Boxing · 1993 · Las Vegas, USA
The Fan Man Fight
During the seventh round of a heavyweight title rematch, a man on a motorised paraglider crash-lands into the ring ropes, delaying the fight for 21 minutes in one of boxing's strangest nights.
Holyfield def. Bowe, majority decision
Result
21 minutes
Fight delay
Holyfield regained heavyweight title
Outcome
Evander Holyfield's rematch with Riddick Bowe, who had beaten him for the title the previous year, was underway at an outdoor arena at Caesars Palace on 6 November 1993 when, during the seventh round, a parachutist known as 'Fan Man' descended from the night sky on a motorised paraglider and crash-landed directly into the ring's lighting rig and ropes.
Chaos followed immediately: security personnel and furious spectators, including members of both fighters' camps, set upon the intruder, and Bowe's pregnant wife had to be helped from her ringside seat amid the commotion. The fight was halted for 21 minutes while officials cleared the ring and treated the parachutist before restarting the contest from the same round.
Once the fight resumed, Holyfield won a majority decision to reclaim the heavyweight title he had lost to Bowe a year earlier. The bout is remembered as much for its bizarre interruption as for the result itself, still cited as one of the strangest incidents in televised sports history.
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