To anyone that watched Tyson vs Douglas live

There are a lot of what ifs with this fight.

Tyson was not under any particular pressure to choose Douglas as an opponent, and he could have chosen a number of other people.

What happens then?

Tyson would almost certainly have got the rematch before he went to prison if King had simply swallowed the result.

What happens then?

 

I watched it with my father. It was the first time we had bother watched a Tyson fight live. And yes, it was huge. Tyson-Spinks was the biggest hype for a fight but the post Douglas upset was almost like a vivid dream. You couldn't believe it happened...and to a guy like Buster Douglas?

Lampley: "Say it with me guys - Buster Douglas...boxing heavyweight champion of the world!"

I cried like a baby.

 

You probably have been. Tyson was the biggest thing in boxing long after he was the champ. He was the biggest thing while he was in prison then for the next two years of circus until his ban. Nobody else could have commanded a $35m purse for fighting Peter McNeeley.

Even now, in England, football commentators will say 'he looks like he's gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson.' He must still be one of the names most associated with the sport across the world and that is all down to how brightly his star shone back then. Then being from about 1986 to ten or so years after. This has nothing to do with his standing in an ATG list; it's all about his fame and, seriously, he was just about as famous as you could be.

 

Yep. Iron Mike was so good that he was instantly installed as the #1 contender in all 3 governing bodies upon his release from prison in March 1995. Unfortunately he was never the same. But the memory of what he accomplished in the ring in his early 20's carried over until his very last fight in 2005. That's saying something.

 

Yeah I was around but I was too young to know or remember any of it. My first memory of Tyson was when I was 8 or 9 and I didn’t have a clue who he was but we were all watching the boxing on the tv but the main reason I remember it was while I was play fighting with my brother and not really paying attention to what was on the tv, my dad suddenly jumped up laughing and shouted ‘he’s trying to break the guys f****** arm.That always sticks in my memory because I think it was the first time I ever heard my old man swear. Lol.

It’s was only years later as an adult that I worked out that the fight that we were watching back then was Tyson vs Botha in 99 so that was indirectly my first memory of Tyson.

 

Yes I watched it, Tyson at the time was seen by casuals and many boxing fans as nearly unbeatable,

and especially as Douglas wasn’t seen as a threat, when the fight was unfolding and Tyson was getting his ass whipped at range it was incredible, and unbelievable , everybody still thought Tyson would find the equaliser late into the fight but obviously he didn’t. And I remember the next day at work no one believed it as they didn’t watch it and it was supposed to be a far gone conclusion they thought it was a wind up. It was certainly much better value for money than the 96 seconds or so for the Spinks fight I stayed up till 3ish to watch lol.

 

It was a big deal, but like say Mother Theresa dying a few days after Diana, Buster had to compete with the release of one Nelson Mandela.

 

I was 17 and a big Tyson fan .it was on sky in the uk at stupid o'clock on a Saturday night Sunday morning and I was off clubbing and unsuccessfuly chasing birds rnd town .When I surfaced at dinner time Sunday with a thickhead to be told by my old fella that "your mate lost then" I couldn't believe it !!! Total shock

 

I was actually in the UK as well. My buddies and I were also at the clubs drinking way too much when I realized the time. The London buses were shut down for the night and we couldn't find a cab (way before cell phones and Uber), so we had to run all the way back to our flat. When we got there we were drenched in sweat and it was already the start of the fourth round. We couldn't believe our eyes. "Is Buster Douglas actually winning this fight?" was all anybody could say. It was surreal.

 

Like most I remember thinking it was going to be a blow out...Tyson came out of the dressing room and he looked soft and his eyes lacked the intensity he was sort of smiling....uncharacteristic of a Tyson fight...I never doubted he was going to blow Douglas out the only thing that really made it all more surreal was the silence of the live audience...the Asians in this case the Japanese are very formal and polite and don't yell, scream and make a ruckus like say the British...the whole thing was unreal and the silence was deafening...the only thing in the fight that made sense was the knockdown when Tyson finally caught him with the uppercut off the ropes....but the whipping he took just seemed unreal...looking back Tysons chin was impressive I have yet to see another heavyweight standup to that many hard clean punches from a man that big...and Busters skill that night was the potential everyone saw in him that he never achieved until that night and never did again...he had shown flashes of it against Tony Tucker and sporadically and I remember people saying he was one of the most talented heavyweights but a question mark...there was a melancholy in the sport and around other Tyson fans after Tyson was dethroned even when Holyfield dethroned Douglas boxing was missing Tyson....

 

Who’s Nelson Mandela?

 

Idris Elba circa 2013.

 

My phone started ringing after the 5th round, a friend who was a fighter said he's getting his azz kicked and it ain't getting better. And it didn't

 

I was at work. I gave Douglas not a prayer. Mostly because I saw Tyson beat Tucker and I remembered watching Buster quit like a dog against TNT in a fight he was winning.

Somebody called my restaurant and reported the result. We all thought prank call.

 

Unless its Zaire