Flashback! Enter the Fan Man: One of boxing's most bizarre moments

DATE: 6 November 1993

OCCASION:WBA and IBF World Heavyweight title fight

TALE OF THE TAPE: Riddick ‘Big Daddy’ Bowe: 33 fights, 33 wins; Evander ‘The Real Deal’ Holyfield: 29 fights, 28 wins, 1 loss.

SIGNIFICANCE: A year after winning his world heavyweight titles off Holyfield, Bowe slouched into the ring for the rematch 11 pounds heavier. Holyfield was a clear leader after five rounds, but the tired-looking Bowe rallied and the fight suddenly kicked into serious action…

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT: A parasailor riding a motorised hang-glider landed on the top rope of the ring, his wires entangled in the overhead lights. The ref called time out while security guards joined fans and Bowe’s thuggish entourage beating up the interloper. Meanwhile Bowe’s pregnant wife fainted with shock and was hospitalised.

RESULT: After 12 rounds – punctuated by 21 minutes of anarchy – it was a majority decision, the judges returning scores of 113-115, 114-115 and 114-114: “The winner, and new Heavyweight Champion of the World… Evander Holyfield!”

VENUE: Caesars Palace, Las Vegas

ATTENDANCE: 10,923

31 October 1993

River Phoenix dies of a heroin/cocaine overdose outside the Viper Rooms club in Hollywood.

1 November 1993

We’re all Europeans now, as the Maastricht Treaty takes effect and the UK becomes one of 12 EU member states.

4 November 1993

Elton John is awarded £350,000 libel damages from the Sunday Mirror, who claimed he suffers from a bizarre eating disorder that causes him to spit food out.