"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." - How did the famous Mike Tyson quote originate?
Mike Tyson's famous line has been quoted multiple times by entrepreneurs, business leaders, journalists, and politicians, including the current President of the United States, Donald Trump.
The legendary boxer famously said the line "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth," before his fight with Evander Holyfield, when he was asked if he was worried about his opponent's plans.
Many years later in an interview with Sun Sentinel, Mike Tyson explained the sentiment behind his quote in details.
"People were asking me [before a fight], 'What’s going to happen?.' They were talking about his style. 'He's going to give you a lot of lateral movement. He's going to move, he's going to dance. He's going to do this, do that.' I said, "Everybody has a plan until they get hit. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze.'"
That clearly did not happen in the case of Evander Holyfield.
However, this much-used quote of Mike Tyson's is not his own favorite. When asked what his all-time favorite quote of his own was, Tyson said:
"Mine is, 'A man that’s a friend of everyone is an enemy to himself.'"
Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield - What happened in the matches
Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield were first scheduled to meet in November 1991, during Tyson's quest to get his world titles back. However, he had to pull out of the fight owing to a rib cartilage injury suffered during training.
The fight could not happen for the next five years, as Mike Tyson was serving his prison sentence. Ultimately, in 1996, a retired Holyfield came out to fight Mike Tyson with the WBA title on the line in a bout billed under the tagline "Finally".
No one gave Evander Holyfield a chance against the former unified world champion. However, fans and bookmakers were proven wrong as Evander Holyfield knocked Tyson out in the eleventh round.
The two met once again in June 1997, this time in a bout dubbed "The Sound and Fury". With Mike Tyson earning $30 million and Evander Holyfield making $35 million, it was the highest-paid boxing purses till 2007. The PPV also set a record that took ten years to break. Despite all the hype, the fight ended in a disqualification, as Mike Tyson infamously bit Evander Holyfield's ear severely enough to have removed a piece of it.