Evander Holyfield vs. Bobby Czyz

Evander Holyfield 211 lbs beat Bobby Czyz 211 lbs by RTD at 3:00 in round 5 of 10

• Date: 1996-05-10
• Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA
• Referee: Ron Lipton
• Judge: Luis Rivera
• Judge: Melvina Lathan
• Judge: Eva Shain

• Promoter: Main Events
• Ring Announcer: Michael Buffer
• Aired On: HBO World Championship Boxing (Main Event)

Notes

• Attendance: 17,041.
• Czyz standing 8-count in the 3rd.
• Czyz quits on stool after the 5th. He complained of a foreign substance in his eyes. He claimed someone in Holyfield's corner had put a substance on his opponent's gloves to cause burning in his eyes. Czyz complained to his corner when the fifth round ended that "my eyes are burning and I can't see." Dr. Rufus Sadler examined him and verified a vision problem. Referee Ron Lipton halted the bout, declaring Holyfield the winner by a technical knockout after the fifth round -- and then went to Holyfield's corner, took the gloves and rubbed them on his face. Nothing came off the gloves, he told Czyz.
• After 4 rounds, HBO's Harold Lederman's unofficial scorecard had Holyfield up 40-35. [1]
• According to Compubox, Holyfield landed 169 of 322 punches (53 percent), and Czyz connected on 112 of 317 (35 percent). [2]

Post-Fight Quotes

• "Somebody put something on his gloves," Bobby Czyz charged.
• "I didn't have nothing on my glove to put on his eyes. But they're his eyes, and whatever happened, happened," countered Evander Holyfield.
• Holyfield's trainer, Don Turner, added that he used "Vaseline, that's all. Why would I do something like that?"

Sources

• "Holyfield Leads Veterans' Victory Parade" by Gerald Eskenazi, New York Times, May 11, 1996