A bizarre disqualification ended Tyson-Holyfield II early on.

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Amidst baseball's Hot Stove League and a rivalry weekend in college football, you may have missed this news item: 46-year-old Evander Holyfield is returning to the ring next month to fight seven-foot WBA champion Nikolai Valuev. When I think of Holyfield I think of one thing: his half-bitten ear lying in the middle of the ring, courtesy of Mike Tyson. So in honor of Holyfield’s return, we present our choices for the five most gruesome injuries in sports history...

1. Allan Ray: The Villanova guard got his eye poked out during the semifinals of the Big East tournament contest against Pitt. Most people are squeamish about any type of eye injury -- but even those who aren’t must have a tough time watching this video.

2. Tyrone Prothro: The Alabama wide receiver suffered broken left leg in a 2005 game against Florida. And frankly, we did not need the close up showing just how mangled it was.

3. Willis McGahee: The Miami running back shredded his ACL during the Fiesta Bowl in January 2003. It’s amazing he ever recovered from this helmet-to-knee blast from Ohio State safety Will Allen. This one was not pretty.

4. Bryce Florie: The Red Sox pitcher was smacked in the face with a line drive. This one involves multiple broken face bones, eye damage and a lot more blood than any baseball fan cares to see.

5. Joe Theismann: The poster child of gruesome sports injuries. This vicious hit from Lawrence Taylor ended Theismann’s career and cemented the fearsome New York linebacker's legacy as one bad you-know-what. (Though LT clearly felt terrible about what he did, as the video shows).

Which gruesome sports injuries did we overlook? Let us know below...