Evander Holyfield

Eight years ago, when he ruled his division with an iron fist, Mike Tyson mused about the drama of a heavyweight title bout."There's nothing I ever saw that can compete with a heavyweight championship," Tyson said. "When you go to a comedy show, you know you're going to laugh. When you go to a horror show, you know you're going to be scared. But with heavyweights, it's the idea you never know what will happen."Not even Tyson could have anticipated his horrific ear-biting episode with Evander Holyfield that resulted in his suspension last July.

What is there to say about 1997?It was the year a toupeed sportscaster chomped his longtime lover's back.The year a heavyweight boxer -- and ex-con -- bit off a chunk of his opponent's ear during a fight.The year a movie star sunk his teeth into the stomach of a guy during an argument.And the year a seemingly nice woman with bad teeth gave birth to septuplets.So what can you say about 1997?Well, you could call it The Year That Bit.Sports announcer Marv Albert avoided jail on charges of biting his longtime lover on the back.

"Thank you for this opportunity."Saturday night was the worst night of my professional career as a boxer, and I am here today to apologize, to ask the people who expected more from Mike Tyson to forgive me for snapping in that ring and doing something that I have never done before and will never do again."I apologize to the world, to my family and to the Nevada State Athletic Commission that has always treated me fairly, to Judge Patricia Gifford, who knows that I am proud to be living up to the terms of my probation.

LAS VEGAS -- His personal wealth exceeds $75 million, and he lives in a sprawling 45,000-square foot mansion near Atlanta that is a monument to his fistic achievements.He is now 34 years old, and has been pursuing his cruel trade for most of his life against men determined to hurt him, even against one maniac last June 28 who chewed off a piece of his ear.He is a throwback to another generation, a humble, dedicated athlete who doesn't engage in posturing theatrics, a valiant artist with a deep sense of pride and dignity who never has ducked dangerous opponents.

LAS VEGAS -- Mike Tyson came alone, wearing white, and asked forgiveness here yesterday for biting Evander Holyfield's ears in their heavyweight championship bout Saturday night.Without his co-managers, a tense and animated Tyson seemed to recognize and react to the magnitude of the crisis of this particular moment in his long and tempestuous career.With a bandage over the long cut on his right eyebrow, Tyson marched through a side door to a podium in a hotel meeting room, read a 4-minute, 16-second statement and quickly departed, a day before a hearing that will begin determining his future in boxing.

LAS VEGAS -- Evander Holyfield is looking to draw as big a crowd to share his faith as he can to watch him fight.Two days before he fights Michael Moorer to unify portions of the heavyweight title, Holyfield will act as host for an event he thinks is bigger than his fight.The WBA heavyweight champion is organizing a Christian rally for Nov. 6 that organizers predict will draw 15,000 people for a night of preaching and music.If it does, it will rival the crowd expected for the fight two nights later at the UNLV campus arena that will unify the WBA and IBF versions of the heavyweight title.

Evander Holyfield is going to fight again in May. That worries me a little. The guy he's going to fight is Mike Tyson. That worries me a lot.Now I know what a lot of you are thinking. This dumb cluck columnist is the same one who wrote before the first Tyson-Holyfield show in November that "the best to be hoped for from this fight is three or four brawling rounds to be followed by the blessing of both boxers walking out of the ring."I gave Holyfield no shot at undermining Iron Mike. And because it's my job to type this stuff in, right or wrong, my fingers really did some talking.

Andy Griffith and Tom Selleck, returning to TV the same night? Must be some kind of planetary convergence or something."Friends" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- Look who's back it's our old pal, Tom Selleck, a k a Monica's ex-boyfriend Richard. The two meet up again at the video store and start debating whether they can remain friends. Provided Selleck can fit the occasional guest appearance into his schedule, maybe they can. NBC."High Incident" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- El Camino's finest are out to stop a gang of thieves who not only break into homes but torture the people living there.

NATO will continue to expand until all sides can agree that it is unrecognizable and serves no function.Mars was once flooded. Those canals that never existed overflowed.The only meaningful way to punish Mike Tyson would be to send him back into the ring with Evander Holyfield immediately.Cheer up. Hizzoner found an extra three mill.Pub Date: 7/11/97

LAS VEGAS -- Five years ago, when Tyson vs. Holyfield was first proposed, fight fans considered it a dream match.But when it finally happened last night, it was even more spectacular than anyone could have envisioned. And the ending more shocking as Evander Holyfield, a 10-1 underdog, butchered and battered Mike Tyson before referee Mitch Halpern stopped this classic heavyweight brawl at 37 seconds of the 11th round, giving Holyfield the World Boxing Association heavyweight crown.Holyfield, 34, whose well-being had been questioned by Nevada ring physicians after losing his third fight with Riddick Bowe a year ago, displayed a heart bigger than the arena in battling Tyson from the opening bell.

1 MIAA soccer clash: The No. 4 McDonogh boys get back on the field after falling to Perry Hall and losing their top ranking. The Dons travel to No. 2 Mount St. Joseph for a 4 p.m. match. 2 No snap : Football coach Ralph Friedgen has his weekly news conference today, when he'll try to explain how he'll keep his Terps up for Eastern Michigan after their upset of California. 3 Same old September: Stumbling toward the finish again, the Orioles start their last road trip of the season tonight in Toronto (7:07 p.m., MASN2)

Evander Holyfield, 43, is making another comeback, though I'm not sure if he ever left in the first place. He just sort of disappeared from boxing, much like the past three times he has stepped into the ring. Holyfield hasn't fought in two years or won in four, but he's scheduled to fight Jeremy "The Beast" Bates, 32, on Aug. 18 in Dallas. He has lost his past three bouts and is 2-5-2 since 1999. Somebody needs to save Holyfield from himself. The guy can take a punch - a lot of them, as it turns out - but not a hint.

Evander Holyfield said yesterday that he will fight the indefinite suspension handed down by the New York State Athletic Commission as a result of Saturday night's lopsided loss to journeyman Larry Donald at Madison Square Garden. The suspension, which must be honored by every commission in the nation, was "based on Holyfield's poor performance" against Donald, said NYSAC chairman Ron Scott Stevens. Holyfield's suspension can only be lifted after extensive testing by the New York commission.

Vitali Klitschko is heavyweight boxing's newest world champion. No need to cue a fanfare, though. On Saturday, Klitschko defeated journeyman Corrie Sanders for the World Boxing Council title vacated by Lennox Lewis' retirement. For some boxing observers, it was an uninspired bout that fit the division's diminished status. "It was dreadful," said noted boxing historian Thomas Hauser. "They looked awful. It was embarrassing. "Klitschko was still sucking air during post-fight interviews.

SORTING OUT HEAVYWEIGHTS The best Roy Jones Jr., 35 Record: 49-1, 38 KOs. Skinny: Sport's pound-for-pound best has speed, stamina, decent power. Teased division by dominating John Ruiz only to drop to light heavyweight for lucrative bouts with Antonio Tarver. Self-managed 5-foot-11 fighter weighed 193 for Ruiz. Merit: What can't he do? Demerit: Other than age? None. James Toney, 35 Record: 67-4-2, 43 KOs. Skinny: The 5-11, 220-pound boxer/puncher out-classed Evander Holyfield in ninth-round KO. Has speed, technical skills, surprising power and all-around defensive skills.

THE SPORT of boxing needs Baltimore's Hasim Rahman. Rahman can't do for boxing what Tiger Woods did for golf, but he can fill a void, especially in the heavyweight division. Go ahead, name the five best heavyweights in the world. Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield ... dah, dah, dah. OK, time is up. And then there is Rahman, 31. Right now, he happens to be the most marketable of them all. He is still young and good enough to have some name recognition. He is articulate, a family man and one of the world's greatest success stories, having gone from the penitentiary to once being the heavyweight champion of the world.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - In January, Mike Tyson took a bite out of Lennox Lewis' thigh. Last night, against Lewis, Tyson simply bit off more than he could chew. Tyson had vowed to "kill" Lewis and "spread his pompous brains all over the ring when I hit him." Instead, Tyson was beaten bloody and senseless as the British world champion dominated throughout before scoring an eighth-round knockout at the Pyramid. In successfully defending his World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation crowns, Lewis, 36, denied Tyson, 35, a chance to become the heavyweight division's fourth three-time champion.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Wearing an ice pack on the large lump of flesh over his left eye, Baltimore heavyweight Hasim Rahman looked like the beaten boxer he was at the news conference after his bout with Evander Holyfield on Saturday night. The injury was caused by two apparently accidental head butts from Holyfield, resulting in an eighth-round split decision for Holyfield in a battle of ex-champions before a crowd of 9,138 at the newly renovated Boardwalk Hall. Rahman, 29, was head-butted, yes, but he also had been outhustled, beaten to the punch and driven to the ropes by a 39-year-old man who proved to have an overall advantage in ring generalship despite being past his prime.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - The fighter and the trainer agree: If Hasim Rahman is to defeat Evander Holyfield tomorrow night, he'll have to be both a boxer and a puncher, not exclusively one or the other. For if Rahman tries to play it safe by backing up, Holyfield will wade in and fire away at him. If Rahman tries to go for an early knockout, he could be the one who winds up on the canvas. "It's going to take plenty of heart and plenty of smarts," Rahman said. Said Rahman's trainer, Bouie Fisher: "Power is great, but speed and power are better."

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - The billboards around this gambling city leave no doubt as to the marquee fighter in Saturday's heavyweight bout. Evander Holyfield is up front, and Hasim Rahman is very much in the background. Which is how it should be. Rahman may have more recently held the world title, but Holyfield is indisputably The Man. Among the top 10 highest-grossing, pay-per-view bouts of all time, Holyfield has fought in five. "The big-payday people are [Mike] Tyson, myself and Lennox Lewis.