Whatever happened to missing piece of ear from Tyson-Holyfield ‘Bite Fight’? Podcast dives into mystery

Gotham Chopra, the creator of the documentary series “Religion of Sports,” has a launched a new podcast titled “Lost in Sports” that asks: Whatever happened to …?

He found an enduring question in boxing.

Chopra and his colleagues have tried to determine what happened to the portion of Evander Holyfield’s ear that Mike Tyson chewed off and spat onto the canvas in their second meeting, on June 28, 1997 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Here’s what we’ve know about the body part, according to Lost in Sports: It was picked up by an MGM employee and placed on ice. Then it was given to an EMT in the locker room and transported to a hospital, where it was given to a doctor for the purpose of reattaching it.

And then it disappeared, which leads us back to the podcast episode.

“I remember when we were brainstorming … everyone said, ‘I remember that. That s— was crazy. Whatever happened with that?’” Chopra told Boxing Junkie.

Does the podcast solve the mystery? Evidently not. However, that’s not really the purpose of it. Such unforgettable events as the “Bite Fight” are intended to be a pathway into a larger conversation about the people and events that surrounded them.

In this case, host Ben Baskin and his guests use the second Tyson-Holyfield fight to look back on the craziest part of Tyson’s career, during which he fought a constant battle with his formidable demons.

That battle simply came to a head – Holyfield’s – in that unforgettable moment in boxing history.

“We call it ‘sports artifacts,’” said Chopra, referring to the hook for each podcast. “It sort of becomes just a piece of a much bigger story. What happened to Kirk Gibson’s legendary home run ball from the 1988 World Series? [That episode] is less about the ball than what the Dodgers mean to the city of Los Angeles.

“… It’s a story about Mike Tyson, his descent in a larger sense, and the lore that surrounds this sport.”

Chopra was asked specifically about the piece of Holyfield’s ear that was never found. Did he and his team come away with any answers?

“We have an idea,” he said. “The ear was picked up and handed off. And then it basically got lost in history. … So, no. It’s lost in the annals of sports mythology.”

But it’s still a subject that’s interesting to talk about … and listen to.