In short: on June 28, 1997, Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield on both ears during the third round of their heavyweight rematch at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Referee Mills Lane disqualified him at the end of the round, and the Nevada State Athletic Commission revoked Tyson’s licence and fined him $3 million, 10% of his purse. He was reinstated roughly a year later.
Few nights in boxing history are as infamous as June 28, 1997, when Mike Tyson bit a chunk out of Evander Holyfield‘s ear inside the MGM Grand in Las Vegas — twice — and turned what was supposed to be a heavyweight revenge fight into one of the sport’s most notorious disqualifications. The rematch is remembered today almost entirely for the bites, but the context that led to that night matters just as much as the chaos itself.
Tyson’s Search for Revenge After a Shocking First Loss
Tyson entered his first meeting with Holyfield in November 1996 as a heavy favorite. He was the more feared name in the division, and Holyfield was widely viewed as past his prime, a veteran being fed to a still-dominant Tyson on his march back toward undisputed status. Instead, Holyfield outboxed and outfought Tyson, eventually stopping him with a TKO in the 11th round. It remains one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight boxing history.
The loss stunned Tyson and the boxing world, and a rematch was set almost immediately, both because of the money it would generate and because Tyson wanted a chance to reclaim what Holyfield had taken from him. By fight night, the buildup carried real animosity — Tyson felt disrespected, and there were accusations flying about head clashes and tactics from the first fight. Tyson came in looking for validation, not just a win.
The rematch was one of the most anticipated events in boxing at the time, drawing enormous pay-per-view interest and a media buildup befitting two heavyweights with a genuine, unresolved score to settle. Tyson had spent years as the most feared and bankable fighter in the sport, and a win over Holyfield was supposed to be the first step back toward reclaiming that status.
The First Bite and a Fight That Should Have Ended
The rematch didn’t go any better for Tyson than the first fight had. Holyfield was again out-landing and out-working him, and head clashes opened a cut over Tyson’s right eye and frustrated him further as the fight progressed. By the third round, Tyson appeared to be losing control of both the fight and his composure.
Then, in a clinch during round three, Tyson bit down on Holyfield’s right ear, tearing off a piece of it. Holyfield leapt away in obvious pain, and referee Mills Lane stopped the action to assess the damage. Remarkably, after a two-point deduction, Lane allowed the fight to continue rather than disqualifying Tyson on the spot — a decision that, in hindsight, only delayed the inevitable.
The Second Bite and Tyson’s Disqualification
The fight resumed, and almost unbelievably, Tyson bit Holyfield again in the same round — this time on the other ear. There was no ambiguity left and no case for continuing. Mills Lane disqualified Tyson at the end of the third round, ending the fight and, for all practical purposes, ending the competitive chapter of Tyson’s career as boxing’s most feared heavyweight.
The scene afterward was chaos. Holyfield’s camp was furious, the crowd inside the MGM Grand was in disbelief, and replays of the bites played on a loop across every sports broadcast in the country. What had been billed as a legitimate heavyweight rematch instantly became one of the strangest and most talked-about endings in boxing history. Ringside commentators struggled to describe what they had just witnessed, and the incident instantly became a fixture of pop culture commentary for years afterward, referenced constantly outside of boxing circles.
The Suspension, the Fine, and a Legacy Permanently Altered
The Nevada State Athletic Commission moved quickly and decisively. Tyson’s boxing license was revoked, and he was fined $3 million, 10% of his $30 million purse and the maximum the commission could impose. He was eventually granted a license reinstatement after roughly a year away from the sport, but the damage to his standing was already done.
Tyson did return to boxing and continued fighting for years afterward, but he never again reached the heights of his prime or fully escaped the shadow of the bite fight. It became the defining image many casual fans carry of him — not the destructive young champion who terrorized the division in the late 1980s, but the desperate fighter who resorted to biting rather than accept another loss to Holyfield. It remains the single clearest example in modern boxing of a legendary champion unraveling in real time under the pressure of a fight he was losing.
More than a quarter-century later, “the Bite Fight” is still the first thing many people think of when Tyson’s name comes up, a testament to how thoroughly that single night reshaped his public legacy. Holyfield, for his part, cemented his reputation as the rare fighter who beat Tyson twice — by 11th-round stoppage in 1996 and by disqualification in the rematch.
Holyfield needed medical attention for his torn ear but was able to continue his career at the highest level for years afterward, adding to a legacy that already included multiple heavyweight championship reigns. Tyson’s disqualification loss, by contrast, is rarely discussed alongside his in-ring statistics. It’s discussed as a cautionary tale about a great champion who couldn’t handle losing to the one man who had already beaten him once, and who chose disqualification over accepting a second defeat.
Corrected 23 October 2026: the fine was $3 million, 10% of Tyson’s $30 million purse (the legal maximum), not “a substantial portion”; Lane deducted two points for the first bite, not one; the head clash cut was over Tyson’s right eye; the claim that Tyson spat out his mouthpiece before the first bite was removed (he had earlier come out without it and was sent back to put it in); Holyfield beat Tyson twice in the ring, by stoppage in 1996 and by disqualification in 1997.
