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Holyfield Defends Tyson

October 26, 1999 / 10:15 PM EDT / AP

Evander Holyfield, who lost a piece of his ear in a Mike Tyson meltdown two years ago, defended his beleaguered nemesis for hitting Orlin Norris after the bell last Saturday.

"As a fighter we always somehow try to get the last blow at the end of the bell because it sends a message back to that person," Holyfield said Tuesday.

"When somebody hits you after the bell you gotta go sit back down for that whole minute, and you're thinking how hard he hits. That's the reason why a guy likes to get that last shot.

"It's not that someone fouls you to get you out of there, it's that last shot gets you thinking," said Holyfield, here training for his November 13 Las Vegas rematch against Lennox Lewis for the undisputed heavyweight title.

Besides, Holyfield said, Norris looked like he could have continued instead of refusing to leave his stool for the second round, saying he had twisted his right knee when Tyson's late punch dropped him to the canvas.

The referee had ruled that Tyson's late hit in Las Vegas was not intentional and took two points from him, and the Nevada State Athletic Commission declared the scheduled 10-round fight a "no contest" after Norris refused to answer the bell for the second round.

The Commission this week is scheduled to rule, after reviewing tape of the fight, whether Tyson threw the punch late on purpose and should be disqualified. Many ringsiders do not believe the Commission will overrule the referee.

Meanwhile, Tyson's purse of about $10 million has been withheld. Norris received his $800,000 check.

"(Tyson) hurt the guy with the shot but I don't think it was a devastating shot," said Holyfield, who will defend his World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation heavyweight titles against Lewis, champion of the World Boxing Council.

"It surprised the guy and he fell. When the guy got up he wasn't wobbly or anything like that, his eyes weren't rolled back up in his head or anything like that," said Holyfield, who's career is testimony that he would have to be carried out on a stretcher to concede anything in the ring.

"There used to be a rule that, shoot, you can't lose on a disqualification. You gotta get up, and people used to get up and fight. They changed the rules. I still think shoot you can't lose on a disqualification. You got to get up and fight."

Holyfield said he believed that Norris was told by his cornermen to stay on his stool as an easy payday.

"It's kinda sad. If he was a champion, you know, shoot, you're not giving up your belts. This guy not one time was hollering that he can't go on," Holyfield said.

Holyfield, however, may not have had the benefit of repeated replays of the punch, which clearly showed that Norris fell awkwardly with much of his weight on a twisted knee. And a ringside doctor examined Norris and said his knee defnitely had been injured.

But, of course, the question still remains why would Tyson risk fouling the light-hitting Norris, who was as much as a 12-1 underdog. In addition, the fight was crucial to Tyson's bid to reestablish himself as a drawing card once again in an effort to climb out of some $20 million in debt.

"I think the respect may not be there," on Tyson's part, Holyfield said.

Tyson got frustrated because "people are not fighting him back so he really has to work to win," added Holyfield, who has not had cosmetic surgery to repair top of his right ear that Tyson bit off in their rematch. Holyfield has indicated that he sees the ear as a badge of a warrior.

Tyson was disqualified in that fight and subsequently was fined $3 million dollars and had his license to fight in Nevada revoked for 15 months.