Ironically, just one day before the episode aired, Drederick Tatum inspiration Mike Tyson lost his WBA Championship to Evander Holyfield. This partially resembled February 11, 1990, when he surprisingly lost his championship belts to Buster Douglas the same dayMoaning Lisa aired; the episode featured Bart and Homer playing a parody of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! called "Super Slugfest." Tyson would never again win another championship belt following the November 9, 1996 loss. https://www.liveabout.com/mike-tyson-career-record-424338
The announcer is legendary boxing ring announcer Michael Buffer, who voices himself.
Despite the Fox Broadcasting Company's longstanding history of business ties with the WWF/WWE, which even resulted in a rerun airing of Wrestlemania XI's two main event matches in a special that aired on the network in September 1995, Buffer was at the time the announcer for numerous main event matches for rival World Championship Wrestling (WCW), whose flagship program WCW Monday Nitro was at the time surpassing the WWF's flagship program Monday Night Raw in a head-to-head weekly rating battle. At the time, the World Wrestling Federation had recently mocked the Fox logo in March 1996 while airing Wrestlemania XII in the Arrowhead Pond, home of the then-Disney owned Anaheim Mighty Ducks. In fact, WWF Raw would not lead Nitro in the ratings again until after Fox Broadcasting Company co-founder, and Mr. Burns physical inspiration, Barry Diller acquired the WWF broadcast home the USA Network in early 1998.
The ring announcer introduces Fat Tony as "Anthony 'Fat Tony' D'Amico"; however, in "Bart the Murderer," his name was given as "William 'Fat Tony' Williams." He may have numerous aliases due to his mob connections though.
Above the boxing ring there is an advertisement for the Assassin shoes that Homer buys in the earlier episode "Bart's Dog Gets an F."
The match referee is obviously based on veteran boxing referee Mills Lane.
Homer encourages Bart to squeal after he gets beaten up by the bullies. This is contrary to the "code of the schoolyard" in "Bart the General" where Homer advises Bart to fight back physically against Nelson.
"Homerpalooza": Homer has a strange condition (stomach can withstand cannonball blasts/head can stand punches and hits) that makes him impervious to pain and becomes famous for it, until the third act, where it will literally kill him if he continues (According to the DVD commentary, the writers admit that these episodes have the same premise and plotline).
"King-Size Homer": Homer visits Dr. Nick for backwards medical advice.
Homer becomes a temporarily famous sports figure (a dancing baseball mascot/an amateur boxer).
Marge and the kids sit in the nosebleed section during one of Homer's performances.
"Homer Loves Flanders": Moe does charity work (reads to sick kids in the hospital/steals The Fan Man's fan and helps people in third-world countries during the end credits).
"Bart the General": Bart gets beaten by a bully (or three, in this case) and Homer tells him what to do to fight back.
"Homer Defined": Homer's name is attached to something (the term "pulled a Homer", which ends up in the dictionary/a condition where he's impervious to being hit on the head).
The Homer vs. Tatum bout is a reference to the film Rocky, where a local champion faces the heavyweight champion. A lot of the training sequences are based on the same movie, including Homer running alongside Moe, Marge asking Moe not to let Homer fight and the line "You will always be a loser."
Tyson had famously been recently released from prison in 1995 following a rape conviction which saw him serve almost 3 years of a 6 year prison sentence and made a major comeback which saw him win his first boxing titles since February 1990, though he would ironically lose his final championship belt to Evander Holyfield the day before the episode aired.
Just before the fight with Homer, Drederick is seen walking to the ring with a group of shady looking characters walking behind him. This is also based on a real-life photo of Tyson.
The character of Lucius Sweet is an obvious parody of Don King, a vicious boxing promoter. Homer even points this out with the line "He's one of the biggest names in boxing! He's exactly as rich and as famous as Don King, and he looks just like him, too!" King was also the manager for Mike Tyson.
It is possible that Homer's "take punches until they're tired, then finish them off" is based on Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-dope tactic.
Some controversy has arisen about what song is exactly played during Homer's montage. DVD commentary of the episode has attributed the song to an original Alf Clausen composition. Some people alternatively have stated that it is "The Flower Duet" from Delibes' opera Lakmé. However, there is no passage in "The Flower Duet" song that convincingly matches up with the boxing montage scene, but it can be said that the song is done in the style and semblance of "The Flower Duet."
The song can also be a reference to Yanni's song "Aria", based off the music of Lakmé, and which was popular around this time due to its heavy usage in British Airways advertisements.
The montage of Homer's victories mid-episode spoofs Raging Bull. The Homer vs Tatum bout itself also spoofs the film's last fight between star and Sugar Ray Robinson
^During the black and white montage of Homer's hobo fights the screen freezes and turns to a black and white view of one of Homer's boxing opponents falling out of the ring. This scene is a parody of the 1924 painting Dempsey and Firpo by George Bellows.
Drederick Tatum's theme song is "Time 4 Sum Aksion" by Redman. It was the same song chosen by Mike Tyson for his first fight upon his prison release.
Homer's theme song is "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by War. He also comes in wearing a robe labeled "Opponent."
The closing song is "People" sung by Sally Stevens. Some versions of this episode on FXX redub "People" with the usual Simpsons closing theme.
The scene in which Homer and Moe go to the fight is a reference to the video game Punch-Out. That being said, both media have a boxer in training and have their respective trainers ride a bike. In the episode Moe appears to ride a scooter.
Goofs[]
In this episode Homer tells Bart he should tell authorities about being bullied, but in "Bart the General" he was so strongly against the idea that he said it would be preferable for Bart to die. Homer is also a known hypocrite in many cases, so this isn't exactly out-of-character behavior.
Duff Beer with blue labelling
Moe says that he turned the women's bathroom into a office when he noticed no women have been to his bar since 1979, yet in "Flaming Moe's" he hires a female waitress. Also, in the episodes "New Kid on the Block" and "Homer the Vigilante," Ruth Powers appears in the bar, and orders a beer in the former episode while Marge visited the bar in "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". Given Moe's personality, it seems likely that he might have just had the women since then use the men's bathroom.
Homer without a belly button
Homer should know who Drederick Tatum is, as he watched two of his fights (one from "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment" and the other on "Lisa's First Word") in the past, as well as Tatum's interview where he bashes Springfield and tells the reporter that, if he's ever back in Springfield, it's a sign he "...f[bleep]ked up bad".
When Moe is telling Homer about the upcoming Tatum fight, the Duff beers they are drinking have blue labels instead of the usual red.
When Homer is struggling to stand up at first, his navel repeatedly disappears and reappears.
Production Notes[]
The final draft for this episode was published on April 10, 1996.[1]
