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Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield, billed as "Finally", was a professional boxing match fought between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson for the World Boxing Association heavyweight championship on November 9, 1996 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bout was Tyson's first defense of the WBA title that he had won from Bruce Seldon on September 7 of that year. The referee officiating the fight was Mitch Halpern. The fight was promoted by Don King Promotions and carried on pay-per-view by Showtime. The bout was the first fight pitting the two boxers against each other and it would be followed up with a subsequent rematch. ==Background== This was Tyson's first defense of the WBA championship. Holyfield was fighting for the fourth time since he elected to return to boxing in 1995; Holyfield had suffered a defeat at the hands of Michael Moorer in 1994 and lost the WBA and International Boxing Federation championships, then retired after the fight due to a heart condition. Since his return, however, Holyfield had not performed well. After outpointing former contender Ray Mercer in his first fight back, Holyfield knocked out an out-of-shape former cruiserweight champion Bobby Czyz in five rounds. Then, in his most recent fight, Holyfield was knocked out by Riddick Bowe in the eighth round of their third match. Don King, Tyson's promoter, saw Holyfield as a washed up fighter and Holyfield was installed as a major underdog.〔Cohen, Andrew., (Evander Holyfield: God Helps Those Who Help Themselves ), ''What is Enlightenment Magazine'', Issue #15 - 1999, Retrieved on 2007-03-25.〕 A fight between Tyson and Holyfield was first arranged in 1990, when Tyson was the undisputed champion, predicated on Tyson's defeating James "Buster" Douglas. Instead, Douglas handed Tyson the first defeat of his career, stopping him in the 10th round. A grossly out-of-shape Douglas then lost the title to Holyfield in his first defense, on a third-round knockout. A Tyson-Holyfield fight for Holyfield's title was scheduled in 1991, but Tyson pulled out of the fight due to a rib injury. In February 1992, before the fight could take place, Tyson was convicted of one count of rape and two counts of criminal deviate conduct against an 18-year-old woman in Indiana, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each charge. The judge suspended the last four years of each sentence and ordered the sentences to run concurrently; Tyson ultimately served three years and six weeks in prison. Following his release from prison, Tyson's fights were protested by the National Organization for Women.〔(National NOW Times, January 1997 ), Retrieved on 2009-03-12.〕 Tyson, in the meantime, had been somewhat active since his release from prison. After defeating journeyman Peter McNeeley in his first fight and fringe contender Buster Mathis, Jr. in his follow-up, Tyson regained the World Boxing Council heavyweight championship in Las Vegas on March 16, 1996 by knocking out champion Frank Bruno. Tyson, however, was stripped of the title for electing to fight Seldon for his WBA title instead of number one contender Lennox Lewis. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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