Bobby Czyz: I understand why Mike Tyson took a chunk out of Evander Holyfield's ear

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SIXTEEN years ago one of the most shocking acts took place inside the ring. With many millions watching, expecting violence of the legalised variety, an unhinged Mike Tyson inexplicably and shamefully sank his teeth into the ear of arch-rival Evander Holyfield, not once but twice.

At first, no-one watching knew what was happening as Evander leapt into the air and began waving his arms around, but it was soon clear what had transpired: Tyson, the self-proclaimed “Baddest Man On the Planet,” had committed an act that all but ruined his name as an athlete and threatened to plunge a sport that had already endured its share of unattractive headlines into disrepute.

Along with “The Fight Doctor,” Ferdie Pacheco and Steve Albert, former IBF light-heavyweight and WBA cruiserweight champ Bobby Czyz called the fight for the Showtime network in the U.S. Like millions of others, Czyz is unable to forget that astonishing evening.

“At first it was difficult to see what was happening,” Bobby says, thinking back to that day inside a packed MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“I wasn’t sure at all, but after the second bite it was plain to see what was happening; obviously you are never looking for a thing like that, one guy biting the other! I could sort of relate to it, because I got bit myself, in my second pro fight - the guy bit me in the shoulder. And so I do kind of get the frustration factor, and Tyson did later say he didn’t remember doing it. And there is such a thing as a stress blackout. But at the same time, I do have issues with [accepting] that, because Tyson bit him the first time, but then he did it again. It appeared to be a conscious act, that second bite.”

Having to gather his thoughts as these nightmarish events took place before his eyes, Czyz recalls his emotions upon realising what Tyson, a fighter he admired, had done.

“The first bite shocked me, there really wasn’t anything you could relate to with that; nothing on that scale of horror and shock. It was the first time in my life that I was actually speechless! The second bite, I was upset because I knew then there was no way he wasn’t going to be DQ’d. Tyson had shown malice with his actions, to the point where in a court of law his actions would have been deemed as bad as can possibly be. The fight, which had so much anticipation to the point where you could feel the energy and the excitement in the air, had been totally ruined. I heard people at ringside screaming for their money back. And again, I’m not justifying Tyson’s act or acts, but Holyfield did butt, he did use his elbows and his forearms. I ought to know, he did it to me when I fought him [losing via 5th-round corner retirement in May of 1996]. But the difference is, I didn’t bite him! But Holyfield goes and does all these illegal things and then, after the fight, he says ‘praise be to Jesus,’ and everybody forgives him. So I can kind of see why Tyson snapped.

“You know, even today there is around 60 per cent of the human brain that we don’t really know what it actually does. Some people just have that side to their mental make-up, where they are prone to do bad things. There will always be good, rational people, and there will always be bad, irrational people in the world. And with the sheer stress and pressure he was under, Tyson may have snapped and it’s as simple as that, although it was shocking and unforgettable.”

Today, Czyz says he was surprised the fight wasn’t terminated instantly, after the first bite. Instead, round-three was permitted to be fought to the bell.

“I couldn’t believe he wasn’t DQ’d after the first bite. But I knew straight away that Tyson would be suspended. I just didn’t know for how long. The key thing for me was the fact that it was two separate acts: bite one and bite two. He [Tyson] really seemed as though he wanted to completely rip his ear off. That’s why he went back and did it that second time.”

With millions of armchair fans screaming at their TV screens and thousands of fans inside the MGM baying for Tyson’s blood, Czyz somehow managed to keep his composure.

“It’s part of the job, staying calm,” the 51-year-old explains.

“You always have to be in control. Also, I have people talking in my ear as I’m talking [when commentating]. You have to think about what you’re going to say and what you’re going to comment on. But again, for this fight, no-one knew what the hell to say (laughs). It was just a terrible, shocking night. It was not a good night at all. Afterwards, we were all full of adrenaline and no-one could stop talking about the fight, but how many times can you say, ‘I don’t know what to say!?’”

After calling a fight, Czyz would usually go out with friends and enjoy recalling the evening’s action. But after “The Bite Fight,” Bobby was in no mood to go anywhere but home. Czyz says he didn’t witness any of the reported mayhem that transpired after the fight had ended.

“I went upstairs and got changed, ready to go home. And later I did hear stories about shots having been fired outside the casino, but I didn’t see anything myself. But it really wouldn’t surprise me if that did go on. I heard a whole lot of different things. With the confusion, the anger and the disappointment people were going through, some people in the crowd were prone to going a little crazy themselves. But I got changed and just went home. As I said, it wasn’t a good night in any way.”

Perhaps surprisingly, Czyz feels boxing and its image didn’t overly suffer due to Tyson’s act of cannibalism.

“I really don’t think boxing suffered too much as a result,” Bobby says thoughtfully.

“I think Mike Tyson suffered and a lot of damage was done to him - to him and to his reputation. His reputation never fully recovered. Some people labelled him a coward, others said he was simply crazy.”

Also perhaps surprisingly, Bobby does not choose the word coward to describe Tyson and his actions of June, 1997. Czyz, however, does not hold back with his criticism and his suspicions regarding Holyfield and his overall career.

“No,” Bobby says point-blank when asked if coward is the word he would use to describe the Tyson of that bizarre night.

“I just think he’d had enough and snapped. Watch the tape of the fight, and look at how many times Holyfield put his head into Mike’s face and how many times he used his elbows and forearms. Again, this is not justifying what Tyson did, but I can in a way see why he snapped. Holyfield did get away with lots of things, and he did so throughout his career. There were people in his corner doing whatever they could to make sure he didn’t lose. When I fought him, I swear, my face, my eyes, were burning - the skin was actually coming off my face! But [after] the post-fight investigation, the results came back as inconclusive! There is no such thing as inconclusive in a case like that. Why was my face burning? I’ve never had a satisfactory answer to this day.”

Along with a number of other people - former Holyfield foe Dwight Muhammad Qawi for example - Czyz has his doubts over whether or not “The Real Deal” achieved all that he did without relying on “artificial enhancement.”

“Let me put it this way: how can you go from 190-pounds to 218-pounds, putting on 28-pounds of muscle, while losing body fat, and yet increase your strength? It’s impossible. It’s impossible. I don’t care, it can’t be done without artificial enhancement. Let’s face it, people do cheat - look at Lance Armstrong. You cannot be superman, you just can’t.”

Czyz sums up his recollections of “The Bite Fight” by attempting to rate both rival heavyweight legends.

“Today, despite everything that happened, I look at both guys as great fighters, both of them will go down as great heavyweight champions. But some of Holyfield’s achievements I do look at as very questionable. I mean, today there are a lot of baseball players having their records taken away due to cheating and being caught. I do have questions over Holyfield, no doubt. Tyson, I’ve ran into him from time to time and he is a changed man. The lady he’s married to now, she’s changed him greatly. It’s difficult to say who the better fighter out of the two is. With regards to who won both fights, that’s a question of styles making fights. Tyson lost both fights, but it’s up to the historians when it comes to who is ranked as the greater fighter.”

Bobby has one final interesting anecdote, this one regarding Holyfield-Tyson fight-one.

“It’s funny when you mention who I was picking going into the rematch. The first fight between Tyson and Holyfield was just after I fought Holyfield, and after Tyson lost in that upset (via 11th-round TKO in November of 1996), some people from his camp told me that was my fault! They said that because Holyfield looked so bad against me, Tyson didn’t train properly for Evander. I wasn’t sure who would win the second fight. This time Tyson had trained hard, so I was intrigued, just like everyone else. It’s just a big, big shame that, because of what happened, we never found out. That was just a day, and a fight and an ending I will never, ever forget.”

Useless fighter who made millions from being white........and then poo pooed on his race by saying only black fighters can fight!!! Hope he was including himself in that comment..

Convicted of going into his ex-girlfriends house with a gun and causing damage and committing assault I believe also...............A bite on the ear is probably tame in comparison..

and guilty of being Ko magazine's featured interview three times when more deserving fighters never got the chance once...........

He can sling it..

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Useless fighter who made millions from being white........and then poo pooed on his race by saying only black fighters can fight!!! Hope he was including himself in that comment..

Convicted of going into his ex-girlfriends house with a gun and causing damage and committing assault I believe also...............A bite on the ear is probably tame in comparison..

and guilty of being Ko magazine's featured interview three times when more deserving fighters never got the chance once...........

He can sling it..

No need to sit on the fence Truss  

Well what would you expect from a pathetic ra pist.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Useless fighter who made millions from being white........and then poo pooed on his race by saying only black fighters can fight!!! Hope he was including himself in that comment..

Convicted of going into his ex-girlfriends house with a gun and causing damage and committing assault I believe also...............A bite on the ear is probably tame in comparison..

and guilty of being Ko magazine's featured interview three times when more deserving fighters never got the chance once...........

He can sling it..

Spot on Truss

Perhaps that's true Truss, but doesn't mean we can't take his opinion on things seriously on boxing matters, considering he was a boxer and to be fair, he makes some good points in the article.

Tyson himself wasn't above fighting a bit dirty,I remember him trying to break Botha's arms when the fight wasn't going his way.I can't remember many of Holyfield's opponents complaining of foul play though but Czyz's was a strange one and not one of Holyfield's better performances coming just after his defeat by Bowe.

Holyfield was dirty that night, It was horrid

rapidringsroad wrote:   Tyson himself wasn't above fighting a bit dirty,I remember him trying to break Botha's arms when the fight wasn't going his way.I can't remember many of Holyfield's opponents complaining of foul play though but Czyz's was a strange one and not one of Holyfield's better performances coming just after his defeat by Bowe.

To be fair that was well after Holyfield the Botha one, Tyson had seemingly just lost it completely around that point.