Mike Tyson made a bad move (actually two of them)
on June 28th. Tyson, after losing the first two rounds, came out furious, striking
with both his fists and his teeth. Tyson started fast, immediately throwing a jab and
straight right (the second which grazed Holyfield). Despited being outboxed, he
showed better defense and improved head movement. But Tyson did get tagged with
a nice counter right, which drove him back. Both fighters were more aggressive, than
in the first fight, early on. But Holyfield won the first round. In the second,
Holyfield picked up where he left off. Tyson fought back, but not enough to win
himself the round. But Tyson had more to worry about than being two points behind
on the scorecards, he was cut over his right eye. An accidental headbutt caused the
cut and a few more headbutts followed. But none of the headbutts were intentional, they
were actually caused by the infighting. The headbutts seemed to enrage Tyson or maybe
it was the fact that he was losing the fight, because he was furious in the third round.
When Tyson came out of the corner for the third round, he "forgot" his mouthpiece (which
might suggest the biting incident was premeditated). But Tyson dominated the round, at
least up until when the first bite occured. He stormed out and landed hard punches. With
about a minute and a half left in the round, Tyson landed a hard left hook and he followed
it up with an even harder right cross. Tyson also landed a stiff jab about thirty seconds
later. Then everything went to hell. Tyson came in and clinched and then I thought I saw
Tyson bite Holyfield's neck. Holyfield spun around and started tapping the side of his head.
Then Tyson ran up and pushed Holyfield in the back. It turned out that Tyson spit out his
mouthpiece and bit a chunk (about a square inch) out of Holyfield's left ear. Tyson then spit
the chunk (which was later returned to Holyfield by a worker at the MGM Grand) on the canvas.
The referee, Mills Lane, was about to disqualify Tyson on the spot, until the ring physician,
Flip Homansky, said that Holyfield could continue. Mills Lane deducted two points from Tyson and
let the fight go on. After about a two minute break, the fight continued. They both came
out fighting, but it didn't last long. About fifteen seconds later, Tyson bit Holyfield's
other ear during a clinch. Holyfield backed up, put his hand on his right ear and came right
at Tyson. All the while Tyson was urging Holyfield to come and fight. They both got into a
slugfest for the last couple seconds, but no hard punches were landed. After the bell, referee
Mills Lane, stopped the fight and disqualified Tyson for the second bite. However, fight
didn't endthere. Instead Tyson, enraged with the disqualification, continued towards Holyfield,
swinging at anyone in his way. After things died down a bit, Tyson again tried to get at
Holyfield, but the security guards held him back. On the way out of the arena, Tyson tried to
attack a spectator that threw a water bottle at him, but again he was held back. When
interviewed after the fight, Tyson said he bit Holyfield in retaliation for the headbutts. And
when asked if the headbutts justified the bites, Tyson replied, "Look at me. Now my kids are
gonna be scared of me". A few days after the fight, Tyson appologized to Holyfield, the
commision, the world, etc. But now, Tyson faces a possible life-time ban and a fine up to
$3,000,000. Will Tyson fight again, of course he will. If he is banned for life (which most
definately will not happen), all he has to do is fight in another country. I wouldn't be
suprised seeing a Tyson-Botha fight in South Africa. But Tyson will definately get fined three-million
dollars and will probably get suspended for no more than a year. When Evander Holyfield
was asked about a possible Holyfield-Tyson III, Holyfield said, "Maybe in two years or so. I
never say never". But personally, I was disgusted by what I saw. It totally caught me off guard,
because it was right when the fight was beginning to heat up. Also the third round was Tyson's
best. If it wasn't for the bites, Tyson would have easily won it. I don't think Tyson wanted to
lose, despite what Holyfield said. After the second bite, Tyson did a "Let's get it on" gesture
to Holyfield. Tyson was also very upset with the disqualification, as he showed with the mini-riot
after the fight. He showed that he wanted to hurt Holyfield and it seemed to take over his mind.
Either that or Tyson was either incredibly stupid, completely frustrated or just insane. So what
punishment should Tyson get? First off, they should take his whole purse (although they can only
take 10% of it) and fine him extensively. Then they should ban him world-wide (which is also
impossible). How long should he be banned? I don't know how long, but he should be banned for a
while. But this incident put a bad taste in the mouth of many boxing fans (including me) and because
of his actions, Tyson will paid a heavy consequence. Being considered one of the greatest
Heavyweights was one of Tyson's dreams, but this fight hurt his ranking, although he should be
considered by how good he was in his prime (Ali's last two fights were terrible losses to Holmes and
Berbick, but they didn't hurt his ranking). However, Tyson said he wanted to be remembered and he
accomplished that in this fight, but he will be known best as the fighter who savagely bit Evander
Holyfield twice.
