[Ian Lord]

29th - Las Vegas, NV

Caesar's Palace, on the Vegas strip, played host to the rubber match between former world heavyweight champion, 'Iron' Mike Tyson, and Atlanta's Evander 'The Real Deal' Holyfield. These two had fought a barnstormer the previous month, with Holyfield winning a points decision. It was eagerly awaited, but at one point the match looked in doubt, when at a press conference the week before the fight it had, a mini riot broke out. The two men were eyeballing each other for the publicity shots when Tyson suddenly hurled abuse at Holyfield and then rushed him. Security were quick of the mark and prevented the two men having a brawl, although GBA President Iggy Lord was knocked over in the melee. When asked whether Tyson would be disiplined, Lord said he would, but after the fight, so the fight went ahead.

It picked up where the previous bout had left of, with Tyson going down in the opening round from a cross. He was up at five. This had the crowd on their feet. Holyfield was then put down in the following round when Tyson came rushing out after the bell and dropped Holyfield for a count of four.
Things calmed down in the next round, with Holyfield landing the more shots and taking the round, then Tyson really opened up ni the fourth, landing some punishing blows which Holyfield managed to weather, although his knee nearly touched the canvas at one point following a vicuos uppercut. Holyfield's left eye also bagan to swell. The backward and forwardness of this contest carried on in the fifth when Holyfield came out landing some big shots and winning the round big, causing Tyson's left eye to begin swelling in the process. Holyfield took the sixth with some counter-punching, waiting for Tyson to swing and miss, then nailing him, then Holyfield really opened up in the seventh, causing Tyson's other eye, his right one, to begin swelling. Tyson looked out of gas when he trudged back to his corner at the end of the round but surprised everyone in the eighth by dropping Holyfield for seven. By now though, he was spent. Holyfield took the last two rounds comfortably and it went to the scorecards, and a split decision was announced. The crowd waited with baited breath as the scores were read out, with Al Lefkowitz scoring it 95-92 Holyfield, Carol Castellano 94-93 Tyson, and Glen Trowbridge 95-92 to the winner....Evander Holyfield.

Holyfield was elated and jumped for joy, whilst Tyson, who has now lost four out of his last five, looked dejected with slumped shoulders, although he went over to congratulate the winner before making an exit from the ring. Holyfield stated that he wants the winner of next months world heavyweight title fight between the champion, Riddick Bowe, and his challenger Larry Holmes.
Holyfield improved to 10-4 [8], whilst Tyson dropped to 11-5 [10].

Chief support saw tough Philadelphian middleweight Bernard 'The Executioner' Hopkins run out an easy winner against John David Jackson. Scores were 99-88 twice and 99-89, all for Hopkins in this ten rounder. He outboxed Jackson, now 6-6 [1], and dropped him in the third and ninth rounds to improve to 6-4 [3].

Heavyweight's 'Terrible' Tim Witherspoon and Mike 'Hercules' Weaver fought a re-match of last months exciting eight round draw at this same arena. This one was also scheduled for eight. Weaver took the first two rounds comfortably, but was then knocked out at the 2.34 mark of round three. Witherspoon improved to 8-9-1 [5], Weaver is now 7-11-1 [5].

Hard hitting Mexican lightweight Bazooka Limon knocked out Ernesto Espana at the 2.18 mark of round seven with a crippling bodyshot. Espana had already been down earlier in the round. Both men came out for the opening round throwing leather, although it was soon obvious that Limon had the greater artillery, although he did suffer a flash knockdown in the fourth and a gash under his lefty eye. However, it seemed to spur him on as he then put Espana down in the fifth and sixth, before finishing matters in the seventh. Limon's record is now 2-2 [2], while Espana's is 2-2-1 [2].

Middlweight Frank Tate, 8-5-2 [1], boxed his way to a ten round unanimous points verdict over Mark Medal, now 5-5-1 [1], in what was a bit of a chess match. Scores were 99-92, 99-91, and 97-93.

The opener between lightweights Hilmer Kenty and Art Frias turned into a bit of a mis-match, with Kenty dominating from the opener, dropping Frias for an eight count. Kenty opened a gash above Frias' left eye in the second and the referee stopped the contest after consulting the ringside docter. Kenty improved to 3-2 [2], whilst Frias dropped to 0-5.