The Room Where It Happens: I Saw Mike Tyson Bit Holyfield’s Ear Off

Bill Plunkett, OC Register’s Dodgers beat reporter, dropped in a CSUF Zoom class meeting on April 21 to talk about how sports reporting has been affected due to COVID-19. 

Plunkett joined Robert Quezada’s COMM 201 Tuesday session as a guest speaker. His favorite games he covered?, he talked about the 2018 World Series between the Red Sox and the Dodgers where the game lasted 7 hours and 20 minutes. 

There was the most notable mention was his coverage at the 1997 boxing match between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. That’s when Tyson bit off Holyfield’s ear, which piqued the interest of the class. 

“I thought a bug bit him,” Plunkett said of the defining moment. He couldn’t fully see what had happened initially because of his seating arrangements.

At the end, Plunkett hoped things would go back to normal soon. Don’t we all?

This article was written for a class assignment at Cal State Fullerton for the Spring 2020 semester.