This is not “The Fight” that everyone remembers between the two. This one was relatively clean when Tyson and Holyfield “finally” got to fight six years after the fight was first scheduled. In those six years, Tyson went to Jail, lost his title and got it back. Holyfield meanwhile retired two years earlier due to a heart condition after losing his heavyweight title to Micheal Moorer. Holyfield was seemingly no match against Tyson prior to the match. His 3 bouts since coming out of retirement contained two lackluster wins, one of which was against a less than stellar opponent and one knockout loss to Riddick Bowe. Still he moved up the WBA ranks as the number one contender, likely as a testament to his past.

Tyson, meanwhile won the WBC title in his second post jail fight against Frank Bruno, only to have it stripped from him when he elected to go after the WBA title against Seldon, which he won, instead of defending his WBC title against Lennox Lewis.

The opening round was straight out of a movie, with ferocious back to back punches and furious combat no one had seen in years. In the second round Holyfield, not the power puncher that Tyson was, knocked the champ into a Daze with Tyson later admitting that he had blacked out and had no idea what was going on at that time. The match was Holyfield’s from then on as Iron Mike could not even remember rounds 3 to 6, and finally in round 10, Tyson was saved by the bell after a ferocious barrage by Holyfield. Tyson never once received such punishment from anyone in his career. In the next round, Tyson succumbed to a right from Holyfield and was slammed into the ropes only to be embraced by the referee for protection, and the unlikely happened, Holyfield, the huge underdog won.