After his shocking upset of Mike Tyson on November 9, 1996, Evander Holyfield was on top of the boxing world. The first thing that the public wanted was a rematch, and it was set for May 3, 1997 at the same MGM Hotel in Las Vegas.
Tyson suffered a cut over his left eye in training, causing the bout to be pushed back to June 28th. Nicknamed ‘The Sound and the Fury’ by promoter Don King, it was sure to draw record pay-per-view buys. The days of going to an arena or a theatre were a thing of the past. The good thing about watching it at home was that you could copy it to your VCR, and watch it over and over again if you wanted to.
Both fighters weighed in at 218 lbs. for the rematch, and were in supreme condition. As both men stood in ring center to receive instructions from referee Mills Lane, Tyson looked down, intimidated by the glaring stare of Evander. It was obvious to me he was scared, and the fight would prove me right.
Holyfield started the bout well, landing crisp combinations and easily winning the first round. An accidental head butt in the second round opened a gash over Tyson’s right eye, but it wasn’t enough to halt the action. Evander won the second round as well, and it appeared to me that he would win this fight even easier than the first. What would happen next, no one could have ever predicted.
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