How good could Buster Douglas really have been?

He overachieved.

 

He was a big strong HW with a decent chin, nice skillset and some pop. How good could he have been? No idea. The Tyson he beat was a coked up mess who got dropped in sparring a few days before the fight and simply wasn't dedicated to training at all.

 

He could have defeated a 40 year old Wlad and had a draw with Wilder...

 

We may never know how good Buster Douglas could have been or was , because Tyson was way below his best .

 

He was about the same when he fought Tucker. He showed exceptional boxing skills but had issues with losing focus, very similar to the Tyson fight.

 

I think we saw it. The highs were probably his ceiling; he maybe could have lessened the lows and rode his average form more steadily with greater dedication.

 

Douglas had no heart. He won the biggest fight in fight history and gave the titles away to Holyfield without a even a mean stare. It's a reason he fell into obscurity after the Evander fight. The what could have beens don't matter. I just hope Ruiz doesn't do the same and fights like his life depends on it every bout.

 

About as a high a level as he did reach. Not everyone is meant to be a goat.

 

Maybe so, but Tokyo Douglas would have rinsed anyone that night.

 

He beat berbick and McCall on the way to Tyson and performed well vs tucker

Also won vs Cobb and page

For a won hit wonder he had some good wins. Shame he had such a bad showing vs holyfield kind of ruined his long term reputation

 

He could have a weak era, but even if in shape would have lost the rematch to a focused Tyson, would have done better but still lost to Evan Fields, and might have been killed by a prime Lennox Lewis.

 

Tokyo Douglas beats Prime Lewis

 

Douglas was a very good boxer.
But the only great fighter he ever beat was 6 inches shorter than himself and with a 12 inch reach deficit and came straight at him.
Douglas did what other men had failed to do, impose his physical advantages on Tyson as Tyson came forward. Forget all the excuses for Tyson, it was only a matter of time before an inspired, solid, skilled and strong boxer of Douglas's size pulled that trick.

But there's never been any evidence that a "focused, in shape" Douglas (like he was in Tokyo) would be successful against great or good fighters who were of normal heavyweight dimensions and fought in different styles.
Mike Tyson, with his stocky build and ferocious style, was a very unusual heavyweight - a fact which usually played to his advantage but had clear potential disadvantages too.

 

He was much better as he was given credit for going into the Tyson fight and eventually coming out of the Holyfield one, but I doubt he would be one of the bigger names of the era if he would have been more dedicated. He was just there are the right place at the right time in the right shape with the right tools and the right mindset.