Shocking moment amateur boxer emulates Mike Tyson by biting opponent’s EAR at IBA World Championships
The IBA World Championship lightweight final took a savage turn at the weekend with a Mike Tyson-esque bite.
Russia‘s Vsevolod Shumkov met Uzbek Olympic champion Abdumalik Khalokov on Saturday in Dubai in the 60kg gold medal bout.
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Shumkov clearly tries to take a chomp out of Khalokov
Khalokov had significant bruising around his ear
Khalokov, who also won gold at the World Championships earlier this year in Liverpool, came into the contest as a strong favourite and started brightly.
Shumkov recovered to finish strong and was handed the fight via a margin of 4:3 on a bout review.
Not only did he lose, but to make matters worse for Khalokov, he had his ear bitten too.
During the third round, the pair became entangled on the ropes and Shumkov can clearly be seen attacking his foe’s ear, just like Tyson did to Evander Holyfield back in 1997.
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No point was deducted and Khalokov appears to take the indiscretion without kicking up much of a fuss.
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Although he did post a picture of the damage done to his ear after the bout.
The referee might not have seen it happen, but plenty of boxing fans online certainly did.
One observer tweeted: “Dirty Shumkov. Should be disqualified and have lost anyway.”
Another tweeter with an Uzbek flag in their handle said: “This is a clear violation of the rules and should result in disqualification.”
Tyson suffered far more for his actions 18 years ago.
The legendary heavyweight was disqualified from the contest, had his boxing license revoked by the Nevada Athletic Commission, was fined $3 million – the maximum at the time – and received a one-year ban from boxing, which was later reinstated.
Holyfield actually lost a chunk of his ear as a result. Tyson went for his ear on a couple of occasions as he felt Holyfield kept headbutting him.
Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ear right in front of the refereeCredit: AFP
Referee Lane Mills stopped the fight in the third round as Holyfield shows off the damageCredit: AFP
The pair eventually reconciled years later and remain on good terms.
As for Khalokov and Shumkov, at this time of writing, the IBA have not commented on the foul play and the result looks like it will stand.
Although, there have also been calls from Uzbek journalists and officials for the result to be overturned.
