Legend Of Tyson Now A Myth

Muhammad Ali outsmarted George Foreman for what was the greatest upset in boxing history. Evander Holyfield beat up Mike Tyson on Saturday night.

For that reason, what Holyfield pulled off in the MGM Grand Garden is now the biggest upset in boxing. The odds against what Holyfield did aren’t needed to certify it.

Holyfield, after all, was a guy who just a few months ago was forced to undergo a battery of tests to make sure his heart, which forced him into retirement a couple years ago, was fit enough to survive a tango with Tyson. He was a guy who, upon returning to the ring last year, struggled to beat the journeyman Ray Mercer, was stopped by the world’s most-undedicated fighter, Riddick Bowe, and barely beat an overweight cruiserweight, Bobby Czyz, last May in New York.

Holyfield was a guy for whom almost no one gave a chance against Tyson, except those who call him family. Look what he did.

Holyfield on Saturday night beat up the baddest man on the planet. All due respect may go to deities, but at least a little must go to this mere mortal from Atlanta.

Holyfield may not be what Ali is, The Greatest. After his stunning Saturday night performance, though, he is standing solidly and undisputedly in second place.

He became, in fact, only the second man next to Ali to regain the heavyweight championship a third time. That in itself is worth a special place in history.

What was most remarkable, however, was what Holyfield accomplished in doing what what he did. He turned a legend he first was supposed to meet five years ago into a myth.

In an odd way, there was nothing different Saturday night and way back then. Still, it was Tyson who needed Holyfield. It was never the other way around.

Tyson needed to meet someone whose courage we did not doubt. Never, after all, has anyone been suspicious of Holyfield’s. Few athletes anywhere have been more fearless as Holyfield, who only added to the tale of his ticker on Saturday.

There Holyfield stood where most boxers of recent times had refused - toe-to-toe with the undisputed baddest man in boxing. Holyfield didn’t flinch, though. He didn’t retreat. He didn’t dive.

Holyfield made it the fight of Tyson’s life, in the ring, at least. The fellow whose sneer had floored as many opponents as his left hook had to fight back. It was Tyson, not his opponent, who had to prove himself.

Tyson had to battle back against a crowd in his home gym that cheered loudest even from the start for the other guy. He had to fight back against a guy who was putting on the smartest fight of his career.

He had to fight back against a man who campaigned as a man of God but wasn’t afraid to do whatever it would take to turn this prize fight into a back-alley brawl.

Tyson even had to battle back against injury - a cut over his left eye. And, for the first time since he suffered what had been his only loss as a professional, Tyson, to everyone’s amazement, had to fight his way off the canvas. That was where Holyfield put him just before the end of the sixth round. What kept him standing through Holyfield’s barrage in the 10th and 11th rounds, before referee Mitch Halpern saved him with 2:23 and the 12th round to go, no one could know.

Tyson was as beaten a man as you will see in the ring. It wasn’t that close.

Tyson isn’t the best fighter in the world anymore.

Now, we know what Tyson is: He is the second-best fighter on the planet.

Tyson was asked the other day what the difference was between fighting Evander Holyfield now and fighting him five years ago, which, of course, never happened. Tyson replied, “I would’ve knocked him out earlier.”

Maybe so.