Contracts for a fight between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield were signed and sealed in October 1989, for a bout in the summer of 1990. The pair finally met in November 1996.
The Tyson and Holyfield saga was interrupted by prison, chaos outside the ring, shocking defeats in it, and the growing greed of all involved, according to the Independent. The ongoing struggle to get Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in the ring is not quite as dramatic once put in perspective.
Joshua first called for the fight in April 2016, after winning the world heavyweight title. Tyson and Holyfield had been on an inevitable collision course since a night in early 1984 at the American Olympic boxing trials, when they clashed over a pool-table incident.
The first Holyfield and Tyson fight, scheduled for Atlantic City on 18 June 1990, was abandoned when Tyson was knocked out by Buster Douglas and lost his world title in February of that year. Instead, Holyfield knocked out Douglas, which made a Tyson fight even bigger.
The deal was finally done on 11 July 1991, at a hotel in New York, and the fight was set for 8 November 1991 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. It was boxing's biggest fight, with the boxers to split a guarantee of $45m and it was expected to gross $100m.
On 17 July 1991, Tyson travelled to Indiana to attend a beauty pageant; he was arrested and charged with rape a couple of days later. The fight was pushed back, but not scrapped, and there was a working date in January 1992, a month before Tyson's trial. Tyson injured a rib and the fight was off. He was found guilty, went to prison, and it looked like the fight was off forever.
After Tyson was released in the late summer of 1995, the men in charge were talking about the fight again. In early 1996, Tyson regained the world heavyweight championship. Their fight was officially announced for November 1996 at the MGM and Holyfield was given no chance; he won on the night and then won the rematch the following year.
The Fury and Joshua fight, which looks likely for Cardiff on 11 December, will not disappoint, the Independent writes. It has been easy to make compared to the negotiating skills, patience and determination needed to get Holyfield and Tyson in the ring.