I always wanted to see the Douglas vs Taangstad fight

It's the wonder of boxing, don't try to understand it.

 

I don’t think a focused Tyson ever looses to Douglas and i was a child then but I don’t really know why they never rematched right away. Maybe someone alive then could explain that one. Hurts Tysons legacy that he never avenged a loss.

 

I'm not sure about that.

Douglas was a big guy 6'4, 83 inch reach, 230 pounds.

He was on a good run of form for a few years prior to the Tyson fight beating Greg Page, Oliver McCall, Trevor Berbick, Mike Williams.

With Douglas's size, reach, and the fact he was peaking around that time.

I think Douglas would always be a major problem for Tyson.

As for why the rematch never happened ? I wasn't born during that time but I have heard a few things about it.

1. Don King tried to get the decision reversed due to what he perceived as a long count which soured the relationship with Douglas.

2. Holyfield was the mandatory challenger and it was a big money fight.

 

In boxing, obviously there’s styles that can change how things go, but there’s also other things.

Douglas didn’t only beat Mike Tyson due to styles, it’s also the thing of not buying into your opponents hype, not giving them too much respect to the point where you won’t let your hands go, or you won’t step into range so you’re actually in distance to land your own punches.

Regardless of whether Tyson’s opponents felt they were buying into his hype or not, they absolutely were. Guys like Tucker, Thomas, Spinks etc absolutely did buy into his hype and went in there with the subconscious mindset of defeat already, whether they knew it or not, and this happens when a guy has so much aura, the opponents feel a level below before they get in there, instead of the mindset that they’re a man with 2 arms and 2 legs.

The former mindset leads you to fighting in survival mode, backing up and fighting with nervous energy with excessive movement, holding when you can, not attempting to get work off when you have the opportunity to do so, or not even letting the jab go.

We saw it in modern examples when guys fought Lomachenko and Canelo when they were seen as unstoppable.

Douglas didn’t fight with that mindset, he fought with the mindset of ‘He’s just another man with 2 arms and 2 legs’ and he did let his hands go, he didn’t move excessively or ‘feel Tyson’s aura’, he let his hands go, he wasn’t too far out of range all the time out of fear of getting caught, he took his opportunities, he gave it back even fighting with Tyson at times, and he always made sure to be in a position where he could fire back.

Maybe if Tucker fought with that mindset, he could have gotten it done against Tokyo Tyson, who knows?

If Douglas fought with the same mentality of Tyson’s other opponents (many of whom he was of a similar level to) he would’ve lost decisively, but the mentality you approach your opponent with can completely change the course of things.

Now obviously, you can go too far to the other side, like Tubbs (I believe) did, and he fought with complete reckless abandon, standing with Tyson with no regard for defence,

Douglas took the right approach, he considered the technical things he needed to do to have success, and obviously had respect for Tyson’s power, but didn’t get in there with the mentality of already being a step below Tyson and buying into his aura etc.

 

No, there shouldn’t have been an immediate rematch.

The outcome was decisive.

Evander was due a mandatory shot. He shouldn’t have to wait because Tyson lost a fight people expected him to win, lol.

 

Douglas would have benefitted from an immediate rematch, financially. I think that he would have been paid more for that fight than for a Holyfield fight.
I've always thought that Douglas won that fight because it was the best night of his life and the worst night of Tyson's life ever, or, at least, up to that point. I don't think that he could have done it again.

 

You think Don King was going to pay Buster more? LOL.

Don King maybe would have promised Douglas more, but he was proven time and time again to not honor his contracts. Ask Mike Tyson, for instance.

But Don backstabbed Buster by trying to get his win stripped and Douglas rightfully gave King the middle finger. The man wasn’t just Tyson’s promoter — he was also Buster’s promoter, and James Douglas saw first-hand, up-close-and-personal, how Don worked not for what was best for him but for what was best for the guy he KTFO.

Mike probably gets the rematch if he and Don just said, ‘Hey, the best man won — you are the true and rightful heavyweight champion of the world, congratulations — but we’d like another shot and we’ll pay handsomely for it.’ But no, they decided to try nefarious means to get their way and Buster said no thank you.

Whatever you, me, Mike Tyson, Don King or the Man on the Moon thinks ‘might’ have happened in a rematch, we know for certain exactly what DID happen when they fought. And Buster beat that man like a stepchild.

 

Classic situation, same thing happened in Rico vs Usyk, Ngannou vs Fury, Laing vs Duran, Sanders vs Wlad and many others.