The Bite Fight

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Poster publicizing the 28 June, 1997, Holyfield-Tyson II fight, dubbed The Sound and The Fury.

The Bite Fight (also known in some circles as "Bite Night" or "Bite of the Century") is a name sometimes used to identify the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield on June 28, 1997, in which Tyson bit off a portion of Holyfield's ear. The fight was originally billed as Holyfield-Tyson II, The Sound and the Fury.

The referee officiating the fight was Mills Lane, who was brought in as a late replacement when Tyson's camp protested the original selection of Mitch Halpern as the referee.^[1]

1 The Fight
2 The Showtime Call
3 Aftermath
4 Trivia
5 References
6 External links

[edit] The Fight

The fight began with Holyfield dominating the smaller Tyson but doing no real damage. Tyson seemed slow in the first two rounds and lost both.

Problems started when a clash of heads in the second round opened a three-inch cut over Tyson's right eye. Tyson had repeatedly complained about head butting in the first bout between the two. A time-out was called briefly, but since there was no indication at the time that Holyfield had intentionally fouled Tyson, no point deduction was taken from Holyfield. Tyson continued the second round with blood trickling into his eye.

As the third round was about to begin, Tyson came out of his corner without his mouthpiece. Referee Mills Lane ordered Tyson back to his corner to insert it. The two fighters got back into position and the match resumed. Tyson rushed hard at Holyfield, catching him with a solid right and then a combination. Suddenly, with 40 seconds left in the 3rd round, the fight took an unexpected turn. Holyfield got Tyson in a clinch, and Tyson rolled his head above Holyfield's shoulder and bit Holyfield's right ear, taking a piece off of it with the force of the bite. Holyfield pushed Tyson away and started hopping up and down in pain, spinning around in a circle holding his ear.

Lane called for a time-out, Holyfield turned to walk to his corner, and Tyson ran up to Holyfield and pushed his back, startling both the crowd and Holyfield, who fell into the ropes. Lane quickly moved Tyson and directed Holyfield back to his corner as Tyson walked calmly back to his. The fight was delayed for several minutes as Lane told Tyson he was penalizing him with a two-point deduction. A physician examined Holyfield's ear and determined he could continue to fight.

The fight resumed with 30 seconds left in the round. The two fought into another clinch. With 22 seconds remaining in the round, Tyson craned his neck around again and bit Holyfield's left ear. Holyfield threw his hands around to get out of the clinch and jumped back as Tyson waved his arms in a "come on" motion. Lane did not stop the fight this time, so the two men continued fighting until time expired. The men walked back to their respective corners when the fight was then stopped. After the fight was stopped, Tyson tried to get at Holyfield and Holyfield's trainer Brooks while they were still in their corner. Tyson took swings at everyone who got in his way, including a police officer, until he was finally held back into his corner. Announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. read the unprecedented decision: "Referee Mills Lane has disqualified Mike Tyson for biting Evander Holyfield on both of his ears."

Later, Tyson was walking back to his locker room when a fan tossed a full bottle of water in his direction. Tyson climbed over a temporary railing and up into the stands, made obscene gestures to the crowd, and made his way up the side of a stairway before he was dragged to his locker room. Tyson was suspended and his license withheld.

Tyson later told reporters that he felt forced to retaliate because he was upset Holyfield was not penalized for what he felt were repeated intentional headbutts delivered throughout the opening rounds.

“

Holyfield butted me in the first round and then he butted me again in the second round. As soon as he butted me I watched him. He looked right at me and came right at me. He kept on going down and coming up, then charged into me, and no one warned him. No one took any point from him. What am I supposed to do? This is my career; I can't continue getting butted like that. I've got children to raise and he keeps butting me, tryna get me, stopped on cuts I gotta retaliate. Listen, Holyfield's not the tough warrior everyone says he is. He got a little nick on his ear and he quit. I got one eye, he's got ears, he's not impaired. I got one eye, big deal, if he take one, I got another one. He didn't wanna fight; I'm ready to fight him right now... He didn't want to fight, regardless on what I did...he been buttin me for two fights (Tyson points to his eye) Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me. I have to go home and my kids are gonna be scared of me now, look at me man.

”

^[2]

[edit] The Showtime Call

The fight was broadcast on Showtime, with Steve Albert, Ferdie Pacheco and Bobby Czyz as the announcers. The call after Tyson bit Holyfield the first time:

Albert: “What happened here?”

Pacheco: “He got bit, I think.”

Albert: “Evander Holyfield—LOOK OUT!!—is pushed right here, above us, by Tyson!”

Pacheco: “He got bit in the ear.”

Albert: “Oh, my goodness! He's got a bloody right ear! Holyfield bitten by a dirty Mike Tyson!”

Czyz's response during the replay, after Tyson was disqualified for biting Holyfield the second time:

“If I were Evander, I would have kicked him.”

[edit] Aftermath

As a result of biting Evander Holyfield on both ears and other behavior, Tyson's boxing license was revoked by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for one year and fined USD $3 million plus legal costs.^[3] Tyson claimed that officials had failed to address Holyfield's illegal head-butts, which quickly opened a wound over Tyson's left eye. Katherine Dunn wrote a column that went against conventional wisdom and supported Tyson's position. One of Tyson's former trainers, Teddy Atlas, predicted before the fight that Tyson would deliberately get himself disqualified.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Trivia

Most of Mike Tyson's fights, since his release from prison, had been brief contests, with Tyson dominating his opponents. Pay Per View outlets, as was the norm for heavyweight title fight cards during the 1990s, had been charging upwards of $50 for an entire card. This would leave many fight fans disappointed and feeling ripped off, as they were grossly overpaying for Tyson fights - the main event on the cards - which usually only lasted two or three rounds. To counteract this, Pay Per View outlets, for this fight card, would only charge fans $10 per round Tyson fought, with a $50 maximum. Total billing for the fight: $30.