Even with Holyfield's and Lewis' success, I think heavyweight boxing seriously declined 20 years ago today

2/11/2010 4:27:38 PM

^agreed

2/11/2010 4:28:08 PM

I was about to turn 4

2/11/2010 4:33:06 PM

%90 of you people have no recollection of this fight

2/12/2010 8:46:49 AM

I was old enough to remember this fight. I remember ESPN breaking in and talking about it.

2/12/2010 8:49:44 AM

I was 4.

2/12/2010 4:38:37 PM

yeah i definitely remember this. my dad was a huge boxing fan back then and it's all he talked about for a week

2/12/2010 5:03:37 PM

Mike was never the same after this fight. And if anyone has ever seen the movie Tyson that HBO did maybe 10-15 years ago, it kind of shows how all his out-of-the-ring problems culminated right before this fight.

Watching this fight live, the only real question seemed to be "will Mike knock him out in the first round"

2/12/2010 5:18:50 PM

I didn't see this, but I sure as hell had it described to me about 50 times the next day at elementary school, including a few kids acting it out (thankfully not against me, just in pantomime).

2/12/2010 7:58:22 PM

They show it on ESPNClassic every now and then

2/12/2010 8:08:12 PM

so didn't this fight come on at like 10 am, since it took place in Japan

2/12/2010 11:17:08 PM

I was nine months old

2/12/2010 11:53:50 PM

I seem to recall leaving a Hornets game, turning on the radio when we were sitting in traffic and learning that he lost. We were all pretty much shocked.

[Edited on February 13, 2010 at 12:10 AM. Reason : hmmm, nope, maybe it was his second loss]

2/13/2010 12:09:50 AM

The NBA All-Star weekend 3-point shoout out and dunk contest were on that night (back then that was must see TV). I was watching it with some friends and we flipped over to HBO and saw the fight was in the 4th round and that was shocking considering Tyson's track record. We flipped back and forth for a few minutes but realized the unthinkable might happen and only watched the fight. If you were old enough it was definitely a you remember where you were when that happened moments.

It sucked that it was in Japan though because I always remember the crowd just sitting there and hardly making any noise. If it took place in Vegas the place would have gone apeshit. The thing was, Tyson's fights were becoming so predictably quick that they had to move it elsewhere to create some interest.

2/13/2010 1:34:23 AM