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Former rivals Tyson, Holyfield unite for Tribeca Film Festival

After 1997’s “The Sound and the Fury” ear-biting incident, Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield had only friendly fighting talk for each other during a Tribeca Film Festival panel Saturday for the doc “Champs.”

“This guy is an underrated fighter, it’s unfortunate,” Tyson said of Holyfield. “[He’s] the most competitive human being I ever competed against. It’s easy to overlook that because he’s such a smooth, kind-hearted guy.”

The pair also discussed the money problems. Holyfield said, “All of sudden when I started making $20 million a fight . . . and they started talking about things I had never heard of before so I just listened and figured they’d do the right thing. Unfortunately, it’s not people you don’t know, it’s people you do know and people you trust. A lot of the time we trust our family members, but you have to forgive. Because I have forgiven.”

Tyson continued, “I didn’t spare any quarters any nickels or dimes either. I’m not regretful for that whatsoever. Listen, when you really actually think about it, I have a ninth-grade education from like a special-ed school, and . . . all my kids go to Ivy league schools. I’m a dumb s - - t, but I did something right.”

Tyson, who declared bankruptcy in 2003 and reportedly owed the IRS millions last year, said, “Just look at the IRS check I just sent.”

Adding later, “The IRS was very kind to me the other day. They excused $2 million off my bill. I like the IRS now.”