After losing to Bobby Czyz on May 10, 1996, Don King saw Evander Holyfield as an easy mark and agreed to let him fight Mike Tyson on November 9, 1996 if Tyson got by Bruce Seldon on September 7th. After Seldon took a dive in the first round without every getting hit with a solid blow, the odds for Tyson vs. Holyfield opened at 25-1 for Mike. Knowing I had to see this one, I called up the MGM Grand and ordered a ticket so I could go to Vegas to be there live.
I never believed the ‘Iron Mike’ nonsense and really believed that Evander was going to knock him out late in the fight. While running one morning less than a week before the fight, I had a premonition that Evander would stop Tyson in 11 rounds. The feeling was so strong that I was going to have a t-shirt printed up that read HOLYFIELD IN 11!, but didn’t have the time to get it made before I flew to Vegas.
On the way into the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the ticket taker noticed my ‘Real Deal Holyfield’ cap and said to me, “You have a lot of nerve wearing that hat in here!” I snapped right back, “We’ll see in 11 rounds when Holyfield knocks Tyson out!” The whole atmosphere was like a morgue, as if you were going to an execution and that Tyson was going to kill Evander or something. I found it ridiculous and when I got to my $600 seat, I took as many pictures as I could waiting for the opening bell to ring.
Evander looked huge when he took his robe off, proof of how hard he had trained for four months. Tyson appeared in top shape as well and they finally started trading blows in the first round, Evander showed absolutely no fear and gave as good as he took. The action was brisk and even for the first 3 minutes and it only bolstered my confidence that Holyfield could win.
For the first half of the fight, the bout was even in my book but when Evander put Tyson on the seat of his pants with a left hook to the chest in round 6, the tide turned in his favor. Holyfield fought in spurts, pushed Tyson back and never retreated at all. Evander showed his strength, withstood Tyson’s hard shots and by the time the bout reached the 10th round, Evander was in control.
Late in the round, he hurt Tyson back with a right hand, then battered him until the close of the round, leaving him close to being counted out. When the eleventh round bell rang, Evander jumped right back on Mike and hammered him with shots until referee Mitch Halpern ended the fight. I jumped for joy from my seat, thrilled that Evander had pulled off the huge upset and realizing my prediction had come true!
I wandered around the arena for about a half hour, but not before running into junior middleweight champ Julian Jackson and his wife sitting in the stands.
We both marveled at what we had just witnessed, knowing it was boxing history.
After the fight, I went to a gift shop at the MGM to buy all the souvenirs I could and to watch the post fight press conference on tv. I was impressed by Tyson’s humility in defeat and flew home the next day on cloud 9. My only regret that I only bet $120 on Evander since I was broke and won $100. Holyfield’s former trainer Lou Duva believed in his ex-fighter that he dropped $10,000 on Evander at 25-1 odds, and took home a cool quarter of a million bucks off the upset.
I am grateful to God that I was there that night and it remains the greatest sporting event I have ever attended live in my entire life.
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