I arrived the day before the November 9th huge event, and stayed at the old Holiday Inn Casino adjacent from the MGM Hotel. While in the casino, I ran into heavyweight contender Lou Saverese, and we talked about the fight. He asked my opinion on the bout, and I enthusiastically told him I thought Evander would beat Tyson. He agreed on that, and also the myth of Tyson and his cloak of invincibility. The friendly discussion certainly juiced me up even more for the mega fight the next night.
On the way into the arena, the ticket taker made a remark to me about the cap I was wearing. It was a ‘Real Deal’ Holyfield hat, and he said “You have a lot of nerve wearing that tonight!” I answered him sharply “We’ll see in around 10 when Evander knocks him out!”
The atmosphere in the MGM Grand Garden Arena was almost morose, as if you were going to see an execution. A lot of this was based on the fact that Evander had looked mediocre in stopping the smaller Bobby Czyz in May, while Tyson had knocked out Bruce Seldon in one round in September. The only thing I knew when I made my way to my seat is that all the Tyson fans were going home disappointed that Saturday night in November of 1996.
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