Twenty years ago Wednesday, Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson met in the ring for the first time.
Holyfield and Tyson were originally scheduled to fight in June of 1990 after Tyson defended his heavyweight title against James “Buster” Douglas that February. Tyson of course lost that fight, with Holyfield at ringside in Tokyo, which opened the door for Tyson to fight Douglas in October.
After Holyfield won the title from Douglas, another fight was agreed upon and scheduled for Nov. of 1991 with Tyson. However, a rib injury postponed the fight until 1992, and Tyson’s conviction moved the fight back even more.
Four years later the two agreed to fight a third time. Tyson had won the WBC and WBA titles in his first 19 months out of prison. He had won four straight fights dating back to his return in August 1995.
The fight
Holyfield had recently returned to the ring as well, after a brief retirement in 1994 that stemmed from a misdiagnosed heart issue. Holyfield had a 2-1 record after his return, but was considered the heavy underdog when the fight opened. Vegas opened the odds for with Holyfield as a 25-1 underdog and closed at 15-2. Fans flocked to the MGM Grand in record turnout with a $14.2 million live gate, the most lucrative fight in history at the time.
Both fighters opened throwing their hardest shots in the first round. Tyson, who fought three rounds or fewer in his previous three fights, threw 46 punches in the first round, the most he threw in a round all fight. Both fighters landed 12 blows and all of them were power punches.
Through the first four rounds, Holyfield held an edge in punches landed. In the fifth round, Tyson again tried to empty the tank against Holyfield, throwing 43 punches, and landing 18. Holyfield withstood the barrage and came back in the sixth round to knock Tyson down.
While Tyson fought on, he was visibly gassed and his output showed it. From the ninth round on, Holyfield out-landed Tyson in total punches by 42 punches through the 11th where he scored a TKO win 37 seconds into the round.
The aftermath
The fight was named Fight of the Year and Upset of the Year by The Ring. Holyfield was named Fighter of the Year for the second time in his career by The Ring and the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Holyfield became the second fighter to win a share of the heavyweight title three times behind Muhammad Ali. Tyson suffered the second loss of his career by knockout. He never held the heavyweight title after the loss.