Mike Tyson’s return against Peter McNeeley at the MGM Grand lasted only 89 seconds, but the promotion and its aftermath lasted much longer. Sports Illustrated revisited the fight fifteen years later through McNeeley, whose name became inseparable from one of boxing’s most heavily publicized comebacks.
The retrospective shifts attention from the star to the opponent and the people in his corner. It is also a useful Las Vegas business story: a major arena attraction can be sold through anticipation, personality and television long before anyone knows how much competitive action it will deliver. The short fight did not produce a short cultural afterlife.
Fifteen years after Tyson, McNeeley looks back
Sports Illustrated
Read at Sports Illustrated (opens in a new tab)The linked retrospective was published August 19, 2010.
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