‘Real Deal’ tells of meeting after ear bite

Two-weight world champion Evander Holyfield is reported by friends of WBN, BoxingScene.com to have spoken about the infamous ear bite he suffered at the hands of Mike Tyson in 1997 when the two fighters met in a rematch for the WBA heavyweight title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Holyfield, who turns 49 a week tomorrow, is hoping to be confirmed as Alexander Povetkin’s maiden title challenger for the same belt in December and reminisced with George Lubrich about the incident that shocked the world of boxing fourteen years ago.

"Tyson wanted to finish the fight quickly, and he was afraid of getting knocked out, so he felt that he had to bite me,” said Holyfield.

“A week later, at a basketball game in New York, we saw each other in the elevator and Mike just asked me 'hey, are you okay?'

“That was his way of apologizing. Everyone thought we were going to fight in the elevator. Why? I made $35 million for a championship fight, and Mike made $25 million all in nine minutes.

“Now why would we fight for nothing?” he added.

The one-time undisputed champion of the world has vowed to continue to fight until he regains a version of the world title and is unbeaten since 2008, enjoying his best run in ten years.

Povetkin, 32, is undefeated in 22 pro contests and claimed the title with a unanimous points win over former champion Ruslan Chagaev for the title previously owned by Britain’s now retired David Haye.