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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2009 > October > 16 > Entry
Like Oprah, I’m talking Holyfield and Tyson
Today, Oprah goes from Talk Queen to Fight King — something like promoter Don King, but with a better hairdresser — when she puts on Holyfield-Tyson III. She’ll do so during her afternoon show by reflecting on Holyfield-Tyson II.
It will be the first time Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson will talk face to face since their infamous bout a dozen years ago
I wish I could have shared some things with Oprah before her pugfest.
I’ve covered thousands of boxing matches over the years and seen all kinds of unexpected and sometimes heart-wrenching things:
— There was the summer night on Miami Beach in 1984 where world bantamweight champ Alberto Davila was defending his title against Enrique Sanchez in an outdoor ring set up on the sand close to the water’s edge. Midway through the fight a violent thunderstorm came in quickly off the ocean and collapsed the canopy over the ring, then toppled a light pole near the bleachers. Soon the fighters, cornermen, judges, ref, a photographer and myself all were huddled together beneath the elevated ring until the wind and blinding rain subsided and the bout could resume.
— There was the night a sore loser grabbed the winner’s trophy from his conqueror in the middle of a Fort Lauderdale ring and promptly slammed it over the heads of the victorious boxer and the ref. Eventually, the winner and the ref were helped from the ring by medics and the loser — and his mom, who jumped into the ring — were led out in cuffs by the cops
— And there was the sad night in 1985 at a Golden Gloves tournament in North Miami when Howard Brooks — a Pennsylvania heavyweight who I knew well and in whose corner I’d sat and given him advice between rounds — suffered a fatal blow to the head.
Yet, when it comes to out-of-the-blue bizarre, complete insanity and total anarchy all wrapped into one — not to mention the threat to my wife and our friends — no fight scene that I’ve been a part of matches that Las Vegas night in June of 1997.
I’m talking not only about the heavyweight title rematch between then-champ Holyfield and dethroned bully Tyson, but also the riots that followed in the MGM Grand casino and on the Las Vegas Strip afterward.
That night Tyson — who had lost his crown to Holyfield in an 11th round TKO seven months earlier in Vegas — found himself unable to intimidate Holyfield.
Midway through the third round — caught in a swirl of his own frustration, desperation and unhinged rage — a bleeding Tyson (who had taken his mouthpiece out between rounds) got Holyfield in a clinch and then chomped down like a ravenous pit pull on the top of his right ear.
As Holyfield hopped up and down, yelping in pain, Tyson stepped back and spit the piece cartilage to the canvas. Those of us at ringside couldn’t believe what we were seeing.
After being threatened with disqualification by referee Mills Lane and getting two points deducted, Tyson then bit Holyfield’s’ other ear just 20 seconds later.
The fight was stopped. Chaos reigned in the ring. Tyson was disqualified and later would be fined $3 million and lose his license for a year. His fistic reputation — his personal rep was shot long before — was now forever stained.
I covered that fight and here are some of the things I won’t forget:
— I remember an incredulous Holyfield yelling to Tyson: “Why are you biting me? You have a chance.”
— After the bout, I remember Tyson getting into a confrontation with a Las Vegas policeman in the ring, while his backers acted just as asinine: “You’re screaming like a (expletive),” John Horne, Tyson’s co- manager, yelled at Holyfield. And Tyson bodyguard Anthony Pitts bellowed: “Holyfield, you’re nothing but a coward. You quit.”
— As Tyson was led from the ring by security men, the sold-out Grand Garden crowd — some of whom paid up to $5,000 for a $1,500 ringside ticket — jeered and booed and began hurling beers, programs and insults at Tyson. Some fans leaned over the rail and spit on him.
— I remember standing outside Holyfield’s dressing room, when Mitch Libonati, an MGM employee in charge of setting up the ring, hustled up, saying “I have something Mr. Holyfield needs.” He handed over a rubber cornermen’s glove in which he had dropped the piece of ear Tyson had bit off. “I saw Tyson spit the piece out,” Libonati said. “I put it in the glove, packed it in ice and got it over here.”
And then there was the riot afterward.
Here’s an excerpt of my story from then:
“I was near the MGM Grand gift shop late Saturday — 90 minutes after Mike Tyson had lit the fuse on a night of anarchy by twice biting Evander Holyfield before being disqualified in their heavyweight title match — when I heard the second “POP … POP … POP.”
It came from the bar around the corner and I heard a woman scream, ‘He’s got a gun!’
Instantly, people began to stampede through the crowded casino. A group of young women in the lobby was knocked to the floor. Fist fights broke out between young men who had been swilling magnums of Dom Perignon straight from the bottle.
As cops with guns drawn rushed through the casino in the direction of the bar, I came around the corner and smelled what seemed like cordite. While police and MGM officials would later claim there was no gunfire — the noise, one MGM representative said, was champagne corks — at least three MGM employees, including a sobbing cocktail hostess working the area, said shots had been fired.
As I tried to make my way to my wife and friends who were further back in the casino, I saw the most bizarre scenario I’ve ever seen in two decades of coming to Las Vegas.
Everyone in the casino was huddled on the floor behind crap tables, slot machines, pillars, anything they thought would provide cover. A black-jack table had been tipped over and some of the young thugs causing trouble had scooped up thousands of dollars in chips. People eating in some of the restaurants simply fled their meals in mid bite, leaving tables of unattended food. A woman near the elevators collapsed with chest pains and soon was being treated by medics.
I found my wife and our friends from New Zealand huddled behind a bank of slot machines. Two of the women from Christchurch were so frightened they were trembling. One had been crying.
This was the second alleged shooting incident of the night, the second stampede, and within minutes, the massive casino and its numerous bars, shops and restaurants were shut down. More than 40 people were reported injured. Police closed down part of the famed Las Vegas Strip as a precautionary measure and soon the 5,000-room MGM Grand Hotel was surrounded by the flashing lights of police cars.
Saturday night in Las Vegas I saw the worst in humanity.”
I don’t know if Oprah could have used any of this. I’m sure she’ll do a fine job today regardless, but a few first-hand insights may have helped shape a question or two.
I would have liked to have had her ear for a few minutes — though not in the Tyson fashion.
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Comments
By HMOSLEY
October 16, 2009 5:30 PM | Link to this
good job Tom…u will always be my #1 sport writer, keep up the good work!!!!