Holyfield beat George Foreman twice and qualified for the 1984 Olympic team, while Tyson did not qualify, losing on points to Henry Tillman.[2]
Afterward, Tyson took steps to become a power in the heavyweight division while Holyfield went on to win the bronze medal in Los Angeles. In 1986, Tyson became the youngest fighter ever to win a world heavyweight championship when he knocked Trevor Berbick out in the second round to win the WBC title as part of an ongoing series of fights designed to unify the belts of the WBA, WBC, and the IBF and create an undisputed world champion. The next year, Tyson won the other two championships to become the first fighter since Leon Spinks to be an undisputed world heavyweight champion.
Holyfield came up through the ranks of the cruiserweight division before making his name as a heavyweight. In what was still a relatively young division — having only been sanctioned as a title-holding weight class since 1979 — Holyfield quickly became its first undisputed champion when he won all three major sanctioning bodies' titles. He moved up to heavyweight in 1988 and continued to work his way up the rankings. By 1990, he was looking to challenge Tyson and after some hard negotiating the two fighters would agree to a fight later that year.[citation needed]
Tyson's loss to Buster Douglas, which he had intended as a tune-up fight for the Holyfield match, derailed those plans. Holyfield was given the first shot at the new champion and won in a third-round knockout. Tyson, meanwhile, entered into a fight with Canadian heavyweight contender Donovan Ruddock with the winner to face Holyfield. However, a controversial ending to the fight, which Tyson won by technical knockout, led to an immediate rematch and further delayed the showdown between Tyson and Holyfield. After Tyson won decisively, a fight was signed for November 18, 1991. An injury and Tyson's subsequent conviction for rape in 1992 indefinitely shelved the fight, as Tyson was sentenced to six years in prison.[3]
Holyfield, meanwhile, went on to reign as undisputed champion until losing to Riddick Bowe in November 1992. He would regain the WBA and IBF titles from Bowe in a rematch the following year, then lost them to Michael Moorer in 1994. Holyfield was then forced to retire due to a misdiagnosed heart condition, only to come back a year later. He fought Bowe one more time in the fall, getting knocked out for the first time in his career, and then fought overmatched former cruiserweight world champion Bobby Czyz and knocked him out.[citation needed]
Tyson was released from prison in 1995 and resumed his career with great fanfare. He fought journeyman Peter McNeeley in his first fight and then, before a national television audience, knocked out fringe contender Buster Mathis, Jr. The WBC installed him as its number one contender and ordered the winner of a fight between Oliver McCall, their champion who knocked out Lennox Lewis in 1994, and Frank Bruno, a veteran British contender who had fought and lost to Tyson during his first run as champion, to fight him in their next bout. Bruno defeated McCall by decision, but then was soundly beaten by Tyson within three rounds.[citation needed]
Tyson would be stripped of the title for agreeing to fight WBA champion Bruce Seldon in his next fight instead of Lewis, the top contender.[4] He knocked Seldon out in the first round and a fight was set up with Holyfield, who despite his former championship pedigree was regarded as past his prime.[citation needed]
Preparing to fight Tyson, Holyfield employed Mike Weaver, the WBA ex-champion, as a personal assistant. He also employed David Tua, whose style and anthropometrics were close to Tyson's, as a sparring partner.[citation needed]
The winner was set for a scheduled March 15 fight against the winner of the undercard bout between IBF champion Moorer and Francois Botha.[5]
The fights
Undercard
Showtime promoted the event as a heavyweight title tripleheader, as two other champions were defending their titles that night as well. In all, five (including Tyson's ) were contested for that night.
Undefeated WBC world minimumweight champion Ricardo Lopez knocked out contender Morgan Ndumo in the sixth round to retain his title.
The first event on the PPV card featured star women's boxer Christy Martin, who had gained some notoriety and was becoming a star; she defeated Bethany Payne by knockout in the first round.
Akinwande vs Zolkin
The first of the three heavyweight title fights followed. Henry Akinwande, a British fighter who defeated Jeremy Williams for the title Riddick Bowe vacated to set up the third and last fight with Holyfield, took on former NABF champion Alexander Zolkin. Akinwande emerged victorious with a tenth-round knockout in the first defence of his belt.[citation needed]
The last fight before the main event was contested for the IBF championship. The IBF title match was contested with Michael Moorer taking on Francois Botha. Moorer had defeated Axel Schulz earlier in 1996 for the title that had been stripped from lineal champion George Foreman; Botha had defeated Schulz in an earlier fight for the vacant title but the result was vacated following a doping violation. Moorer entered the bout as a 5–1 favorite.[citation needed]
The fight
Botha was wobbled late in the third round, causing a cut over his right eye. Moorer knocked down Botha twice in the eleventh round before having the challenger helpless on the ropes early in the final round prompting referee Mills Lane to wave it off.[6]
At the time of the stoppage judges Glen Hamada and Chuck Giampa had scored 106–100 to Moorer, while Stuart Winston had it 103–104 for Botha.[citation needed]
Ahead of the fight, the betting odds were 5 to 1 in favor of Tyson.[7]
Tyson came out fast and sent Holyfield reeling with his first solid punch. Holyfield, who had studied Tyson's style intensively, later explained that Tyson dipped to his left, from which position he usually loaded up a left hook, but on this occasion surprised Holyfield by firing a right cross. Holyfield tied Tyson up and revealed the first surprise of the fight—his superior strength—as he pushed Tyson backwards. Tyson would never seriously hurt Holyfield for the remainder of the fight. Holyfield defended effectively for the rest of round one and hammered Tyson with several counterpunches. After the end of the round, Tyson threw a punch after the bell; an unintimidated Holyfield retaliated. In the second, Holyfield drove Tyson into the ropes and stung him with a hard combination, and his strategy for the match became clear. As Tyson mainly threw one punch at a time, Holyfield blocked the first attack, then used his strength to clinch, and shove Tyson backwards. Keeping Tyson on the back foot minimized his power and affected his balance, and gave Holyfield the opportunity to come forward and score with combinations to the head. As the rounds passed, Tyson was unable to adjust, and found himself being thoroughly outboxed. In the fifth round, Tyson landed a fierce combination, his best of the match, and Holyfield was hurt.[8]
In the sixth round, Tyson was cut by a headbutt from Holyfield that Halpern judged to be accidental. Then, as the round progressed, Holyfield caught Tyson with a left that dropped him to the canvas. This was the first time Tyson had been knocked down since his lone defeat, and Holyfield continued parrying Tyson's charges and catching him with punches to the head. With 15 seconds left in the seventh round, Tyson lunged at Holyfield as Holyfield came forward, resulting in a hard clash of heads. Tyson cried out in pain and his knees buckled, but again the referee judged the headbutt to be unintentional. Tyson was examined by the ring doctor, and tied Holyfield up for the rest of the round. During the next two rounds, Tyson continued missing wild punches and absorbing counterpunches from Holyfield. At the end of the tenth round, a punch from Holyfield sent Tyson staggering across the ring. Holyfield chased him into the ropes and landed a series of devastating blows. By the sound of the bell, Tyson was out on his feet and defenseless, but his corner allowed him out for the eleventh. Holyfield quickly landed another brutal extended combination, sending Tyson back into the ropes.[9] Halpern had seen enough, and he stopped the fight, giving Holyfield one of the most famous upset victories in the history of boxing.[10][failed verification]
Aftermath
Holyfield also became the first person since Muhammad Ali to win a heavyweight championship belt three times, although, unlike Ali, Holyfield's third championship win had not been for the lineal heavyweight title,[11] which was at that time held by George Foreman. At the post-fight press conference, Tyson addressed Holyfield: "Thank you very much. I have the greatest respect for you."[12]
