Mike Tyson’s one-man show has hit New York. However entertaining it may be, it will never be as shocking or memorable as the show he put on 15 years ago Thursday in the ring at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
Unless, of course, Tyson chooses to bite someone in the audience.
On June 28, 1997, Tyson took two bites out of Evander Holyfield’s ear in the third round of their rematch, and boxing has never been the same since.
The event marked the beginning of the end of boxing’s credibility — never strong to begin with — in both the American media and public.
Fans who had paid $50 to $60 to watch it on pay-per-view were filing class action lawsuits.
Tyson — once one of the biggest stars in sports — was fined $3 million, suspended for a year and had to have an army of shrinks determine he was safe to enter the ring again. But the mystique was gone, replaced by jokes and disgust.
And for a brief period of time in that third round at the MGM, Marc Ratner’s professional career hung in the balance.
Ratner, now a senior vice president with UFC, was the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission and at ringside that night when Tyson leaned in and bit off a piece of Holyfield’s ear.
“When the first bite happened, I thought he had kneed Evander the way Evander was jumping up and down,” Ratner said. “Then [referee] Mills Lane came over and told me he bit him.
“Mills said, ‘I’m going to disqualify him,’?” Ratner said. “Because of my college football experience as a referee, we had always asked an official who wanted to kick someone out of a game if they were sure they wanted to do that. So I asked Mills if he was sure.
“Mills had the commission doctor look at the ear, and he said Evander could continue,” Ratner said. “So the fight continued.
“Now if Mike had come back and knocked Evander out 10 seconds later, no one would ever want to talk to me again,” Ratner said.
If Tyson had knocked out Holyfield after biting off a piece of his ear, the outrage would have made the controversy over the Manny Pacquiao-Tim Bradley scoring seem tame.
Of course, it also would have meant Tyson-Holyfield III.
But Tyson wasn’t looking to knock Holyfield out at that point. He was looking for a way to quit and chose a dramatic way to do so by biting him again.
Police rushed the ring as fights broke out in the crowd. Inside the casino, people swore they heard gunshots and a riot ensued, with police running around with guns drawn.
The Mike Tyson show was over. It was like nothing Vegas had ever seen before or since.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
