32 years ago today: Buster Douglas shocks the world with 10th-round KO of Mike Tyson

I watched it awestruck aged 21 at the time. Douglas implemented the perfect taller guy job on him..Danced and flicked out the jab all night, tied Tyson up when he waded in and whenever he caught him off balance and Tyson over committed let go with fast combinations that wore Tyson down. I don't ascribe to the if he kept Rooney view. Tyson biggest weapon was fear and once evaporated Rooney or any trainer couldn't put it back.fully. The Ruddock fights showed that to a degree and then he went to jail. Tyson says he wasn't the same fighter on release but in truth the game had moved on without him and he wasn't as feared. The Douglas fight though, a textbook example of how to.control distance and outwork a smaller more aggressive fighter with the jab and quick footwork. Douglas had fast hands also but not the tnt of a Lewis or Klits, just a shame he let himself go after that one night when the stars aligned for him in Tokyo. Still an atg performance whatever shape Tyson was in given the odds were 40/1 against him.

 

Agree. So much wasted potential as soon as Givens and King were on the scene he was screwed.
Losing the people who started with him over time and replacing it with an entourage of yes men who all vanished when the money ran out.
Boxing can be pretty brutal at times

 

Honestly Tyson didn't look much different in that fight than he had in his previous wins it's just Buster fought back and didn't fold up. I kept thinking Tyson's gonna nail him soon but Douglas cracked him with a right hand in the 5th I think and Mike looked shook by it, not hurt but kinda stunned. It was then I thought ,something is happening here.

 

Douglas was obviously ahead after 9 rounds, those two judges were smoking some bad (or good, depends on how you look at it) dope.

Amazing upset...at the time I was very happy because I resented the hell out of Tyson's "reason" for beating old Holmes: "I did it for Ali". Really irked the hell out of me. He did it for the money, the prestige, and because it was very much the right time to do it.

Ali took the fight with Holmes for the same reasons (though he apparently miscalculated that last-listed reason). He wasn't forced to fight Holmes, he made a decision, and Holmes obviously backed off on him when it became obvious Ali wasn't really "there". All this "I'm Ali's defender" stuff stuck in my craw and still does, despite the fact that I've become quite a fan of Mike since.

 

Douglas was near prime Holmes in that fight, did a totally uncharacteristic, mind-blowing job. Never preceded nor mutha****in' repeated.

 

Never in better shape James "Buster" Douglas, never in worse shape Mike Tyson. The roles were replaced immediately in the next fight of James "Buster" Douglas.

 

I'm getting old

 

I watched a lot of the fights of Douglas from the Tucker loss to the Tyson win (Berbick, Williams, Halstead, McCall, if anyone knows where I can rind the percell Davis and Donnie Long fights let me know). Douglas was pretty good in all of those in between fights but he was 100% at his best here. Tyson was his unfocused self here but that's not Douglas' problem as he fought a great fight and really put a beating on Mike.

 

The 12 year old me will never forget this fight, still gutted now! Lol

 

One of the most historic moments in boxing history. Douglas was fired up & ready to shock the world. Tyson was unfocused & thought Douglas was just another cannon fodder that would fall over in the 1st round. Here is my review of the fight...

Tyson was unprepared for Douglas & it showed. He resorted to lunging in & looking for a one-shot KO which Douglas kept evading. He finally managed to the 8th round & almost got it (this lead to the controversial "Long Count" that is still talked about today), but was unable to keep Douglas down as he was saved by the bell. Douglas recovered quickly & regrouped to pound Tyson in the 9th, & then get the KO in the 10th.

 

Not many HWs historically would have beaten Buster Douglas on that night. For one night in his career he put it together mentally to go along with his physical advantages like that steady jab ad his long reach. Just like Bowe put it all together in the 1st Holyfield fight. And let’s not forget Tyson ended up landing the shot to put him away. That short sneaky uppercut from hell actually put Douglass down like many HWs. The only difference was he showed heart this fight and got back up which further discouraged Tyson and he finished the job.

 

Douglas beat him fair and square, shame on Don King's antics after the fight with the supposed long count, your boy took a hell of a beating.

 

Might be my favorite night of boxing ever. What a night

 

Tyson did that in other fights and got away with it. Douglas had the style and the game plan to beat Tyson. Pop him with a heavy jab and use his size to lean on and push Tyson out of Tyson's punching zone.
Imo Tyson could have had the best training camp ever for him and he was still going to have his hands full with Buster Douglas. Douglas was so dominant there's really no other way to look at it.

 

It's a shame Douglas couldn't keep that focus. I'd have liked to have seen that Douglas fight Holyfield, not the guy who showed up out of shape and untrained.