Hugfest at the fight fest
Past animosities are put aside - for one night at least - as some of the most important men in the sport get together in Las Vegas for Hall of Fame gala
Mike Tyson was the closing act, which seemed appropriate since he knows a thing or two about headlining shows on the Vegas Strip.
He had some tough acts to follow, including another former heavyweight champion. Larry Holmes worked the crowd like a stand-up comic, refusing to give up the microphone as he talked about his career and, surprisingly, his fondness for promoter Don King, whom he once sued for taking his money without asking. "I don't care if he took the money because he always gave me more money," Holmes said, pointing to King sitting a few feet away.
Boxing does make strange bedfellows, but this night was a love-in the likes of which the sport has seldom seen. Holmes joked with Tyson about being knocked out by him, Floyd Mayweather Jnr said nice things about Bob Arum, and Arum and bitter rival King even shared a hug.
Before that, there was a tender moment when Tyson walked over to former referee Mills Lane - making a rare public appearance after being incapacitated by a stroke - and gently laid his cheek on Lane's head in a soft embrace. It was Lane who disqualified Tyson for biting Evander Holyfield's ear in the infamous "Bite Fight".
In America they wouldn't give a black man eye water to cry with
The occasion was the inaugural banquet for the newly formed Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame, and the honorees were like a who's who of boxing from the 1980s and '90s. It was a time when no one asked what was wrong with boxing; a time when the outdoor fights at Caesars Palace were as much a spectacle as the faux Roman debauchery that went on inside.