Eric thomas buster douglas12/5/2023 ![]() As for my father and I, we had watched this historic upset at my then girlfriend’s house. ![]() As for Tyson, his entire downfall that began that evening in Tokyo will be written in full detail in an upcoming article. This would be the highlight of Buster’s career as eight months later he would get knocked out by Evander Holyfield and lose the undisputed heavyweight title, which I chronicled earlier in this series. The greatest upset in boxing history and maybe sports history had occurred. He got up just as referee Octavio Meyran counted to 10. Tyson was attempting to get up and put his mouthpiece back in at the same time. Finally, midway through round 10, Buster landed a vicious right uppercut, left hook, right cross and left hook combination that drove Tyson onto the canvas. After Buster cleared his head, he resumed using the heavy jab and right crosses and gave Tyson a wicked beating the second half of the round. Douglas barely got up at the count of nine just as the bell sounded to end the round.ĭespite having a challenger in deep trouble going into round nine, Tyson, because he had taken such a one-sided beating before scoring the knockdown, had absolutely nothing left to finish off Buster. Douglas battered Tyson from pillar to post through the eighth round and in his overzealousness, walked into a sizzling right uppercut that dropped the grief stricken challenger. Buster was in such a zone that he felt Mike needed a miracle from God to overturn the beating he was taking. While we were watching the fight, my father was awestruck by Buster’s ring generalship that evening. Combined with a 12-inch reach advantage, Douglas used a tremendous jab and movement over the first seven rounds to give the champion a one sided boxing lesson. At 6’4 and 235 pounds, Buster was a good half foot taller than the baddest man on the planet. Buster had other plans.īuster Douglas was in the best shape of his life that night. Tyson had unified all the world titles and Douglas was a mere stop gap before facing Evander Holyfield in what looked to be the biggest money making fight in combative sports history. Looking back, I’ve always felt that it was a combination of his mother dying and Tyson not taking him seriously that helped Buster put on the performance of a lifetime.ĭespite having personal problems with his ex-wife Robin Givens and his tumultuous breakups with former manager Bill Cayton and trainer Kevin Rooney, Mike still was as dominating as ever going into the ring that night as he attempted to successfully defend his world heavyweight for the 10th time since winning the WBC version in November of 1986. What my father and I didn’t take into consideration that night was the fact that Buster’s mother had passed away a little over three weeks before he was to fight Tyson. While Pop didn’t think Douglas had the heart and determination to pull off the upset, he wouldn’t be surprised if Douglas hurt Mike as he was six inches taller than the so called baddest man on the planet. Right before the night of the Mike Tyson-Buster Douglas fight, I reminded my father of what he had told me over eight years prior to this evening. Holmes was able to recover and would eventually stop Snipes in the 11th round, but not before almost getting knocked out. When that happened, my father smiled at me with that I told you so look. ![]() ![]() Then all of a sudden in round seven, Snipes landed a picture perfect missile of a right cross that dropped and badly hurt Holmes. For the first six rounds, my theory was on the money as Holmes completely outclassed Snipes with his battering ram of a left jab and well placed right crosses. My father explained to me that when two big men are in the ring, anything can happen. I remember being 13 years old and telling my father the night Larry Holmes defended his world heavyweight title against Renaldo Snipes that this fight was going to be a one-sided mismatch. ![]()
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