Tyson Bites Holyfield's Ear: The Infamous 1997 Fight

On June twenty eighth, nineteen ninety seven, one of the most anticipated heavyweight boxing matches of all time happens when Evander Holyfield takes on Mike Tyson in the rematch for the WBA Heavyweight Championship, and it is made even more famous when a body part is bitten off in the middle of the fight. Here's the story behind this iconic moment today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. And today's trivia question is what product did? Years later, Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield team up to produce Now. Like I said in the opening, this was a rematch they had fought seven months earlier for the heavyweight title, where Evander Holyfield had won the heavyweight title for a third time away from Mike Tyson, who going into the fight was the heavyweight champion. But there was some controversy in that fight as Evander Holyfield had accidentally headbutted Mike Tyson giving him a cup in the sixth round, which obviously upset Tyson fans as this is an illegal move, but the fight continued and by decision, holy Field won, and they quickly came around to have their second rematch seven months later on June twenty eighth, nineteen ninety seven. Now, to just give you some contacts that first fight, Mike Tyson took home thirty million dollars for that fight, whereas Evander Holyfield only took twelve million. And when they came back to fight again, Mike Tyson, still in this rematch, took home thirty million, but Evander Holyfield got a huge pay bump and took home thirty five million dollars, but he also lost something very unusual in the process. Now, leading up to the fight, they actually wanted to have this same referee that they had in the first match, but the Tyson management team rejected it as they wanted a new ref so they could hopefully not have the same headbutting incident that happened previously. But the Nevada State Athletic Commission, who regulates the fights in Nevada, actually rejected this request. But the referee, Mitch Halburn, willingly withdrew himself from the fight so there would be no ill will to the ref during the fight, and the fight went to veteran official Miles Lane, who had actually reffed six previous Tyson fights and seven holy Field fights, so it was very accustomed to both these fighters. So the match begins and holy Field initially comes out and dominates Tyson. Now, Holyfield has the advantage that most fighters actually had against Mike Tyson is that Mike Tyson was shorter and had shorter arms and as he only stood five to ten, but Holyfield almost at a height of six to three, so he had a long reach advantage, which is usually preferred in boxing, especially in the heavyweight division. But even though Tyson was short, his punches were very powerful. But that didn't stop holy Field from coming out quickly and won the very first round and actually had a shot that kind of stunted Mike Tyson that roughly thirty seconds into the second round, Holyfield ducked under a right punch from Tyson, but in doing so inadvertently headbutted Tyson, producing a large cut over his right eye, although many speculate that this cut that Tyson got over his eye actually happened during the first round and not this headbutting incident. And again, Tyson was upset. He had been headbutted multiple times in the first match that he lost against holy Field, and just two rounds into the second match, he had been headbutted again and again complained to the referees, and the referees actually did review the replays and the referee, Miles Lane, stated that yes, there was a headbutt, but it was unintentional and non punishable. Again, they come out into the third round, Tyson actually came out without his mouthpiece when the referee ordered Tyson back into his corner to insert the mouthpiece, and Tyson put it in his mouthpiece to resume the fight, and Tyson came out swinging. He was so upset about this headbutting incident, and with only forty seconds remaining in the round, Holyfield got Tyson in a clinch and then in doing this, Tyson rolled his head above holy Field's shoulder and spit out his mouthpiece and bit down on holy Field's ear. And not only did he bite, he tore off a piece of holy Field's ear and spit it onto the ring. Holy Field leapt in the air and pane circling everywhere, blood flowing from his ear. The reference immediately stopped the fight, but they didn't stop Tyson from shoving holy Field from behind into his corner, but Miles Lane was able to remove Tyson to another corner and called it for a delay in the fight to figure out well what had just happened, as it was such a quick moment in time you could almost miss it and not even see what happened if watching it live. So the referee, Miles Lane calls Mark Ratner, the chairman of the Nevada Athletic Commission, to the ring to inform him that Tyson had just bitten Holyfield's ear and he was going to disqualify him and in the fight, but they decided to leave it up to the physician that was checking on Hoe in the ring. Holy Field was actually cleared to fight, but Lane decided allow the fight to continue and penalized Tyson with a two point deduction for the bite as per the rules of causing intentional injury. He Tyson tried to argue, saying it happened during a punch, but they had the replay they knew exactly what happened, and at that point they ended the fight, giving the win by disqualification to Holyfield, helping him retain his world heavyweight title, and Mike Tyson had lost two fights for the first time in his career in a row. Now Tyson was upset by this disqualification. He actually attempted to attack Holyfield even after the fight had officially ended, and security had to step in to hold him back because obviously he was upset, and for a man that is the former heavyweight title holder, you're gonna need multiple people to hold him back when he wants to fight. Now. Mind you, this all happened before they had announced anything to the fans in attendance at the fight. No one knew exactly what happened, so the fans didn't know that the fight was over. They didn't know that the ear had been bitten. All they knew was there was an injury and something was going on. So after twenty five minutes, they finally announced, ladies and gentlemen, the fight has stopped in round three due to disqualification to Mike Tyson for biting Evander Holyfield in both ears, and as a result, Evander Holyfield is now your remaining WBA heavyweight champ. After the fight, Tyson tells the media that the bite was retaliation for the consistent headbutts that Holyfield was giving Tyson from the previous fight and even starting in this fight, and he didn't want to continue this, and after the fight, Tyson was actually Tyson's Nevada State Commission license was revoked and he was fined three million dollars plus legal fees due to this instant now Tyson actually appealed and the Commission voted four to one to reinstate Tyson's license in nineteen ninety eight. But after this, Tyson wouldn't fight again until nineteen ninety nine, where he finally won again. But Tyson would go on to win four of his next six fights, two of those fights being non decisions due to injury and a failed drug test, and in two thousand and two he would go on to fight Lennox Lewis for the WBC heavyweight title and loose, and by two thousand and five he would fight his last fight versus Kevin McBride, which he lost, bringing his career record to fifty and six with two no contests, and it was reported earlier this year that he was actually gonna fight Jake Paul, but that seems like that fight is kind of up in the air about whether that is actually going to happen. But Mike Tyson has become a person in paulp culture with his famous face tattoo and also being in the Hangover movies, and it's been a constant figure in the public guy if he popping up all over the place, so everyone remembers Mike Tyson. Now for holy Field, he would go on to defend his heavyweight title for the next for the next two fights, but in nineteen ninety nine he faced Lennux Lewis which resulted in a drawl and he retained the heavyweight title, and will would go on to fight Lewis again that same year and lose the heavyweight title and would never quite get back to that level again. And then in two thousand, when the WBA heavyweight title was vacant, he won it again facing John Ruiz and would go again to face John Ruiz about that next year and lose the heavyweight title. And he would continue fighting for multiple years until two thy and eleven when he fought his final fight against Brian Nelson, winning and then retiring with a career record of forty four wins and ten losses, with two draws and one no contest. Now Holyfield is not as recognizable as Mike Tyson, but he has made appearances on The Freshmans of bel Air, some cartoons as Vhineas and Fern and Arthur been part of Celebrity Big Brother, so he's been around. And one thing you can always notice about holy Field is he on one of his ears. There is a piece missing at the top of his ear that he has to live with as it healed up after Mike Tyson bit it off. Now the two have actually become pretty good friends since their boxing days since both of them have retired. In two thousand and nine, they both appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where Tyson made amends, saying it's been a pleasure to have him be acquainted in his life holy Field forgave him. Even got to being such good friends that in twenty twenty two, Mike Tyson and Vander Holyfield teamed up to produce an edible cannabis suite in the shape of Holyfield's ear called Holy Ears for Christmas promotions. And it's amazing how this one fight has led to them teaming up together years later in friendship instead of fighting. And I want to thank you for listening to today's topic. If you like this topic, please let your friends know. And if you want us to cover a topic that you like, all you have to do is leave us a review wherever you're listening, or go to Apple Podcasts to leave a review, and tell us your name and what topic you would like me to cover, and we'll cover that just for you on Daily Sports History, and we'll see you next week. And today's trivia question is what product did Years later, Mike Tyson in a Vander Holyfield team up to produce. In twenty twenty two, Mike Tyson and Vander Holyfield teamed up to produce an edible cannabis sweet in the shape of holy Field's ear called Holy Ears for Christmas promotions.