Holyfield vs. Tyson: Round by Round

Saturday, June 28, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

WBA heavyweight championship, 12 rounds

Mills Lane stops the fight before round four starts after Mike Tyson bites Holyfield twice in the ears. Holyfield wins by disqualification.

Round 3: Tyson starts the round by charging Holyfield and landing several blows. Crowd is excited. Fighters tied up. Holyfield throwing right after right trying to punish Tyson. Tyson with a straight right to the head of Holyfield that hurts him. Tyson bites the ear of Holyfield and Holyfield's ear is bloody. After Mills Lane breaks the two up, Tyson charges Holyfield and pushes him in the back. One point is taken away from Tyson. Commisioner comes in and says, "He bit his ear, he is out." The doctor overrules the decision and the fight continues with Tyson having a two point deduction. The Holyfield camp is complaining. Major controversy as fight heats up and Tyson bites Holyfield again. An unbelievable occurance of events that leaves Holyfield and his camp in shock. The crowd is booing Tyson. Then after the round, Lane ends the fight and disqualifies Tyson. Now a fight breaks out in the ring with Tyson trying to charge Holyfield. Security is holding Tyson. Crowd is chanting in anger. Again, two sharp bites from Tyson in the ears of Holyfield ends the fight. Holyfield wins by disqualification.

Round 2: Tyson with a left hook. Tyson is showing more movement than in the previous fight. Tyson's right eye is bleeding, not the same eye that post-postoned the fight date. Holyfield is digging in with upper cuts to the body. Cut over Tyson's eye is pretty deep. Tyson lands a nice right hand, but can't land the combination. Tyson looks frustrated.

Round 1: The waiting is over, the talking is done, the re-match is here! Tyson lands a straight jab and is moving around. Holyfield wrestles Tyson to his chest. Both fighters are intense. Tyson will not back away. Holyfield is coming in low and picking his spots. Holyfield with a left hook and jab, then a great hook. Holyfield with a combination that hurts Tyson. Tyson responds with a left, but Holyfield manages to hurt Tyson a little. The crowd is chanting "Holyfield, Holyfield," as Holyfield wins an action packed round.

Preview: Set to begin shortly. A capacity crowd of 16,300 plus are on hand to witness this much anticipated fight at the MGM Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas. If Tyson defeats Holyfield, he will become the third heavyweight in history to win the heavyweight title three times. The other two fighters, Holyfield and the great Muhammad Ali. Both fighters will receive a purse of at least $30 million for this bout. Tyson is a -180 favorite at Las Vegas sport books and Holyfield is +160.