Olympic boxer tries a Mike Tyson ear bite in competition.
Yes, you read that headline right. It really is unbelievable that something this completely wild could happen … twice. But it did.
During a 2021 Olympic boxing event Morocco’s Youness Baalla was caught on video trying to bite the ear of New Zealand’s David Nyika. Just like that infamous Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield. The Tyson fight happened in 1997, when Baalla was just two years old.
“I bit him because I wanted to kill him,” Tyson said of the incident.
Wonder if Baalla thought the same thing?
Youness Baalla tried to bite the ear of David Nyika
The fight actually went on, apparently the referee didn’t notice the bite, or just didn’t care. Baalla was undoubtably down on the scorecards of the heavyweight bout and perhaps just got desperate, whatever the case, it didn’t work. Nyika won the bout.
Crazy enough, this wasn’t the first time that Nyika was bit in a boxing match.
“He didn’t get a full mouthful,” Nyika told News1 (h/t Newsweek). “Luckily he had his mouthguard in and I was a bit sweaty. I don’t remember what I said to him but I gave him a little bit of a cheek.
I have been bitten once on the chest before at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. But c’mon man, this is the Olympics.”
Baalla was later disqualified and banned from competition. His opponent took to social media to call for fans to stop the abuse of Baalla online.