Mike Tyson forked out $3 million dollars in boxing’s biggest fine ever after Evander Holyfield incident in 1997

He was a wrecking ball early in his career, demolishing fighters in seconds with some of the most brutal knockouts ever seen.

However, he became infamous during his rematch with Evander Holyfield in 1997, which cost Mike Tyson millions of dollars.

Mike Tyson bit off Evander Holyfield’s ear during their infamous rematch

One of the most infamous incidents in boxing history came in a fight between two of the all-time greats.

Their bout 28 years ago was a rematch of a 1996 encounter, where Holyfield knocked out Tyson in the eleventh round to claim the WBA Heavyweight title.

Tyson was eager to reclaim his belt after just the second loss of his career, and just seven months later, was back in the ring with Holyfield in the MGM Grand Arena.

This fight was much shorter than the first encounter, but not for good reason. Holyfield repeatedly headbutted Tyson (whether intentionally or not), which riled up Tyson’s camp when they went unpunished by the referee.

By the third round, Tyson was fuming and had had enough. The pair clashed heads early on in the round, before Holyfield jumped backwards in pain, clutching at his now bloodied ear.

Tyson bared his teeth at the heavyweight champion, before the replay showed Tyson chomping down on the ear of Holyfield in one of the most shocking moments in boxing history.

While he was initially docked a point for the indiscretion, the referee quickly disqualified Tyson and handed the victory to Holyfield.

That would not be the end of Tyson’s punishment, though.

Nevada State Athletic Commission fined Mike Tyson $3 million and removed his boxing license

As bizarre, bloody, and brutal as the ear-biting incident had been, nobody really expected Tyson’s fine to be as big as it was.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times in 1997, the Nevada State Athletic Commission ordered Tyson to pay a $3 million fine just eleven days after the ear-biting incident.

This was, and remains to this day, the biggest fine ever imposed on a boxer, showing the severity of Tyson’s actions that night.

He also had his boxing license revoked indefinitely, subject to a yearly review.

The hefty fine was the most Tyson could be docked, due to the laws surrounding the fining of fighters.

The commission legally couldn’t dock him more than 10% of his $30 million fight purse for facing Holyfield, so Tyson still made a large chunk of money despite his disqualification.

His suspension also only lasted for less than two years, as Tyson returned to the ring in January 1999 to knock out Francois Botha in the fifth round.