25 Years Of Blood, Sweat And Ears

Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield sold 1.99 million pay-per-views and broke revenue records when they faced off for the second time in 1997.

As of today, the former unified champions are united once more over the same thing that brought them together 25 years ago.

Ears.

And it’s largely thanks to a man named Chad Bronstein. But the unlikely partnership almost didn’t happen for a myriad of reasons. Some obvious, some not so much.

“We reached out to Holyfield a year ago, and it didn’t work out. But a few weeks ago, Holyfield’s manager reached out to Ric Flair (another Tyson 2.0. partner), wanting to be a part of it, so Mike (Tyson) and I made it happen,” Bronstein said.

Tyson and Bronstein formed Tyson 2.0. in November 2021, then Bronstein raised $16M to fund growth and operations. Now the 1-year-old startup is profitable and doing “millions of dollars a month in revenue,” according to Bronstein.

The brand’s products are available in Canada, and the United States, with THC in 25 states and Delta-8 and Delta-9 in 38 states, respectively.

In March of 2022, Tyson and Bronstein announced ‘Mikes Bites,’ a line of ear-shaped edibles. And this morning a formal partnership between the three was announced.

Verano will distribute their ‘Holy Ears’ THC products, and Legends will distribute the Delta-8, Delta-9 and other hemp varieties.

What follows is a brief history on Tyson and Holyfield to put their partnership into perspective.

Quotes have been edited and condensed for clarity and readability.

Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield: A Brief History

The “Real Deal” Evander Holyfield was born in Atmore, Georgia and raised in the Bowen Homes Housing Projects of Atlanta, once one of the most dangerous places in the U.S. until the project was condemned and demolished in 2009.

“I grew up poor. My father did not have an education, and my mother only had a fourth-grade education..” Holyfield wrote in May 2020 on Twitter.

Meanwhile, “Iron” Mike Tyson came of age in 1970s Brownsville, Brooklyn, a roughly 1.64-square-mile neighborhood once home to vacant lots, burned-out buildings, and violence, before he moved to Catskill, New York, at age 14 in 1980.

When Tyson was 25, he didn’t think he wouldn’t make it until thirty, he recounted at a Las Vegas conference in 2017. “My friends and I all lived in a condemned building, plaster coming out of the walls, we had holes in our walls that led to the next apartment… that was my lifestyle as a kid,” Tyson told me back in June.

Tyson and Holyfield, two of the most famous–and dangerous–fighters to ever compete in boxing, first crossed paths at the 1984 Olympic trials, where Tyson sought to qualify. Holyfield, three years, eight months, and 11 days Tyson’s senior, was already on the team.

After Holyfield’s Olympic debut, he defeated George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Henry Tillman, and went toe-to-toe with Riddick Bowe in was one of the greatest heavyweight boxing matches of all time. I’d rank it alongside Muhammad Ali vs. Frazier (Manilla 1975) and Jack Dempsey vs. Luis Fipro (New York, 1923).

Twelve years after Tyson and Holyfield first crossed paths, the two fought for the first time in 1996, then again for their WBA Heavyweight Championship fight in 1997 when the infamous ear bite happened.

The two stars set a revenue record then, despite the constellation of talent at the time (e.g., Felix Trinidad, Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, James Toney, Pernell Whitaker, Bernard Hopkins, and Roy Jones Jr.)

Holyfield is still the only boxer in history to have reigned as the undisputed champion in two weight classes. Meanwhile, “Iron” Mike Tyson remains the youngest to win a world heavyweight title at age 20. Twelve years after the infamous bite, Tyson and Holyfield reconciled on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2009. The two have been friends since, but most might not think so.

Mike Tyson And Evander Holyfield: 25-Years Later

Mike Angeles has worked with Tyson for the last three years, and wrote and produced a promotional video that featured the two heavyweight greats. “People still think Holyfield and Tyson don’t talk,” said Angeles. “But they do. Their relationship is real, it’s a beautiful friendship, and now they’re breaking bread together.”

Meanwhile, Andres “Dray” Ortiz has worked with Tyson for five years, and directed the promotional video. I spoke with Ortiz via phone about the experience. “[It was] unreal, surreal, all of those things,” said Ortiz. “My first thought when walked in the room was, ‘how is this happening?’ To have Mike and now Holyfield. It’s so special,” Ortiz said.