Do you blame Mike Tyson for biting Evander Holyfield's ear?

Considering he was headbutted 5 times in the second fight alone I can't really blame him.

I probably would have picked Holyfield up and threw him over the apron though.

 

Tyson was on the antidepressant drug Zoloft at the time of the Holyfield rematch. Zoloft is a very contraversial prescription drug for depression which hits your system quickly but also leaves quickly (unlike Prozac which slowly insinuates itself into your system but also leaves your body slowly). Tyson, instead of being weaned off of the Zoloft, would abruptly be taken off of it close to fight time. This is a dangerous practice which causes violent, angry outbursts and terrible mood swings. In a mercurial and moody individual like Tyson this was akin to a ticking time bomb which reared its ugly head in the Holyfield fight. As someone who has been on Zoloft I can say from experience that Tyson had no control over himself after the series of butts from Holyfield. I know how dangerous Zoloft is because I was also on it on and off during the late-90's.

 

Indeed the biting was his responsibility, he made the outrageous decision to do it and I am angry at him for not retaliating correctly with either low blows or elbows, it should have been a great fight. Tyson wanted to cause as much pain as possible, but he also wanted to quit due to the nasty cuts above his eyes and the anger that he knew Holyfield was free to continue butting without warning, however it is vital one acknowledges the intelligent way Holyfield went about it. What I do despite is claims that he wanted to quit because he was 'losing', imo he won the 2nd round by a wider margin that Holyfield won the 1st.

 

ha ha! brilliant! IMO Mike was looking for a way out

 

It was a dickhead move by Tyson. If you think you've been done wrong... pay him back by beating him with your fists. Holyfield was a better fighter than Tyson and Tyson couldn't handle that. He didn't want to get knocked out again so he found a way out. Tyson robbed the fans of a great rematch, so **** him. I'm still pissed at Tyson for that. I paid for the PPV, that crazy ******* owes me money!

It's a damn fight, not a tickling contest. Toes get stepped on, heads bang together, people get elbowed, you might catch a forearm or get pushed, etc. Get over it. Tyson wasn't exactly a clean fighter prior to this.

 

Come on dude, Tyson charged at Holyfield with his head! If Holyfield had not ducked his head down... he would have been butted in the face. Was Holyfield supposed to just let Tyson butt him in the face? No, Holyfield simply ducked his head down with the attitude of... butt this big melon mother****er! It was more of a defensive move than an attempt to headbutt Tyson.

You all need to let that **** go, it was 1997!

 

exactly.

And just where was the Tyson uppercut if a guy leads with his head? That's exactly what Etienne did was to come straight in with his head down. That's a perfect opponent for a Tyson.

Why didn't he make Evander pay? Having Holyfield walk straight in is a lot different than having the guy on the outside countering Mike's lead right hands that didn't land often.

 

Don't you just get pissed off listening to all the myriad excuses for this ******?
A man who abused his talent, his friends ,and just about everyone who came into contact with him.

 

He was not on Zoloft until after the second Tyson fight.

 

I dont know if Holyfield intentionally tried to headbutt people. He was an offensive fighter and lead with his chin down and his head first and he hurt a lot of guys with his head. The interesting thing is that didnt start until around the Tyson fight when Holyfields style went more flat footed. Ive heard Foreman claim to have complained about it calling Holyfield a very dirty fighter. Holyfield definitely hurt a lot of guys with his head post Tyson and Rahman would be the perfect example. Its hard to cry foul on Holy because the way he did it was actually within the rules of boxing. He wasnt going in and using his head and knocking people like Golota did for example.
Tyson should have retaliated a different way, he used to be the king of throwing elbows. At one point Holyfield even hit him low, and Tyson tried to hit him back low, and Holyfield whacked him with a short hook. He just owned Tyson in every way at that time and Tyson knew it and imploded. Biting was retaliation, but it was also a way to quit.

 

Holyfield was butting back in 1989 in the Dokes fight.

I agree with all that.

It also seems to go unmentioned that Tyson was pretty rough and reckless with his own head, throughout his career.

 

Yes he definitely used to get under his opponents and do that ally oop with his head on his opponents chin. He also threw elbows, in fact now that I think about it he elbowed Bruno really bad in the second fight. Suprised he didnt try that against Holyfield.

Ill have to watch the Dokes fight again its been a while.

 

Wow, pot-kettle here! He who shoved around everybody with his hands and forearms, kidney punched Qawi to his knees, and hit Roman when he was down, complaining about dirty tactics? Live by the sword, die by it, give no quarter, ask for none. Choir boys don't usually win championships. Foreman manhandled Frazier, then got neck yanked into exhaustion by Ali. Welcome to the real world.

I'm typically critical of Tyson, but I do think Mike started out as a pretty clean fighter for his style, then got fed up with the sort of extralegal hi-jinks Smith, Bruno and Holyfield subjected him to.

 

Of course...who else is to blame but Tyson?...that was his version of "No Mas!!!"