Contentious Holyfield auction goes ahead

The gloves worn by Evander Holyfield in his 1997 heavyweight re-match with Mike Tyson, in which Tyson bit off a chunk of Holyfield's ear, fetched $35,200 at auction, according to the Julien's auction house website. The gloves were part of a list of 445 items that belonged to former heavyweight world champion Holyfield that were auctioned off on Friday by the Beverly Hills-based auction house. The auction, however, had run into trouble when Holyfield said he didn't want to part with some items and sued to prevent their sale. Little more than a week before the scheduled auction, the former heavyweight world champion obtained a court ruling excluding a dozen items from the sale, although Darren Julien, president and chief executive of the auction house, said he remained confident those items would also be auctioned at a future date. A spokesman for Julien's said Saturday that no total figure for the Holyfield auction had been released. According to the figures posted on the firm's website, the World Boxing Council cruiserweight belt won by Holyfield in 1988 also went for $28,125 dollars. In winning this belt in 1988 by beating Puerto Rican Carlos De Leon, Holyfield became the only undefeated and undisputed cruiserweight champion in boxing history. The purple satin robe and black satin belt he wore in 1996 during the first of his two fights against Tyson sold for $10,880 and a Cartier watch that belonged to the boxer also sold for $10,240. Holyfield, nicknamed "The Real Deal", has 44 career wins, including 29 knockouts in 57 fights.