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“Whoa! Somebody just…there’s been a parachutist, a skydiver…has just landed here at ringside trying to come into the ring. He hit the ring ropes and there is chaos here at Caesars in the outdoor stadium! And time has been called as some maniac has attempted to parachute here!”
Tim Ryan, calling the fight alongside Gil Clancy for TVKO, was just as stunned as the 14,000 plus fans in attendance and millions watching at home on pay-per-view.
Chaos erupted. It was a scene unlike anyone had ever witnessed at a professional boxing match.
The bedlam continued as the man navigating a paraglider, officially dubbed “Fan Man,” fell back into the crowd seated directly at ringside.
Riddick Bowe’s wife, seated near his corner, fainted. While fans tried to get out of his path, some onlookers, including Bowe’s security staff armed with cell phones and walkie-talkies, began to wail away at the man who caused the disruption.
Not since Marty McFly reunited with his parents in 1955 had a situation become so incredibly bizarre.
Referee Mills Lane had called time with 1:54 remaining in Round 7 as a 21 minute delay was now underway.
The night was November 6, 1993.
An excited fight crowd had packed the outdoor facility at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas to witness the Heavyweight championship rematch between Riddick “Big Daddy” Bowe (34-0, 29 KOs) and Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield (29-1, 22 KOs).
The bout, scheduled for 12 rounds, was billed as “Repeat or Revenge”. The rematch took place nearly one year to the day from their initial meeting in November of 1992.
On that night in 1992, Bowe dealt Holyfield his first professional loss and won the undisputed crown.
Now 26, Bowe was initially installed at a five-to-one betting favorite. As fight night approached, the odds had dwindled to near two-to-one. Many eyebrows were raised at the weigh in as Bowe’s belly looked soft at 246 pounds, 11 pounds heavier than his 235 weight for their first meeting.
Holyfield, on the other hand, looked magnificent. With new trainer Emanuel Steward, he too was heavier, adding 12 pounds of muscle from their first encounter after having weighed in at 217.
Since the loss of his titles to Bowe and the addition of Steward, Holyfield had fought just once in the last year, earning a not-so-impressive unanimous decision win over Alex Stewart.
As fall was settling in across the country, it was a chilly evening even by Vegas standards as the temperature dropped into the 40’s. The fighters wore heavy robes and stocking caps into the ring in an effort to keep their bodies warm.
At 31, Holyfield was adorned in the Kronk Gym’s gold colors. He appeared engaged and energized with his new team that also included MC Hammer.
Despite the questions about his weight, Bowe looked serious as he stood with longtime trainer Eddie Futch. Decked in all white, the champion held a two inch height and four inch reach advantage over Holyfield.
The champion was making the third defense of his title. He had chalked up a pair of easy knockouts over an aging Michael Dokes and a journeymen named Jesse Fergeson. Two fights, three rounds, and couple of easy paydays.
This night would prove to be a true test, for both men.
The early action was spirited as Bowe came right out and right after Holyfield. The rounds were close as Holyfield showed no reservations about standing inside and trading punches with the bigger champion.
As the fourth round came to a close, the timekeeper pounded the bell to signal an end to the round. As he continued to pound the bell, to no avail, the fighters continued to pound away at one another.
Lane leaped into the fray while Ryan screamed, “The bell is sounding and they’re still punching! Wild activity at the bell!”
The crowd roared while Bowe bled. He had suffered a cut between the eyes high up on the bridge of his nose. Bowe looked slow and tired as he was hurt in the fifth round by a Holyfield combination.
Then came Round 7.
As the fighters stood facing each other at center ring, and with just over a minute gone in the round, an enormous thud echoed as the paraglider’s craft crashed into the ring apron. The pilot’s legs momentarily became locked in the ropes as his parachute became entangled in the ring lights high above.
Now falling backwards into a slew of ringside seats, a near melee ensued as pandemonium officially ruled the day.
Ring announcer Michael Buffer continued to give updates to calm the ringside crowd as security desperately tried, and finally succeeded, in untangling the mess. Fan Man was removed on a stretcher while Bowe’s wife, as a precaution, was taken away in an ambulance.
After an eventful interruption of 21 minutes in which the fighters were covered in robes and towels to stay warm, the action resumed.
Bowe succeeded in hurting Holyfield in the ninth round and both men continued to slug away.
With their foot firmly pressed down on the gas, they traded bombs coming down the stretch and again after the bell had sounded. Lane was assisted by Steward who, perhaps fearing injury or a disqualification, soared into the ring to clutch his fighter.
While Lane held off Bowe, both Steward and Holyfield stumbled to the canvas in putting a final exclamation point on an eventful 12 rounds.
The judge’s scorecards read 115-113, 115-114, and 114-114. Holyfield, despite being out-thrown and out-landed by Bowe, had reclaimed the Heavyweight crown by a majority decision.
The Fan Man incident was named by Ring Magazine as the “Event of the Year” for 1993.
The two would complete their trilogy, one of the best in boxing history, when they met again in November of 1995. Their fall classic concluded with Bowe winning the rubber match and stopping Holyfield in the eighth round.
For boxing fans, the mere mention of Fan Man continues to spark an animated conversation. It’s near impossible for your eyes not to widen and your voice not to rise while you reminisce about a paraglider crashing into ringside during a Heavyweight championship match.
Who would have ever imagined, besides James Miller?
It was noted that Miller later jested, “It was a heavyweight fight and I was the only guy who got knocked out.”
Miller, also known as Fan Man, would later appear again in the same capacity gliding into a park during the Denver Broncos-Los Angeles Raiders football game at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
He would achieve being banned in the United Kingdom where he landed on the middle of the field during a soccer game and, later, on the roof of Buckingham Place.
Sadly, after having gone missing in the fall of 2002, his body was found six months later in a wooded area in the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska.
The night of November 6, 1993, is one that continues to dance in the memoires of boxing fans. It certainly will do so for many years to come.
For those, like I, that watched it unfold live, what an unforgettable night it was.
