Volume 2, Number 7 -- July, 1997
Mike TysonBy Dave Lind
First, a tip of the cap to all you fight fans who predicted
Mike Tyson would eat Evander Holyfield alive.
(Rim-shot!)
But seriously folks ... the ongoing saga that is the career
of Mike Tyson took a dramatic, albeit ugly, turn for the
bizarre the other night as "Iron Mike" turned into
"Hannibal Mike" and helped himself to a slice of
Holyfield's ear. (NOTE: For those of you who wondered, Mike
doesn't swallow, he spits). Tyson's impromptu snack break
led to his disqualification which led to a brief melee in
the ring which led to a near-riot in the stands. All of
which led Don King to wax eloquently on the glory that is
professional boxing.
"This is why boxing is so great," said the
high-haired one, "You never know what's gonna
happen."
Perhaps we should change that last part to, "No matter
what happens, Don King will walk away with a pile of
money."
But I digress.
The real issue to be discussed here is Mike Tyson and what
should happen to him. Currently, the popular vote would be
to withhold his purse, fine him heavily, ban him from boxing
for life, and beat the crap out of him publicly.
For whatever reason, Tyson's actions seem to have struck a
nerve this time. Judging from the moral indication being
expressed on the airwaves and in the papers one would think
Tyson had blown up the Alfred P. Murrah building AND framed
O.J. Not since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor has the
citizenry of the country been so unified in its contempt for
an act of aggression. If I didn't know better, I'd think
Tyson had gone door to door and bitten the ears off of every
man, woman, and child in the United States ... and parts of
Canada.
Well I, for one, would like to take this time to ask you all
to please try to keep this thing in perspective. Let's take
a look at what it is, exactly, that Mike Tyson is guilty of.
He bit Evander Holyfield.
Twice.
During a sanctioned heavyweight bout.
That's it. OK, so he came away with a chunk of Holyfield's
ear in his mouth, that makes it a bit more dramatic, but
it was still simply a bite. In fact, the bite that everyone
seems so concerned with, the one that removed the chunk of
ear in question, did not even result in a disqualification.
It was the second bite, on the left ear, which ended the
fight. Therefore, it could be effectively argued that it
was not the severity of the bite, but the act of biting in
itself which drew the disqualification.
Having established that, and understanding that biting is
clearly an infraction of the rules of boxing, we now must
determine the severity of Tyson's infraction. As I stated,
biting is against the rules, as is head-butting, low blows,
rabbit punching, choking, elbowing, and an assortment of
other "dirty" tactics. All of which are employed
ROUTINELY by virtually every fighter who ever steps into
the ring at one point or another. This is not to say that
all fighters bite, but biting does frequently take place,
as do all of the infractions listed above. Even Evander
Holyfield has admitted to biting an opponent in the past,
and there is no disputing that it was Holyfield's head and
not his fist that opened the gash over Tyson's eye.
Therefore, the debate suddenly becomes not about the
infraction, which itself is no worse than any of the others
previously listed, but about the severity of the wound
itself.
So let's take a look at that, shall we? First and foremost,
did Mike Tyson's actions, in any way, jeopardize Evander
Holyfield's career or his life? The answer is, of course,
"no" In fact, the wound inflicted by Tyson on
Holyfield was so minor that the ringside physician pronounced
Holyfield fit to continue the bout.
Yes, that's right, I said "minor". And no, I would
not like to have my ear bitten off, but I will tell you this:
If given a choice between losing a small chunk of my right
ear and losing an eye or a finger or having my spine broken
or my knee blown out, I say, "Take the ear, Baby! Take
it all!"
Every week in the NFL an offensive lineman will dive into the
knees of a defensive lineman, each time with the potential of
inflicting a career-ending injury. Every day in Major League
Baseball a 90-mile-per-hour fastball is thrown under the chin
of a batter, each one with the potential of inflicting career-
or even life-threatening injury. Hockey players will trip and
spear each other with their sticks, basketball players will
throw elbows and undercut each other on lay-ups, each time
with full knowledge that they run the risk of permanently
disabling the other guy.
So why such a fuss over a bite? Is it because, as many have
pointed out, Holyfield actually lost a part, small though it
may be, of his body? What about the defensive lineman who has
his knee destroyed by an illegal crack-back block? When he
has to have that cartilage or ligament removed from his knee,
does he not "lose a part of his body"? Or does it
not count if you can't see it? And what about the baseball
player who's cheekbone is crushed by a fastball or the hockey
player who's teeth are knocked out by a hockey stick? Are
teeth and bone less important than an ear?
What about the risk of HIV infection, you ask? Fighters, more
than any other athlete, willingly accept that risk. if Holyfield
were exposed to any risk of infection at all it was when he
opened a gash over Tyson's eye with a head butt, unintentional
though it may have been.
Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to minimize what Tyson
did. I only seek to put his infraction in its proper context.
Tyson broke a rule of boxing and he was disqualified from the
bout. He will likely pay a hefty fine, both for his infraction
and for his conduct following the bout. But that is it. To
suggest that his actions warrant more extreme punishment is
silly. He BIT a man, that's it! There was less public outrage
when he raped Desiree Washington! For Pete's sake, if the man
wasn't banned for raping an 18-year-old Sunday school teacher,
how can we possibly be talking about banning him for biting a
220-pound heavyweight boxing champion!
And for the love of Aunt Ethel, please do not embarrass
yourself by saying that he's bad for boxing. On that criteria
Don King would have been fed to the hounds a long time ago.
Mike Tyson, in defeat, in disgrace, in prison, in exile, in
any state you care to discuss him, is still the top draw in
boxing today. Bar none. You think Evander Holyfield could pull
in $30 mil+ by fighting George Foreman again? Riddick Bowe?
Anyone? You know Holyfield doesn't think so, which is why,
tattered ear and all, he kept the door to a rematch open.
Disgrace to boxing? Hardly. He's been boxing's biggest meal
ticket for ten years and will continue to be until something
better comes along.
Yes, Mike Tyson is troubled and yes, he is headed for a massive
meltdown, but there is nothing you or I or anyone other than
Mike Tyson can do to prevent it. Banning him from the sport
would certainly do nothing to change him and would not be at
all proportional to the offense he committed.
Unless, that is, you want to banish him simply for being Mike
Tyson, in which case you have my vote.