TYSON, MIKE-BRUCE SELDON OFFICIAL PROGRAM (1996)

HISTORY: On September 7,1996 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas Mike Tyson met Bruce Seldon for Seldon's WBA Heavyweight Title. Tyson would win the bout convincingly by a 1st round TKO. Tyson's purse was $15 million, and Seldon's was $5 million. Seldon was a 22-1 underdog. The fight was televised live on pay-per-view by Showtime. It generated one million buys. Paid attendance at the MGM Grand was 9,511. The gate was $6,305,900. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the following on September 8, 1996: The Atlantic City Express was derailed almost as soon as it left the station. Bruce Seldon, who is nicknamed for a train, caught two punches of dubious power from Mike Tyson last night and, almost without any resistance, timidly surrendered his World Boxing Association championship in a bout that had a less-than-sellout crowd in the MGM Grand Garden booing its displeasure and chanting: "Fix . . . fix . . . " Seldon joined a lengthy list of Tyson victims who have never made it out of the first round and were paralyzed by fear even as they climbed into the ring. Seldon went down twice, and both times appeared to do so more from fright than from being hit with Tyson's customary concussive force. Replays of the first knockdown showed a right hand passing over Seldon's head, barely grazing it, but Seldon flopped convincingly to the canvas. He arose as referee Richard Steele reached the count of six. Tyson, at Steele's signal, came out of the neutral corner and walked in. Seldon never left the corner until Tyson was on top of him. Tyson threw a left hand that Seldon was moving away from. This punch at least was more than a glancing blow, but most of its power seemed to have evaporated by the time it landed. Certainly it wasn't a vintage Tyson bomb. Nonetheless, Seldon fell heavily again, pawing at Tyson with one hand as he was going. When Seldon got up, his legs shimmied. Steele apparently believed Seldon and dutifully called it off. Exactly 1 minute, 49 seconds had elapsed. It was Tyson's 45th win against the lone loss to Buster Douglas, and his 39th knockout, and certainly one of the easiest. Tyson now owns two-thirds of the heavyweight championship he had unified before he went away to prison. "Cus," he said, referring to the late Cus D'Amato, who rescued him from prison the first time and turned him to boxing, "that's two down and one to go." Presented here is an original, official program for this event.

FULL DESCRIPTION: This is an original, official program which pictures both fighters and promoter Don King on the cover. 68 pages complete plus covers. Clean inside and out. Not scored. Tight binding. Very minor edge wear. 8 1/2" x 11."