Commentator Sky Ian Darke was in Las Vegas in June 1997, unaware that Mike Tyson was on the edge of the destruction of his reputation forever. Below is his journal of events, which ended with the most infamous disqualification in the history of boxing.

Sunday, June 22, 1997

I don’t remember who said Las Vegas makes Blackpool look like Venice, but they were not wrong. After 14 hours of flying Glenn McCrora and I came to discover that Elderly Sin City in the desert fell to the novel depth without taste. Our hotel opposite MGM had an electric chair, where you can pay 2 USD for “fried live”. The loud mountain queue is located just outside the bedroom window. Try and don’t go as usual to get to the west coast, fighting for sleep as overdue as possible. You still wake up in the middle of the night and fall asleep in the afternoons.

Monday, June 23, 1997

Mission Impossible – get one interview with Mike Tyson. Over the years, repeated efforts to go through the official channels have proved hopeless. The only hope is him when Golden Gloves Gym leaves after training. We come to find closed doors and ordinary gloomy difficult to guard. Rory Holloway, co -author of Tyson, Rory Holloway. We ask if Mike will speak on British television because he has so many fans there. GROVELING helps – does it do it? “I don’t ask him,” Holloway stops.

“But you have no objection if it’s okay?”

“To you, what you do. I can’t stop him.”

You are gathering that seeing Tyson is like an attempt to organize an audience with the Pope. In the end it emerges, it looks gloomy. “Hi Mike, I wonder if you could spend three minutes on Sky Sports from Great Britain?”

“I don’t know about three minutes,” he will pay back. You think we asked him to surpass nine-o’clock-new. And that’s how we throw the camera. “Interview” is monosylbical. The truth is that Tyson hates the media. He is usually contemptuous and disregarded even the most reasonable and polite investigation. The camp here has an impenetrable mentality – some may say that persecution.

Tuesday, June 24, 1997

Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield They are completely different animals in the same jungle. Evander is helpful and available as Mike Nie -SPRING. Holyfield works in the ring set up in a media tent and does not leave until everyone who wants to talk to him did not do it. The man is a pure class, it is clear that Tyson still does not keep any terror for him. Indeed, many of us wonder if this is the opposite after the beating Tyson took care of the first fight.

Wednesday, June 25, 1997

Press conferences are one of the huge sets of every week of fighting in Vegas. There are 1,500 media in the city. Mike Marley, director of Don King advertising, says that for all the accreditation of 10 was reversed. The Russians are here, and broadcasters in three Chinese dialects. As usual, Glen McCrory and Bob Mee have a lottery about how long Don King will take to present everyone. The record is 53 minutes on Akinwande-Welch. This time Don holds it up to 18 minutes. According to his standards, this is almost “without comment”. The most significant most significant stock exchanges between Christa Martin, a women’s boxing star and the only women who defeated her, Andrea Deshong. Deshong: “I will give you a boxing lesson.” Martin: “It’s nice to see you in a dress, you looked like women for the first time. I’m going to run shoes to chase you faster than you’ve ever been prosecuted … except your girlfriend!” There are more. Tyson bored and placid Holyfield are tamed in comparison. Then the coach of Lennox Lewis, Manna Steward, says that Holyfield seems “too relaxed and the edges are missing.” Eddie Futch says that after seeing the warriors this week he changed his mind and chooses Tyson.

Thursday, June 26, 1997

Weighting. This fight is so great that ESPN, All Sports Channel, show it live. Tyson is his lightest than prison- but he looks older, his skin looks gloss. Holyfield is his heaviest in history. It seems that Tyson suggests his look when they pose for photos, significant? Later, the Nevada Commission is taking place in front of the world media to hear the protest of the Tyson camp about the judge Mitch Halpern. Can you imagine how the British boxing control council does it? Manager Tyson, John Horne, believes that Tyson will be “physiologically affected”, having the same man who stopped him last time. Is this a tip on the mental state of Tyson? If he is worried about the same director, how does he feel about the same opponent? Elderly Tyson would only worry if the judge could not count until 10. Quite rightly, the commission throws out protests 4-1.

Friday, June 27, 1997

Christmas Eve. I am not sleeping at the news that Halpern has subsided. The Tyson camp has its own, Halpern was placed in an impossible position in which he would certainly have to subconsciously bend back to be candid to Tyson. Mills Lane is developed to “get”. He couldn’t know much what central role he was supposed to play in the drama. The survey of the best American boxing writers gives Tyson only six votes for 23. However, bookmakers still have Holyfield at the age of 13-8 years. This may be the first registered instance of generosity from the layers of Vegas opportunities.

Saturday, June 28, 1997

Fight. Boxing ability to dream of some novel sensational endings is inexhaustible. Both Glenn McCrora and I are terrified by the outraged behavior of Tyson. The words “coward” and “Łobuz” come to mind. Who would have thought Tyson would lean to make a “real offer” for a “real meal”? There is no doubt that Holyfield intends to defeat him, Tyson knew about it- so he gave up, hoping that he would be able to demand an ambiguous result. In my opinion, he threw out all claims that can be considered one of the best massive in history. As Glenn said on the air: “Cus d’Amato would turn in the grave.” Then we are caught in Stampeded to escape the reported shootings at the MGM casino. What a night!

Sunday, June 29, 1997

American recipients had a field night: “Bite of the century”, “Fight of the Ear” and so on. We’re going home at dawn. Sky Sports is again on Monday evening … at York Hall, Bethnal Green. It’s a long way from Vegas …

The country is in the middle of football. As a nine -year -old, I watched England defeated Western Germans to win the World Cup in 1966. I write it, about 55 years later, we finally defeated the Germans again in the knockout stages of a enormous tournament.

There were not many footballers who also bamped professionally, but in recent years two men broke this form. Curtis Woodhousewho played three times in the Premier League in Birmingham City, he became the champion of the British weight in 2014 after defeating Darren Hamilton in Hull. “The Driffield Destroyer” won 24 out of 31 professional competitions and is the most successful British boxer who also played high -level football.

Leon McKenzie played in all four leagues in 1995–2013, including the spells from Crystal Palace and Norwich City. While playing in Norwich Leon seven times in 37 Premier League performances. Leon is the son of Clinton McKenzie, who in my opinion was one of the best boxers of his generation. I remember well what stimulating he was, never-Say-Die Clinton, and his two wars from Colin Powers in 1979 and Des Morrison in 1981 were included in my last series emphasizing the 50 largest British fights of the 20th century. Leon inherited some of his father’s ring skills and proved it by winning eight of 11 professional competitions in 2013–2017. Favorite in York Hall, Leon Boxing for both English and southern titles Super Middleight, and his boxing career was good.

I managed to find a few examples of professional players who also bothering money, especially in the 1920s and the 1930s, but only two of them played international football. The first of them was Ted Ditchburn, who was a member of the World Cup team in England in 1950. During the long and outstanding career of Tottenham Hotspur, for which Ted kept the goal for 418 times in 1939–1958, he also played in England six times. I recently discovered three competitions for teenage Eddie Ditchburn from Northfleet, boxing in Rochester and around in the early 1930s. Eddie was the son of master Kent, Harry Ditchburn from Chatham, who boxed at a decent level before the great war, winning 19 out of 40 fights. Eddie’s student fights were for salary, and then left the ring and became a home brand on the football field.

Francis “Tom” Hoddinott [pictured above left] He came from the Brecon hills and was a tough man. He learned to box while serving in the army in India, and after returning he became a professional footballer. Tom has been the star of Watford since 1919. He was chosen to represent Wales twice in 1921 in matches with Scotland and England, after which he made a lot of money to Chelsea. He finished his career in the football league in Crystal Palace in 1926. During professional playing football, Tom also had a parallel boxing career in medium weight. In the summer of 1919, just before the league debut, volume twice in Maesteg in 10 and 12-Runder, winning both points.

After establishing an international footballer, then he again lit up in 1922, losing points to Sonna Bird from Chelsea in Fulham Baths. Bird was one of the best British medium weight of the 20th century and Tom gave him a challenging fight. Tom buckled three more times in Wales in the 1920s, winning twice before he bowed from the ring in 1930, when he retired in the 10th round of the 15th round against Jimmy McMurray in Victoria Hall in Southend. In total, he won four out of eight competitions, and died at the age of 85 in 1980. The photo on the directed page shows how sparring with Andrew Newton from Marylebone, another highest average weight of this period.

Boxing was a sport of masses before World War II, with the level of popularity of football competition. The best professionals in Great Britain are home names, idols, students, and in some cases ahead of their hearts who love women. On the other hand, Pro Wrestling tried and could not be captured by public imagination. This is until the end of 1930, when the mating matt appeared again in an exhilarating up-to-date disguise, which stormed Great Britain. Wrestling “All-in” is the name of the up-to-date madness, the so-called, because it combined Catch-as-Catch-Can, Jiu-Jitsu and classic Greek-Roman supplies into one exhilarating style.

The fights were false, with torture-ticking and breaking the fingers, eye paralysis and other brutal accent-related component, but British crowds loved it. It was something they had never seen before and for one or more nights of the week he raised the darkness of universal unemployment, bad salary and pathetic working conditions. All-in-in-in wrestling has spread like a fire and soon popular boxing rooms, such as Kilburn Vale Hall, Nottingham’s Victoria Baths, Liverpool Stadium and Blackfriars Ring, put out regular wrestling nights, and leading wrestlers-like the leading boxer-in-laws.

Some places contained joint wrestling and boxing bills because the audience crossover between sport was inevitable. Many former boxers have tried their hand at all-in-British British Master of Ponderous Reggie Meen and the one-time boxing “Wonderboy” Nipper Pat Daly, who are two known examples. Another former pitch that moved to wrestling was the bulky Hammersmith chick “Cucky” Knight. After boxing as an amateur, in 1935 and 36 Knight had a brief spell as a pro boxer, winning four and losing three before switching to wrestling.

In the last sport he quickly left its mark, and in two years he noticed the boxing world. In the echo of the Floyd Mayweather match with the UFC Conor McGregor star 79 years later, Chick-which was incorrectly settled as an American-he took part in the former boxing champion in bulky weight Bombardier Billy Wells, who left the retirement at the age of 49 for this competition “Boxer vs wrestler”.

The eyes of the audience -loving audience were glued to this news, took place in the Earls Court in December 1938 and promoted by the leading impresario wrestling Harold Lane. Unlike Mayweather vs McGregor – a real boxing match – in this fight, everyone was obliged to stick to the methods of his native sport. Wells wore boxing gloves and could not struggle, while Knight was a bare fist, he let him struggle, but forbade the hit.

A strange fight, shot by Pathé News for Cinema Broadcast, did not last long. Wells also danced around the ring, keeping the knight with his arm length with his celebrated straight left, the wrestler was frustrated and, according to press reports, was warned several times before hitting. After only two minutes and 14 seconds, Chick was disqualified as a shot in a body, which some reports considered low, and in any case opposed the rules. The boxer triumphed, but it was an empty victory.

In addition to financial encouragement, it is arduous to see what Wells – a beloved figure in Great Britain and the first heavyweight winner Lonsdale – he had to gain, entering the fight after 13 years outside the ring. But for Knight, who was at the beginning of a long career as a wrestler, he ensured invaluable publicity.

The story of the colorful life of Knight-in this life-saving heroic, working as a bodyguard for Princess Margaret and friendship with the infamous Kangjant Albert Pierrepoint-is based on the up-to-date book, Lovable Villain London (reference to one of the pseudonym of the wrestling Knight). It is available at Bookshop Barnes or from the author, Ady Scott Chick’s washed, via eBay.