Tyson (1991) V Douglas of Feb 1990

he works on Douglas earlier and stops him. Once Mike lost his defense, it affeced his whole style. He lost his defense because of taking things for granted. The 1988 Tyson knocks out Douglas in 2 rounds, maybe even the first round.

 

'91 Tyson had a few things going for him: he was more focused, in better shape and had a better corner with Giachetti. He won't let Douglas treat him like a child in the ring. There was some fire to regain the belts.

 

I cannot see it. Mike did not land too cleanly in the 1990 fight. In 1985 to 1988, Mike would have landed some hard punches to get Douglas out of there early and Buster would have been stopped. I honestly think the Douglas win had to do with Mike fighting poorly and yes Douglas fighting the best fight of his career, but he had a style there in Tyson which helped him since Mike was not sharp.

 

Yeah, Tyson wasn't all the way back to peak form and he probably never would have gotten there. But he did show that he could take huge bombs and shrug them off when in shape.

 

This is such a big upset that I still favour tyson to win when I re-watch the fight itself!

I'd always favour tyson in a rematch vs douglas and it's such a shame the fight never happened.

 

the way tyson fought against alex stewart or ruddock 1.........no doubt tyson woulda beaten douglas

 

Douglas whitewashed him. Complete one-sided whooping bearing the round where he was dropped (But fine). Against a Peak Tyson, it will probably be a closer fight, and thus Douglas won't admire his on work and get caught. It's perfectly sensible to believe that Douglas had Tyson's number and would've won regardless. Because of the disparity in greatness as far as legacies are concerned it's hard for some fans to fathom and accept. Haters do the opposite by taking it to the extreme by knocking Mike for losing to such a journeyman. The truth is just watch Douglas. He's brilliant against Tyson. Fantastic performance.

 

@Pete: Do you really think Buster relaxed in round 8, & that's why he was caught? It sure didn't look like it to me. Buster was still landing multiple flush powerpunches on the listless lethargic punchbag before him... but Tyson partially awoke from his deep sleepwalking slumber in the 8th. Mike threw & landed his only combination of the fight, & rocked Buster with a right uppercut, prior to dropping him with another right uppercut for the controversial count, later in the round. If being hit with the first & only combination of the night, or being hurt by a big uppercut didn't stop Douglas "admiring his work" then...

 

He woulda got knocked the **** out again.

 

I'd have to re-watch the tape to get into the specifics. I don't think Buster was hurt before being dropped. In fact, I don't think he was even hurt that bad when he was floored. A little shook up and surprised, but not really badly hurt. This is my interpretation of things, anyway. My take was that Buster did relax. I believe him & his trainer thought this, and that specifically his trainer said that Buster started to look at Tyson flicking the jab and throwing the combinations, standing too much in front of him with this "Look at you now, you ain't so bad" kind of mentality. I believe he said Buster was admiring his work in the Legendary Fights Documentary for HBO. And then... he got caught.

Kal, I just re-watched the last 30 seconds prior to the knockdown. I see Douglas wailing on Tyson wildly like he has a man he doesn't respect in front of him. He's throwing big shots at Tyson and then falling into clinches on the inside for reprieve. Sheridan commentates "Look at the nice shot Buster is landing now." The uppercut Tyson lands before the knockdown doesn't seem to rock Buster in my view. How can you tell Tyson landed the only combination of the fight in that round? When did it happen? It definitely wasn't the first combination he threw. I see Tyson with urgency, but wants Buster lays it on him I saw much of the same. Except Tyson sees an open with Buster being overly aggressive and gets caught.

 

The "way" Tyson fought against Stewart & Ruddock was the same way he fought against Douglas as well - but with probably even less footwork and less head movement.

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Tyson wasn't "sleepwalking" at all in the 8th. He was coming off a decent 7th round and was actually winning the first half of the round until Douglas "woke up" and rallied halfway through the round. Also, if that three-punch flurry Tyson landed at 0:11 doesn't constitute a "combination," I don't know what does.

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Having said that, I don't believe Douglas was floored because he "relaxed." It looked more to me like he had shaken Tyson late in the round, but tried too hard and too quickly to follow up that advantage and walked into that inside uppercut (which is why he pounded his fist on the canvas after he was dropped, knowing he had gotten careless). If Douglas had continued to fight the controlled distance fight he had used in the earlier rounds rather than press Tyson at close range, Tyson likely wouldn't even had had the opportunity to land that punch.