The ear bite controversy between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield: Iron Mike's 2009 apology

Even though Iron Mike had incredibly successful career, his disqualification in their second fight against Evander Holyfield will forever mar his reputation. Tyson bit Holyfield's opponent and was disqualified in the second bout as the referee made the stoppage. Holyfield stopped Tyson after 11 rounds the first time around. Initially, he apologized to Holyfield, but it wasn't extremely sincere and, after he later confirmed it, he said that it wasn't really sincere. A couple of years ago, Tyson talked about the incident and his initial apology on the Oprah Winfrey Show, claiming he didn't feel remorse and wasn't genuinely sorry at the time.

His offense was that he had to apologise for something he wasn't ready to apologize for because he was pressured to do so, rather than what he had done. As a former champion,cThere was also a discussion about this with Oprah Winfrey, who stated that she knew the apology was not genuine. Furthermore, he stated that he would apologize to Holyfield if he had the chance to do so, noting that he was wary of him when they saw each other. On that day in 1997, Tyson apologized for his infamous actions all those years ago to Holyfield, followed by Holyfield joining them on set.

"This is a beautiful guy, I and he both come from the sewers," he said directly to his former nemesis on the show. I want to tell you that it has been a pleasure being acquainted with you throughout my life. You and I both grew up to become respected fighters, you know what I mean? The moment they finally buried the hatchet after over a decade of war following the bite in the ring was beautiful. He shook Holyfield's hand, who appeared grateful for the apology, and accepted the kind words of Iron Mike as he atoned for one of his wrongs.