Champs Page #5

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And one of

Evander's biggest challenges

here is going to be overcoming

the psychological barrier

of going 15 rounds

for the first time.

Just keeping your

hands up for three minutes

and moving around the ring is

tremendous exertion physically.

But running around for 15

rounds, three minutes a round,

throwing punches at a guy who's

trying to hurt you, and getting

hit while it's all going on,

there's just nothing like it.

Qawi.

Holyfield is going for it.

He doesn't wanna go 15 rounds.

He's only in round three and

he's using so much energy.

Qawi breathing very heavily,

but he is relentless.

A left and a right

combination again.

Boy, that combo has

worked well for Holyfield,

but now a big left right

left coming back from Qawi.

Holyfield, back against

the ropes and sliding away.

Qawi's slipping an awful

lot of those punches out.

He missed about 10

consecutive punches.

Qawi got underneath almost

every punch from Holyfield

and came back and landed

punches of his own.

You saw the smiling shrug.

And that is

demoralizing to Evander.

He built up some

energy for a flurry

and he got nothing out of it.

Just watching

these two go at it,

there's no way that I could

imagine this one going 15.

Whatever I hit him with,

that guy never stopped coming.

Now we're really going

to get to see what kind of

shape Evander Holyfield is in.

He's only been to eight

rounds once in his career.

Evander Holyfield started

this fight very fast.

Won the first round in

convincing and impressive

fashion.

But the grabs have gotten

closer and closer since then.

Perspiration flying off the face

of Holyfield as Qawi gets in.

And he looks a little

slower and slower

as this fight moves along.

When

somebody's breathing on you,

and they have the right to hit

you just as the right you have

to hit them, they become

the toughest thing.

A right left,

right left combo to Holyfield!

Holyfield is staggering!

He's gotta be

feeling hurt right now!

This is just trench warfare.

Right now, Dwight

Qawi is winning it.

The question is, who's

gonna get their

second wind first?

And just like somebody putting

a mask over your head and put

your hands behind your back

and throw you out into

the middle of the ocean,

that's how tough this fight was.

Round 11 Evander

Holyfield's never gone this far

in his professional career,

or in his career period.

Goes for the head, and

a big, powerful right,

the likes of which

we haven't seen

from Holyfield in a few rounds.

I'm a little bit

surprised that Evander has been

able to hang in there

as well as he did.

He tired a little bit,

but he's come back

and he's very much in the fight.

Qawi's eyes are blood red.

He has taken numerous shots.

Breathing very, very heavily.

Bloody in the mouth.

Evander has a tremendous heart.

It's a burning intensity.

As these two

try to chip away and chip

away at the stamina

of each other.

Both men showing

unbelievable courage

and determination.

I lost 15 pounds in that fight.

They were talking about

my kidneys were messed up.

All I wanted to do is not die.

Holyfield's eyes have that fire.

He is officially

a professional fighter.

He can go these 14, and he will

be able to go the 15 rounds.

Dwight Muhammad

Qawi who yesterday called

Evander Holyfield

mediocre would not

be saying that to us right now.

And there's the final bell!

I didn't die.

I made it to the

land, and then they

gave me a bonus by

giving me the belt.

For the winner and

new junior heavyweight champion

of the world, Evander Holyfield!

After that, I was

the light heavyweight champion.

But my goal.

I never forgot it.

My goal was to be the

heavyweight champion

of the world.

Evander Holyfield started

as light heavyweight, which

is, you know, kinda

like being the vice

president of the United States.

It's... It's not... You don't

get a lot of attention.

When you talk about

boxing, for most people,

you're talking about the

heavyweight division.

The heavyweight champion

of the world is an icon.

This is the event of the night.

The WBC championship

of the world.

In the blue corner, with 27

wins, no defeats, 25 KOs,

he is the challenger,

Mike Tyson!

And in the red corner, he is

the WBC heavyweight champion

of the world, Trevor Berbick.

Any questions from

the challenger or chief second?

No, we're cool.

Any question the

champion or chief second?

All right, let's get it on!

- Come on.

- All right.

And with the word of

Mills Lane, we're ready.

I don't know about you folks,

but here at the Hilton Hotel,

there is electricity

in the crowd.

Mike Tyson has trained

his whole life for this.

And let's watch how quick Tyson

will jump on Trevor Berbick.

You get the idea

now that Berbick

is showing a little

bravado here.

And Tyson clubs him

with the left hand.

Look at this!

Combination!

And Berbick ready to go,

but he stays on his feet.

Another right hand clips him.

He can't take shots

like this very long.

And he gets, and he's done!

As he stands right

up, the count's

to four, and five,

and six, and seven,

and eight, and he says he's OK.

All right?

Mills Lane let's them continue.

In comes Tyson again.

He knows he can

hurt him any time.

Catches him with a right

left hook, and he goes down!

He goes down!

He should be able

to get up from this.

His legs maybe shot.

They are!

As Trevor Berbick falls

back in the ropes,

I don't know if he's

gonna be able to continue!

He's got the heart,

but his body won't

let him do what

his mind wants to.

And he's counted out.

It's all over.

We've got a brand new

heavyweight champion

of the world.

Mike Tyson!

That was the most

exciting moment of my life.

People patting me on the back

and saying, wow, you're great.

I never saw anybody

like you before.

It was incredible.

How am I gonna articulate this?

All I did about being

the champion and stuff,

this is very serious,

since I was 13.

This isn't be like,

hey, we're gonna

box and get some trophies, guys.

No.

Our purpose is to win and

win in spectacular fashion.

Mike did something special.

He convinced me that no man

on the planet could beat him.

You could get up and

go to the bathroom,

come back, the

f***ing fight over.

Mike got a bad rep in the sense

that people concentrated

on intimidation.

The only way you're

intimidated is

because you seen

him do something.

When you see somebody

knock out 22 other people,

yeah, the 23rd guy may

be a little intimidated.

He was

unstoppable force of nature.

I mean, I still in my head

have visions of Welcome

to the Terrordome being

played where Tyson was walking

into the ring twitching

with no socks on,

and the guy standing

in the ring looked

like he was shitting his pants.

Don King told him, every

time that you knock somebody

out in the first round, I

give you $100,000 in cash.

And he's down again.

He's not going to make it.

It's all over.

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