Latest news with #EvanderHolyfield
IOL News
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
On this day: 'Baddest Man on the Planet' Mike Tyson is punished for biting off an opponent's ear
Bite fight Heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson takes a bite out of fellow champ Evander Holyfield's ear, for which he is punished. 1903 The first Tour de France race starts. 1907 The Orange River Colony, known as the Orange Free State, is granted self-government by the British. Today it's just Free State. 1908 SOS is adopted as the international distress signal. 1910 The Union of South Africa becomes a dominion (with a degree of self governance). 1916 On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 19 000 British soldiers are killed. 1933 Nazi Germany declares that married women shouldn't work. 1938 The SA Press Association (Sapa) – forerunner of the African News Agency (ANA) – is established to facilitate the sharing of news. 1944 At least 2 500 people are killed in London and south-east England by flying bombs (V1 rockets, or 'doodlebugs'). 1947 The passenger ship Willem Ruys, which would be renamed the Achille Lauro – familiar with many South Africans – is launched. 1962 Burundi & Rwanda gain independence from Belgium. 1963 Britain admits their diplomat Kim Philby was a Soviet agent against his homeland. 1970 British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling visits Northern Ireland and is reported as saying: 'For God's sake bring me a large Scotch. What a bloody awful country!' 1979 Sony introduces the Walkman, the first portable cassette player, which – like the iPod – revolutionises how we listen to music. 1997 The Nevada Athletic Commission suspends Mike Tyson indefinitely and withholds his $20m purse because he bit off part of Evander Holyfield's ear during their heavyweight title fight five days previously. 2002 The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. 2017 Mexican police kill 19 gunmen in a drug-related shoot-out in Sinaloa state.2019 Japan resumes commercial whaling. 2020 A world-record drug haul of 14 tons of amphetamines is seized by Italian police in Salerno. 2020 Russian President Vladimir Putin wins a national referendum allowing for a longer presidential term of office. DAILY NEWS
Irish Times
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Dave Hannigan: Cus D'Amato, famed coach of Mike Tyson, was portrayed as a saint. He was far from it
Artie Diamond boxed with the star of David on his shorts, growling and foaming at the mouth as he walked to the ring. Cus D'Amato trained plenty better fighters, just none with as much grit. No quit in this kid. His bark worse than his bite, even when shipping punishment, he never took a backward step. Easy to hit, impossible to put down. His unremarkable professional ledger of 24-9 didn't do justice to the outsized heart of a performer Inside Sports magazine once profiled as 'The toughest SOB who ever lived'. Thirty years after Diamond fought his last, D'Amato unfurled tall tales about him to an impressionable young buck called Mike Tyson . About the punches he took without flinching. His thirst for combat and ability to withstand concussive barrages. And the bank job gone wrong that earned him a 15-year stretch and spawned the birth of his legend. The first day behind bars, an enormous inmate told the welterweight he wanted to make him his prison wife. It was a suggestion that prompted the baby-faced pugilist to lean in and whisper a response, then chomp down on one of his suitor's ears, ripping it off with his teeth. He remained unmolested for the duration of his stay. When Tyson unleashed his own gnashers on Evander Holyfield, he was merely aping the behaviour of Diamond, somebody who the great D'Amato, his mentor, had brought him up to idolise. Eavesdropping yarns about old fighters and watching grainy footage of bouts from long ago was as much part of his unorthodox education as learning his trainer's trademark peekaboo style. READ MORE The complex, troubling relationship between the youngest heavyweight champion in history and the man who moulded him is at the heart of Mark Kriegel's newly-released Baddest Man – The Making of Mike Tyson , a forensic deep dive into his formative years that explains so much of the terrible stuff he did after. With the literary flair of a novelist and the reporting chops of a columnist who once traipsed the New York city streets, Kriegel offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of the Brooklyn where Tyson grew up. It's all here. In lurid detail. Thuggery, shakedowns, pigeon lofts, pimps, whores, hoodlums. Gangs like the Tomahawks, the Jolly Stompers and the Outlaws form the backdrop to the unrelentingly horrific childhood of the latchkey kid known on the corners as 'Dirty Mike'. Mike Tyson (left) KO'd Trevor Berbick in the second round of their WBC heavyweight title fight in 1986 to become world champion aged 20. Photograph: FocusHe saw his mother Lorna Mae fist-fighting lovers one minute, having sex with them the next, often with him in the room. His inevitable path to juvie led him eventually to the care of D'Amato, the wise old boxing sage with an eye for fistic talent and the presumed wherewithal to save the unfortunate man-child from his own predatory instincts. The traditional feelgood narrative. The reality was rather different. Determined to bequeath one more gift to the sweet science, the ageing trainer who previously gave the sport Floyd Patterson turned arch enabler 'In 1988 when I started with the Daily News, there was the prevalent notion of D'Amato as a secular saint of New York,' writes Kriegel. 'Jack Newfield would put him right up there with Jackie Robinson and Bobby Kennedy. I get it. New York is cynical. Newspapers were supposed to be cynical. And during a moment in the city's life when a Times literary critic could write earnestly of Donald Trump's 'elegant simplicity' while reviewing The Art of the Deal, one understands the need to believe in, as you might hear it, at say The Lion's Head, some-f**king-body. D'Amato more than fit the bill. I didn't set out here to diminish D'Amato's legacy…' But he does. With some style. Evincing the reporter's eye for damning detail, he takes a sledgehammer to the 'D'Amato as white saviour' mythology foisted upon the world in the 1980s, when the moribund heavyweight division desperately needed Tyson's demented energy, youthful menace and epic violence. Determined to bequeath one more gift to the sweet science, the ageing trainer who previously gave the sport Floyd Patterson turned arch enabler. Transplanted to rural Catskill from a ghetto that was equal parts Dickens and The Warriors, the kid was allowed to indulge his every proclivity. Damn the consequences as long as he kept winning. For Cus. Former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson (right) with his manager, Cus D'Amato. Photograph:Sifting through this stunning work, you fluctuate between feeling desperately sorry for the child Tyson navigating the carnage of his boyhood, then furiously angry at D'Amato and others for turning a blind eye to his growing litany of teenage offences, adults conveniently forgetting the word 'no' remained in their vocabularies and might have benefited their charge. [ Mike Tyson couldn't turn back time, but he knew that all along Opens in new window ] [ Dave Hannigan: Grotesque Tyson-Paul spectacle the very antithesis of a real sporting event Opens in new window ] Teddy Atlas was a rare truth-teller in that permissive environment. The trainer's training protégé informed the pungent adolescent prospect – his body odour so rank it often preceded him into a room – that he smelled horrendous and needed to wash more. A brave and compassionate move. He later put a gun to Tyson's head on account of him trying to molest his 11-year-old sister-in-law. Offered 5 per cent of the fighter's future earnings by D'Amato to leave and keep schtum, he turned down the money and departed anyway. Atlas exited a tawdry scene that grew even uglier following D'Amato's death and Tyson's inexorable rise. By the time he embarrassed Michael Spinks for all the belts in 1988, the final chapter in this book, he was a tabloid spectacle, married to the actress Robin Givens, manipulated by her controlling mother and already in the treacherous maw of Don King. Not quite imminent, his downfall was certainly inevitable, even as the New York Post heralded him as 'The Baddest Man on Earth'. Baddest? Worse.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Deseret News archives +: Remembering one of Mitt Romney's toughest fights
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney fights five-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield at Charity Vision Fight Night at The Rail Event Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, May 15, 2015. | Kristin Murphy A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives. Has it been 10 years since Mitt Romney fought his biggest fight? Romney, now 78, is retired from political life, leaving the U.S. Senate at the end of 2024. The one-time GOP nominee for president engaged in his share of high-profile battles during his political career, and on this day 10 years ago, entered the ring for his one boxing fight ... against a world heavyweight champion. Advertisement As in two-time world champion Evander Holyfield. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney fights five-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield at Charity Vision Fight Night at The Rail Event Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, May 15, 2015. | Kristin Murphy Per Deseret News accounts: 'On May 15, 2015, Romney walked into the Fullmer Brothers Boxing ring wearing a red robe over a suit, tie and boxing gloves. 'I Will Survive' blared as the former presidential candidate made his entrance. And he did survive. 'A day before the fight, Romney weighed in at 179 pounds. Evander Holyfield was 236. But the 50-pound difference didn't ward off the politician.' 'Romney and Holyfield fought with the purpose of raising money for CharityVision, a Utah-based nonprofit organization that focuses on restoring curable sight impairment worldwide. Corporate sponsorships for the event ranged from $25,000 to $250,000,' as reported by the Deseret News. Advertisement Even the weigh-in the day before drew the usual media attention. Media cover the event as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney weighs in with five-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield in Salt Lake City on Thursday, May 14, 2015. Holyfield was fighting Romney in a charity boxing match to benefit CharityVision. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News Romney only lasted two rounds before throwing in the towel. But he put up a good fight while it lasted. The Republican dodged Holyfield's blows and even landed a few soft punches on the heavyweight champ. His rookie performance impressed Holyfield. 'For a man who's never got in the ring to box, he can throw a jab,' Holyfield said following the match, according to reports. 'He can move around. I was impressed.' Here are some stories about the fight, other charity boxing matches in Utah and the Fullmer gym where Utah's young boxers train: Advertisement "Fight (or farce?) of the century between Mitt Romney, Evander Holyfield is a big hit" "It's been nearly a decade since Mitt Romney and Evander Holyfield squared off in the boxing ring" "Mitt Romney, Evander Holyfield to spar at charity fight in Salt Lake City" "Mitt Romney expected to emcee, not compete in, CharityVision boxing match" "Photo gallery: Evander Holyfield-Mitt Romney weigh in ahead of big fight" "Sikahema knocks out Canseco in first round" "From Tonga to the NFL: Vai Sikahema beating the odds" "Fullmer family boxing legacy lives on in new gym. But it still needs your help" "A politician and a two-time champion face off in charity boxing event" "Stepping into the ring for charity was a terrifying and transformative experience"
