Same thing happens, although a bit later. Holyfield studied Tokyo Douglas thoroughly, he’s always going to land that counter when Douglas throws that uppercut.
We'll never know because Douglas chose to come in with "jelly in his breasts." I tend to agree with the poster above. Holy was a machine at that point, whereas part of the Tyson loss was because Tyson was, at 23 years old, already in decline. But who knows?
I think Evander had Buster's number, as much as I do believe his Tokyo version is as pristine a distillation of his fighting essence as there could be, and worthy of most of its mythicizing.
Tokyo Douglas was excellent. I suspect that Holyfield against that version would be closer to 50-50 than most people would care to admit.
To put it in perspective Tokyo Buster Douglas prevented Prime 28 year old 24-0 Undisputed CW Champion/#1 HW contender Evander Holyfield vs Prime 23 year old 38-0 Undisputed HW Champion Mike Tyson.. Why I’m not a fan of marinating fights ex. Spence vs Crawford, HW division..
Holy wins by UD or catches him late. Tyson, despite the shape he was in and not taking his training seriously since mid '88, came close to beating him anyway.
Was just gonna start a thread on this, good stuff. James Buster Douglas he doesn't get the deserving accolades for his performance against Tyson on that night. If he was in that shape and mentally where he was in Tokyo, he would of defo made it a great fight, rather than getting bum rushed. He would of been fitter, sharper and could absorb shots better (more importantly avoid shots better) and recover quicker. I do agree with the others though, Holyfield will adapt quicker to whatever Douglas brings to the table and Holyfield isn't going down. But I think he'd make a great fight of it and maybe even go the distance getting dropped once or twice on the way, otherwise a late stoppage.
That's a great fight. Like Bowe holy 1 great. I might still give holy an edge but it's close bc of busters size advantage. But I think bc holy (unlike tokyo tyson) was focused and resilient and able to make adjustments would find a win. May not ko buster but could pull out a close decision
And even on his best night Buster got dropped by an unfocused undertrained tyson. In the same spot would evander have been able to finish buster? Def possibility
Buster Douglas was in great shape & boxed on even terms against Tony Tucker for the IBF H/W title. He faded late though & Tucker got him. Same thing happens against Holy.
