Tyson v Holyfield III
News that Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield may be going a third time will leave most wondering if they have been reading too much H G Wells.
You’d be wrong to think you had gone back to the 1990s though; unbelievably there is indeed talk of a third fight in the series that saw its last instalment some 13 years ago. It’s all just rumours at this stage, but with the heavyweight division in such a sorry state, Holyfield still active and Tyson in need of a purpose it could be on.
The two former heavyweight champions have one thing in common that could make this bout a reality, money problems. It doesn’t matter about unfinished business or the missing section of “The Real Deal’s” lughole, both of these two have been mired with debt and a third instalment has the potential to be a huge money spinner.
Anyone who saw “Iron Mike” in the 2009 popcorn flick The Hangover can vouch that the man has ballooned. Of course I would never criticise Tyson, never dream of it Mike, but it’s probably within the realms of fairness to say he had put on a bit of poundage in the last couple of years.
However in recent weeks he’s been seen out and about looking a lot leaner, coming back down towards his fighting weight. This has obviously set the rumour merchants scuttling off with news of a possible comeback on the horizon.
In reality it’s hard to say how much interest a fight between the two would generate . On a freak-show level some, on a boxing level none. You just have to look at the Bernard Hopkins v Roy Jones Jnr match-up in April to see that fights that weren’t made in the past that should have been, don’t mean anything now. A lot of fight fans would have grown up watching these two and look back on them, particularly Tyson, fondly as a true superstars of the sport. So PPV sales could go through for nostalgic purposes.
Holyfield never really stopped and is still knocking about somewhere near the top end of a poor heavyweight division. He last fought Francois Botha for the momentous WBF belt and is keen to get a big fight or a world-title shot in the near future and eclipse George Foreman’s achievements of winning a title in his late 40s. Coincidently Tyson fought Botha eleven years ago.
Iron Mike’s career is way past its sell-by date. He lost credibility points with some dismal defeats to Danny Williams and Kevin McBride in which he looked a shadow, a larger shadow in fact, of his former terrifying self. He was not the same man who destroyed a petrified Michael Spinks in 1988.
The first fight between The Real Deal and Iron Mike was a great match-up, Holyfield stifled Tyson and out-boxed him in an 11th round upset. On the night the former cruiserweight champion got his tactics spot on and frustrated the WBA champ in an intriguing battle.
However the second, “the bite fight”, didn’t get going long enough to have any lasting impact, but will always be remembered as the match where Tyson bit a chunk out of Holyfield’s ear.
Maybe Holyfield wants him to do the other one as well for symmetrical purposes because seeing two veteran ex-legends battling it out in the ring is just sad really, there are no winners. It’s not like an old warhorse footballer scoring the winner in the FA cup final in his final outing; more an embarrassing act of desperation and it would be unfortunate if these two are reduced to that.
Tyson is one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, in his pomp a ferocious, powerful, horrifying human being, who looked unbeatable at one stage. It was bad enough watching him lose to McBride let alone scuffling around a ring against Holyfield like something from Requiem for a Heavyweight.
He may have been the “baddest man on the planet” but Tyson would be the “maddest man on the planet” to want to go ahead with this one.
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