Baseball games were played:

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. John Smoltz outpitched former Brave Zane Smith. Barry Bonds went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Dan Pasqua hit a home run for the Pale Hose. Robin Yount did not play. Paul Molitor went 0-for-5.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 9-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* And the Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox, 2-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. José Guzmán outpitched Roger Clemens.

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.

The MGM Grand Garden Arena

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.

June 27, 1988: Mike Tyson Knocks Michael Spinks Out In 91 Seconds

June 27, 1988: A unification fight for the Heavyweight Championship of the World is held. The Kentucky Derby is often called "The Most Exciting Two Minutes In Sports." This fight could not be called that: It didn't make it to the 2-minute mark.

The 3 major organizations sanctioning boxing championships, then as now, were the World Boxing Association (WBA), the World Boxing Council (WBC), and the International Boxing Federation (IBF). All 3 of those belts were then held by Mike Tyson.

"Iron Mike" was 3 days short of his 22nd birthday, and, at 20, had broken the record of youngest Heavyweight Champion ever, taking the WBC title away from Trevor Berbick. In his next fight, he took the WBA title away from James "Bonecrusher" Smith. Finally, he took the IBF title away from Tony Tucker. He was 34-0, with 30 knockouts, 25 of them going 4 rounds or fewer, 21 going 2 rounds or fewer, and 15 of them in the 1st round.

Boxing hadn't seen a quick-knockout artist like him since Jack Dempsey in the early 1920s. Tyson patterned himself after Dempsey, wearing no socks under his boots, and no robe over his shoulders, just a towel. He called himself "The Baddest Man On the Planet," and it was hard to doubt him.

But there's a reason it was a fight for "the undisputed Heavyweight Championship of the World." Because the title was disputed. The reason there were 3 organizations to begin with is because of Muhammad Ali getting stripped of the title in 1967. Even after he got it back, these 3 governing bodies would recognize their own champions once he was, once again, no longer the champ.

And then there was The Ring magazine, known as "the Bible of Boxing," which recognized a "lineal champion," going all the way back to the last bare-knuckle Heavyweight Champion, John L. Sullivan in the 1880s.

Their champion was Michael Spinks. He and his brother Leon, who took the title away from Ali in 1978 (but not all the organizations thought that he, after only 8 pro fights, should have it) and then lost it back to Ali in his next fight, had both won Gold Medals at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Leon had gotten knocked out by Larry Holmes, who became Champion. From 1981 to 1985, Michael was the undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion. In 1985, Michael gave up those titles, moved up to Heavyweight, defeated Holmes to take the IBF title, and then won a rematch.

But he never held either the WBA or the WBC version of the Heavyweight Championship, and the IBF stripped him of their title in 1987, because he refused to fight their Number 1 contender, Tucker. They gave their title to Tucker, and then Tyson beat him.

So a unification fight was set for June 27, 1988, at Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (The building, opened in 1929 and famous as the site of the Miss America Pageant, is now known as Boardwalk Hall.) Spinks went into it at 31-0. This was only the 2nd time that 2 undefeated Heavyweight Champions had ever faced each other, the 1st time being Ali and Joe Frazier in the 1st of their 3 fights, in 1971.

Real estate developer Donald Trump had built his 1st casino-hotel, Trump Plaza, between Atlantic City's 2 most famous buildings: Convention Hall and Caesars Atlantic City. That made me think he was smart. As it turned out, he wasn't. But, through Trump Plaza, he got involved in the promotion of this fight, along with boxing's biggest promoter, Don King.

The Hall seats about 14,000 people, but, with Pay-Per-View, this fight became the highest-grossing in boxing history to that point: Over $70 million. Tyson went into the fight as a 4-1 favorite.

Spinks later admitted, "Fear was knocking at my door, big-time." That became clear quickly, as Tyson landed a left hook 7 seconds in, and Spinks began covering up. Spinks kept backing away. He landed only 2 punches. After 1 minute and 3 seconds, Spinks was dropped to a knee by a right to the body. It was only the 2nd time Spinks had been knocked down as a professional, following Dwight Muhammad Qawi, before Spinks came back and won the Light Heavyweight title from him.

Referee Frank Cappuccino counted to 4 before Spinks got up, and took the rest of the standing 8-count. Cappuccino, as the rules required, asked him if he could continue. Spinks should have said he couldn't. He said he could. He got close to Tyson. Tyson landed a quick left-right combination to Spinks' head, and he went down. He struggled to get up before the count of 10, and couldn't. In 1 minute and 31 seconds -- 91 seconds, or 1 second past the halfway mark of the 1st round -- the fight was over.

Tyson was now the undefeated, the undisputed, Heavyweight Champion of the World, truly the Baddest Man On the Planet. Aside from Spinks, there were some big losers: The promoters, including Trump, because the fight only lasted a minute and a half, costing them TV viewers for more than that.

But hindsight shows us that Tyson did have issues. His main trainer, Constantine "Cus" D'Amato, had died in 1985, before Tyson could become Champion. His secondary trainer, Jimmy Jacobs, had also died, of leukemia, 3 months before this fight. (D'Amato was 77; Jacobs, 58.) Tyson dedicated this fight to Jacobs' memory. And a dispute with Jacobs' successor, Kevin Rooney, led to Tyson firing him. Rooney later said that if Tyson hadn't fired him, Tyson would have retired undefeated.

And the undercard of this fight should be noted. Among the fighters winning were Carl "The Truth" Williams (over former Champion Berbick), Donovan "Razor" Ruddock, and a 28-year-old fighter from Columbus, Ohio, who rose to 27-4-1 on the night: James "Buster" Douglas.

On this night, if anyone guessed that Tyson would one day be beaten, half the people listening would have said he was crazy. But nobody could have imagined that Douglas would be the man to do it. And yet, as it turned out, that's what happened.

Spinks never fought again. As of 2022, he is 65 years old, and lives on a five-acre spread outside Wilmington, Delaware. He usually stays out of the public eye, but he has been known for visiting schools, carrying his Olympic Gold Medal and his four title belts, and he tells kids to pursue their dreams: "Most of the kids don't have a clue who I am, but they listen when they see all the gold."

*

June 27, 1988 was a Monday. These Major League Baseball games were played that night:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 6-3 at Yankee Stadium. Jack Morris outpitched John Candelaria. Mike Pagliarulo hit a home run, Don Mattingly went 1-for-3 with a walk, and Rickey Henderson went 0-for-3 with a walk. For the Tigers, Luis Salazar went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Dwight Gooden was outpitched by Mike Dunne. (No, I don't remember him, either.) The Mets only got 5 hits, all singles, by Lenny Dykstra, Dave Magadan, Lee Mazzilli, Kevin McReynolds and Mackey Sasser.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. Wade Boggs went 1-for-3 with 2 walks.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Eddie Murray went 0-for-3 with a walk, and Cal Ripken went 1-for-3 with a walk and 2 RBIs.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 10-9 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-5, his hit a 3-run homer.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-5.

* The Montreal Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium. Each team got a home run in the 13th inning, the Expos from Tim Wallach, the Cardinals from Tom Brunansky. Cardinal pitcher Steve Peters collapsed in the top of the 14th, allowing a walk, a wild pitch, an intentional walk, and a home run by Hubie Brooks.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-1 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.) George Brett went 2-for-3.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 4-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Shawn Hillegas allowed 2 hits over 6 innings, the 1st of 4 pitchers to toss a 5-hit shutout.

* The California Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 16-7 at Anaheim Stadium. (It was renamed Edison International Field in 1997, and Angel Stadium of Anaheim in 2004.)

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at the Oakland Coliseum. Robin Yount went 1-for-5, and Paul Molitor was injured and did not play. Dave Henderson singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 6-3 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

February 11, 1990: Buster Douglas Knocks Mike Tyson Out

February 11, 1990: Mike Tyson steps into the ring at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, to defend the undisputed Heavyweight Championship of the World against James "Buster" Douglas.

Douglas, a few weeks shy of his 30th birthday, was 29-4-1. His losses had come to David Bey, a former USBA Heavyweight Champion who had lost to Larry Holmes for "the real title"; Mike White, who never came close to a title shot; Jesse Ferguson, who had lost to Tyson, but would later beat WBO Champion Ray Mercer; and Tony Tucker, in a fight for the then-vacant IBF Heavyweight Championship. His draw had come against Norwegian boxer Steffen Tangstad, whose last fight had been against Michael Spinks for the IBF title.

Douglas had beaten some good fighters: Randall "Tex" Cobb, who had fought hard against Holmes but lost; Greg Page, who briefly held the WBA Heavyweight Championship; Trevor Berbick, who held the WBC Heavyweight Championship briefly, until Tyson took it away from him; and Oliver McCall, who would later hold the WBC title.

But Tyson was "Iron Mike," "Kid Dynamite," "The Baddest Man On the Planet." He had been in 37 professional fights. He had won them all. He had won by knockout in 33 of them, with 27 coming in 4 or fewer rounds, and 17 in the very 1st round.

He had taken the WBC title from Berbick on November 22, 1986; the WBA title from James "Bonecrusher" Smith on March 7, 1987; the IBF title from Tucker on August 1, 1987; beat former undisputed Champion Holmes on January 22, 1988; destroyed the previously undefeated Spinks in 91 seconds on June 27, 1988; and had also beaten former partial champions James "Quick" Tillis, Pinklon Thomas, Tony Biggs, Frank Bruno and Carl "The Truth" Williams.

A few months before this fight, Tyson and his promoter, Don King, had played themselves in a music video. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince had written and record a song titled "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson." Of course, it was a comedy. Will Smith, the Fresh Prince, was no heavyweight. In the song, even his own grandmother bets on Tyson. Of course, Tyson wins.

(The video also included Tyson's fellow Brooklynite, comedian Chris Rock. In 2001, Will Smith, by then one of the movies' biggest action stars, starred in Ali. In 2022, Rock hosted the Academy Awards, and made a joke about Smith's wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith. Smith got up onto the stage and slapped Rock. Rock was taken by surprise, but the slap didn't knock him down. That should tell you that Smith was no Muhammad Ali, and wouldn't have stood a chance against Tyson -- even then.)

But that should give you an idea of how Tyson was thought of at the time. Nobody ever made a comedy record of how they could beat Jack Dempsey, or Joe Louis, or Rocky Marciano, or Ali. But Tyson was seen as absolutely unbeatable. And if anybody was going to beat him, it sure didn't seem like the rather ordinary Douglas was going to be the man to do it. And, just 23 days before the fight, Douglas' mother died. Going into the fight, the odds against Douglas were 42-1.

But is the fight went along, one thing became very clear: Douglas was not afraid of Tyson. Tyson's greatest weapon wasn't his physical strength, but the fear he put into his opponents. Douglas kept throwing punches as if he wasn't afraid, and kept landing them, dominating the middle rounds. Tyson was not used to even having middle rounds.

Soon, Tyson's left eye began to swell from Douglas' right jabs, preventing him from seeing his opponent's punches well. Tyson's cornermen were caught unprepared; they had not brought an endswell or ice packs, usually standard equipment for a fight, as they were so confident that Tyson would easily beat Douglas. Instead, they filled a rubber glove with ice water and held it on Tyson's eye between rounds.

Finally, in the last 10 seconds of the 8th round, Tyson, who had been backed onto the ropes, landed a big right uppercut that knocked Douglas down. 

The referee was Octavio Meryan, a Mexican previously best known for overseeing the 2nd fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Durán, the "No Más" Fight. Although the knockdown timekeeper began when Douglas' backside hit the ring's surface, Don King, with an interest in keeping Tyson unbeaten, claimed that Meyran started his own count behind by two beats. Douglas rose as the Meyran counted 9, but the bell ended the round. King protested after the fight, but the most powerful man in the sport was turned down.

Douglas pounded his left fist on the mat. This was a sign: He was still not afraid, nor was he discouraged, he was angry. He had made a mistake against Mike Tyson, and been knocked down -- but wasn't knocked out. He still thought he could win.

When the 9th round began, Tyson went for the knockout. Douglas refused to go down, and pounded away, to the point where Tyson's left eye was closed. It was Tyson who was impaired, badly in pain and barely hanging on at the end of the round, not Douglas.

At the 1:54 mark of the 10th round, Douglas landed a right uppercut that snapped Tyson's head upward. He followed with four punches to the head, and Tyson fell, knocked down for the 1st time in his career. On his knees, Tyson fumbled for his mouthpiece on the canvas, before sticking one end in his mouth with the other end hanging out. He seemed to have gotten to his feet between the counts of 9 and 10, but, at the 1:37 mark, Meyran counted him out.

The fight had been close through 9 rounds: One card was 88-83 for Douglas, one was 87-87 for Tyson, and one was even at 86-86. If Douglas hadn't completed the knockout, it might have been a very controversial split decision in Tyson's favor, followed by a rematch in which Douglas might have been, to put it politely, encouraged to lose. I don't think he would have taken it.

During the post fight interview, Douglas broke down in tears when asked why he was able to win this fight when no one thought he could. "Because of my mother...God bless her heart," said the emotional new Champion.

On October 25, Douglas got the fight against Evander Holyfield that Tyson was supposed to get next. Holyfield knocked Douglas out in the 3rd round. Douglas didn't fight again for 6 years, and retired in 1999, with a career record of 38-6-1.

In 1991, Tyson was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for rape. By the time he was released, in 1995, he was 29 years old, having, essentially, thrown his prime away. He went right back to boxing, and won 4 matches within a span of a year: Knocking Peter McNeely out in the 1st round, knocking Buster Mathis Jr. out in the 3rd, knocking Frank Bruno out in the 3rd to reclaim the WBC title, and knocking Bruce Seldon out in the 1st round to reclaim the WBA title. He was 45-1, and the Douglas fight was beginning to look like the fluke of all time.

The next fight was his long-awaited matchup with Holyfield. Holyfield studied the Douglas fight, and knew that Douglas had won because he wasn't afraid of Tyson. Holyfield wasn't, either, and his 2 fights with Tyson ended up defining Tyson as much as the 46 fights before it: Tyson was a great puncher, but he wasn't even a good boxer. Holyfield was a great boxer.

Along with Super Bowl III, the New York Jets beating the Baltimore Colts, and the U.S. hockey team's win over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics, the Douglas-Tyson fight is regarded as one of the greatest upsets in the history of sports.

From March 6, 1985, his 1st professional fight, until February 11, 1990, Mike Tyson went 37-0. From February 11, 1990 onward, he went 13-6. From March 6, 1985 to November 8, 1996, Tyson went 45-1. From November 9, 1996 until his last fight, on June 11, 2005, he was 5-5.

*

February 11, 1990 was a Sunday. This was also the day that Nelson Mandela was freed from prison. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball and football were out of season. On that day, the NBA held its All-Star Game, at the Miami Arena. The East beat the West, 130-113. Magic Johnson was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

There were 6 games played in the NHL that day: 

* The New York Rangers lost to the Calgary Flames, 5-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2 at the Boston Garden.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-3 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 7-4 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.