After his loss to Riddick Bowe in their third fight in November of 1995, Evander Holyfield was considered by many washed up. After a lackluster performance against Bobby Czyz in May of 1996, he did nothing to change their minds.
Mike Tyson was as popular as ever after he destroyed Frank Bruno in March to recapture the WBC heavyweight belt. He followed that up with a one round blowout of WBA champion Bruce Seldon on September 7th in Las Vegas. He had become invincible to many again, once again ‘Iron’ Mike, the unbeatable force that was champ for 3 and 1/2 years. So much so that the odds for his Evander Holyfield bout set for November 9th, opened at 25-1 in Tyson’s favor.
After the Seldon massacre, a press conference was held at the MGM in Las Vegas announcing ‘Finally. Tyson vs. Holyfield’. Evander was short and concise in his statement saying “The only thing that is keeping me from becoming champ again is time. See ya’ November the 9th.” Tyson never went to the podium and stayed in his seat barking back “I’m gonna have fun in this fight.”
The anticipation began for me that night, since I wanted nothing more than for Evander to prove the critics wrong and knock Tyson out. One thing I knew is that I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!
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