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| Date | October 23, 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1st-round no contest after Tyson committed a foul | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mike Tyson vs. Orlin Norris was a professional boxing match contested on October 23, 1999. [1] The match was stopped and ruled a no contest before the second round after Tyson committed a foul, injuring Norris.
After a year-and-a-half long layoff, Mike Tyson made his long-anticipated return to boxing on January 16, 1999 against Francois Botha. Though Tyson appeared sluggish throughout the bout and trailed on all scorecards going into the fifth round, he was able to land a powerful right hand in the round that dropped Botha to the canvas. Botha attempted to get back up, but was unable to do so and Tyson escaped with the knockout victory. [2] However, shortly after his victory over Botha, Tyson was convicted of assaulting two motorists in Indiana the year before and sentenced to one year in prison. [3] Tyson would serve four months in prison before being paroled for good behavior on May 21 and then being officially released on June 4. [4] After his release, Tyson began training in Arizona for the second fight in his comeback, which was scheduled to happen in the fall of 1999. [5] Though several heavyweight contenders, including Michael Moorer, Shannon Briggs and Axel Schulz were brought up as possible opponents prior to Tyson's arrest, [6] it was announced that former WBA Cruiserweight champion Orlin Norris would meet Tyson on October 23, 1999. [7] 10 years prior, a then up-and-coming Norris had emerged as a contender to Tyson's Undisputed Heavyweight title, but Tyson's 1990 loss to James "Buster" Douglas prevented the match from happening and Norris moved down to the cruiserweight division shortly after. [8] In 1996, Norris returned to the heavyweight division with a victory over former IBF Heavyweight champion Tony Tucker. Norris would then win his next two fights and was installed as the WBA's number two contender, however, a dispute with powerful boxing promoter Don King dropped him to the number six rank in the WBA's standings. After a successful lawsuit, Norris was promised a WBA "eliminator" fight against Henry Akinwande, which took place in December 1997, but Norris lost both the fight and the chance to face then-WBA champion Evander Holyfield. [9] Though the 34–year old Norris was well past his prime by the time of his fight with Tyson, he nevertheless regarded the bout as a "big opportunity" and remained confident that he could defeat Tyson and gain his long-awaited shot at one of the major heavyweight titles in the process. [10]
The fight would only last one round. Tyson was clearly the aggressor for the fight's first and only round, constantly having Norris on the defensive and throwing several power punches during the round. Norris offered little offense during the round, only landing a few jabs while mostly attempting to avoid trading blows with the stronger Tyson. At the very end of the round, Tyson and Norris were engaged in a clinch. Just after the bell sounded, Tyson landed a left hand that dropped Norris to the mat. As a result, referee Richard Steele deducted two points from Tyson on the judge's official scorecards. Both Norris and Tyson then proceeded to their respective corners, but after the bell rang to signify the start of the second round, Norris remained seated on a stool in his corner as Steele granted him extra time. Norris then notified the official ringside doctor Flip Homansky that he had injured his knee following the fall and as a result, could not continue with the fight, which was stopped and ruled a no-contest. A disappointed Tyson had to be restrained by his corner from confronting Norris.
Tyson accused Norris of faking his knee injury in order to get out of the fight without recording an official loss and publicly announced his intentions to meet Norris in a rematch in December of that same year. Norris, however, maintained his innocence, stating that he "just went down the wrong way on my right knee." [11] Because of his illegal punch, Tyson's $8.7 million purse was temporally withheld from him by the Nevada State Athletic Commission as they reviewed whether or not he had intentionally hit Norris after the bell, but they chose not to punish him further and granted him his full purse only a week after the fight. [12] Tyson then chose not to proceed with a rematch with Norris and instead agreed to face British journeyman Julius Francis in Manchester in January 2000. Norris then filed a $2 million lawsuit against Tyson, claiming that Tyson had broken an agreement that the two had made for the rematch in which Norris was reportedly promised a $2 million payday. However, Norris's request was denied by a Manhattan judge who stated that he did not think Norris' argument would prevail in court. [13]
Confirmed bouts: [14]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 Australia | Sky Channel |
 United States | Showtime |
Evander Holyfield is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and was the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes in the "three belt era", a feat later surpassed by Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk, who became two-weight undisputed champions in the four-belt era. Nicknamed "the Real Deal", Holyfield is the only four-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBA, WBC, and IBF titles from 1990 to 1992, the WBA and IBF titles again from 1993 to 1994, the WBA title a third time from 1996 to 1999; the IBF title a third time from 1997 to 1999 and the WBA title for a fourth time from 2000 to 2001.
Tony Craig Tucker is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1998. He won the IBF heavyweight title in 1987, and was the shortest-reigning world heavyweight champion at just 64 days. In an interview with Barry Tompkins, he referred to himself as the "invisible champion," due to the press and general public largely neglecting him. He is best known for giving Mike Tyson in his prime a relatively close fight, in which he, in the words of Larry Merchant, "rocked Tyson" in the first round. However, Tyson went on to win a unanimous decision. As an amateur, he won the 1979 United States national championships, the 1979 World Cup, and a gold medal at the 1979 Pan American Games, all in the light heavyweight division.
Orlin Levance Norris is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1986 to 2005. He held the WBA cruiserweight title from 1993 to 1995. As an amateur, he won the National Golden Gloves title. He is the brother of retired former champion Terry Norris.
Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield, billed as Finally, was a professional boxing match fought between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson for the WBA heavyweight championship on November 9, 1996, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The bout was Tyson's first defence of the WBA title that he had won from Bruce Seldon on September 7 of that year.
Mike Tyson vs. Peter McNeeley, billed as He's Back, was a professional boxing match contested on August 19, 1995. The match marked the return of Mike Tyson to professional boxing after over four years away due to his 1991 arrest and subsequent conviction for rape in 1992 which led to Tyson serving three years in prison.
Buster Douglas vs. Evander Holyfield, billed as The Moment of Truth, was a professional boxing match contested on October 25, 1990, for the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight championships. The bout took place at the Mirage in Paradise, Nevada, USA and saw Douglas making the first defense of the titles he won from Mike Tyson in February 1990.
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Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis, billed as Undisputed, was a professional boxing match contested on March 13, 1999 for the WBA, WBC, and IBF undisputed heavyweight championship.
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Lennox Lewis vs. Francois Botha, billed as The Homecoming, was a heavyweight professional boxing match contested between WBC, IBF, and IBO champion Lennox Lewis and the WBC's #9 ranked contender Francois Botha. The bout took place on 15 July 2000 at the London Arena in England. Lewis defeated Botha via second-round technical knockout to retain his heavyweight titles.
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