What's up, guys?
Pierce Simpson here for Complex News.
It's been exactly 20 years since Mike Tyson bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear
during one of the craziest boxing matches of all time.
Since then, there have been numerous books and documentaries done on the now-infamous
"Bite Fight" that have covered just about every single aspect of the bout.
But there is still one big question that remains after all these years: What ever happened
to the piece of Holyfield's ear that Tyson bit off and spit on the ground?
Most people think Holyfield was able to have that piece of his ear reattached surgically
following the fight.
Tyson was disqualified shortly after he tried to bite Holyfield for a second time at the
end of the third round, which allowed for Holyfield to exit the MGM Grand Garden Arena
in Las Vegas a short time later so that he could pay a visit to the nearby Valley Hospital
Medical Center for treatment.
But according to several people who spoke with Complex about the anniversary of the
fight, there's more to the story than that.
Mitch Libonati, a member of the MGM Grand's boxing staff, was working the Tyson/Holyfield
fight that night.
It was his job to maintain the ring in between bouts and to wipe up any excess water and
blood.
But on that particular night, he would also end up being in charge of trying to locate
the piece of Holyfield's ear that Tyson bit off at the end of the fight.
Following Tyson's disqualification, mayhem broke out in the ring, but that didn't stop
Libonati from making his way into it to track down the piece of Holyfield's ear.
"I knew it was there.
And then we had the chaos and all the people fighting in the ring and I remember thinking,
'That thing ain't going to be there.
It's gone.'
But once I got into the ring after the melee, I was like, 'Holy crap, it's right there!'
It was right below my feet."
Libonati picked up the hunk of flesh and wrapped it inside a latex glove.
He put the glove in an ice bucket, brought it to Holyfield's dressing room, and passed
it off to someone on his team.
That person then brought the piece of Holyfield's ear to the hospital and passed it off to a
plastic surgeon named Dr. Julio Garcia, who had plenty of experience with stitching professional
boxers up after fights.
But that's where things got confusing.
Shortly after he was handed Holyfield's ear, Dr. Garcia went into another room to
change into his scrubs so that he could reattach the ear.
But when he returned, the piece of skin that he had been given was missing.
It's unclear if someone stole the skin or if it was accidentally thrown out.
But either way, Dr. Garcia told Complex he was forced to move on to Plan B.
"I had the small piece of skin in the bucket, but when I went to change into my scrubs and
came back, it had vanished.
Just disappeared.
I never did find out what happened to it.
So I just took a little flap of skin from the back of his ear and folded it over to
close the wound."
Dr. Garcia told Complex that even if he did have the skin, it probably wouldn't have
made much of a difference.
It likely would have been impossible for him to reattach Holyfield's ear at that point
anyway because there was also a key piece of cartilage missing from the ear.
"The bite went through and through, and when it ripped off his ear, the skin that
encased the cartilage totally separated from the cartilage.
It was like they had peeled a banana.
And without that piece of cartilage, there really wasn't much I could do."
The cartilage was found later in the ring back at the MGM Grand.
But it had been trampled on by all of the people who made their way into the ring after
the fight, so Dr. Garcia wasn't able to use it.
It's why Holyfield still has a portion of his ear missing.
Despite what happened between him and Tyson, Holyfield told Complex he has forgiven him
for what took place.
Tyson never gave him any sort of official apology, but Holyfield forgave him anyway
and even told us that, deep down, he understood why Tyson did what he did.
"The Bible says everybody got a bad spot.
And one of the biggest reasons why it was easy for me to forgive him is because I used
to bite my brothers all the time.
They were older and bigger than me and when they would put me in a headlock I would bite
them to get out."
Holyfield may have forgiven Tyson, but it's unlikely he'll ever forget what took place
20 years ago.
He's reminded of it every time he looks in the mirror.
And just like everyone else, he's left to wonder what in the world happened to his ear
after Tyson bit it off.
Unfortunately, it's a question that, at this point, is probably never going to be
answered.
That's the news for now, but for all the latest news on Tyson and Holyfield, subscribe
to Complex News on YouTube.
For Complex News, I'm Pierce Simpson.
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