Best five wins thread. Lineal / Ring Magazine heavyweight champions.

Douglas
1. Tyson
2. McCall
3. Berbick
4. Page
5. Cobb

 

Buster Douglas

1-----Mike Tyson
2-----Trevor Berbick
3-----Greg Page
4-----Randy Cobb
5-----Oliver McCall

Pretty much runs out of gas after these names. Why this placement? Berbick was aging but solid. Page was starting to become an opponent, but did have the KO of Coetzee a couple of fights earlier. Why McCall in 5th place? He hadn't done a thing yet and would not do anything of note until a win over Seldon a couple of years later. McCall is the second best fighter on this list, but was green and unproven when he fought Douglas. I can't see the McCall of this point of his career as that impressive a win.

A super impressive first win, followed by four so-so wins if the best for a champion, and not much depth. Emphasizes what a big upset the win over Tyson was.

The thing I noticed most about Douglas after looking at his record was the extreme fluctuations in weight, bouncing from the 220's into the 260's and back within short periods.

 

Is there a link to the ring walk thing?

From memory, spinks had an injured leg, didnt he? This definitely was a money fight, and only happened for retirement money. I have never actually heard how Spinks trained for the fight. It isnt oftened considered, but Spinks was in no way prime for this fight. And he was a long way removed from the Michael Spinks who twice defeated Larry Holmes.

Not Jackson Jeffries removed but it was a different fighter. It would have been interesting if spinks had landed a couple a decent shot like Bruno did against Mike and at least earned his respect with his power. He tried but couldnt. Mike just walked straight through everything he threw (and he didnt get a chance to through too much).

 

Buster Douglas's resume is a lot better than what i thought. Most people just considered him a nothing challenger, but he really does seem to have been probably the best challenger around at the time, that i can think of anyway.

 

Mike Tyson was one hell of a fighter, hero worship and revisionist thinking aside. That Tyson was trouble for anybody for three/four rounds, anybody. And I'm not a fanboy.

 

Tyson’s peak prowess would give any heavyweight in history a handful. He was explosive, defensively sound, with a great chin, athletic and aggressive. A Nightmare matchup.
He unraveled mentally, being a multi millionaire by age 20 and the biggest sports star in the world, when you came from nothing is hard to handle. Some guys can handle it and others can’t. It’s was an over whelming scenario. Don King, Robin Givens didn’t help. His style wasn’t made to last long even if he retained his commitment to the sport. As dynamic as he was (and he was dynamic) your body will slow down when you’re 5’10 consistently fighting 6’3 guys and giving away 20lbs. He was not the same fighter post prison. Wish he had the opportunity to fight Douglas in a rematch and Holyfield in 91. But it was not to be.

 

Yes, his resume is clearly better than Ruddock's one, and Ruddock was considered a top contender for a long time.

Just compare:

- Douglas KO'ed Tyson, Ruddock was beaten by Tyson twice
- Douglas beat Jaco, Ruddock was stopped by Jaco
- Douglas beat MUCH younger and better version of Page
- Douglas' Berbick, McCall and Mike Williams is better bunch of wins than Ruddock's wins over washed up Weaver, Dokes and Smith IMO

 

Buster Douglas’ 5 best wins

1 Tyson - No contest for the top spot
2 Page - At the beginning of his slide but still highly rated and scoring big wins
3 Berbick - Probably declined a bit more than Page
4 McCall - Still a bit of a prospect here
5 Cobb - Not a bad win for this point in his career

Not a lot left after this, maybe you can argue a spot for Williams. There’s enough quality in Douglas’ record to say he wasn’t just a one hit wonder.

 

Buster Douglas

1. Tyson
2. McCall
3. Berbick
4. Page
5. Cobb

Douglas was seriously talented. I would love to see a fully motivated Douglas vs early 90's Lewis and Bowe. IMO he would have more than a chance.

 

what was Tyson’s final tally

 

Coetzee was just cashing out, a nothing win.

 

Tucker destroyed a fully motivated Douglas and Lewis or Bowe were better than Tucker.