"Buster Douglas vs. Mike Williams" of '88.. Almost forgotten.. WHY?

The KO is in here:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VJMrYseiEk[/ame]

First you will see Douglas KD him with a jab. Later Douglas' combo looks a lot like the final combo to Tyson.

Damn Douglas had as good a jab as Ali, Liston, or Holmes!
And great combos, esp when he had his man hurt.
If not for weight and whatever issues he had, could have been one of the greats for his career, not just one night in Tokyo.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VJMrYseiEk[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6x9hiLxIzo[/ame]

Above are the parts 1, 2 of this fight.

Douglas had 3 KDs from jabs!
Don't think I ever saw that from a HW.

ANd listen in Rd 2 to Merchant's prescient forecast. "Douglas has the kind of style, if it matures that could give Tyson trouble." [Or words to that effect.]

This fight was on the undercard of Tyson Spinks.

 

well Carl TheTruth WIlliams was a guy without a chin, otherwise...

 

I thought Douglas looked like the best of the remaining contenders with this fight.

Him and Ruddock were coming up, Carl Williams was still considered in his prime but even more flakey. The rest of the contenders were over the hill has-beens, guys like comeback Dokes and Witherspoon.
Tyson had no serious opposition except for Holyfield, who was still at least a year away, and possibly two. In the wake of Spinks' dismal performance and Tyson' supremacy, building up Holyfield as a rival looked a bit shaky too.

Douglas definitely came out of the blue as outsider to KO Tyson, but his improvements and good form had been quietly noted.

As for MIKE WILLIAMS - this guy was a highly touted prospect, he'd followed Tyson as RING magazine's "prospect of the year" for 1986 (Tyson had won it '85) ..... He had made some noise by giving Tyson beating in sparring while Tyson prepared for Berbick ..... and he had held Witherspoon to a split decision.
I've never seen the Mike Williams v Tim Witherspoon go. I don't know if it was televised or not.

 

People that discount the 80's should watch this fight and see how these guys move jab and put their punches together in combination. You didnt see this kind of combination punching in the 90's. These are top ten contenders really fighting well for big guys.
The footage of Williams sparring with Tyson is around somewhere. There is footage of Tyson knocking him out cold too in sparring.

 

Yeah, the 1980s there was still the semblance of a crop of well drilled North American heavyweights, by the mid-90s that was clearly dried up.

 

maybe because Tucker- Douglas was for a title while Douglas -Williams was not

 

Hey MR. Bill here is a barn burner a somewhat motivated tillis ( like the one that fought Coetzee) vs Lucien Rodriguez (full 12 rounds with Holmes), damn what a barn burner that would be , just saying because I would figure you would bring up next !

How about a prime Eddie the Animal Lopez vs a slightly past it George Chaplin being the main event ! It could make history ! Card of the century !

 

In other words, you'd consider Douglas perhaps the best contender - in the flesh, not on paper - who challenged the undefeated Tyson? He was the first and only up to then to beat Tyson, of course.

 

Jesse Ferguson vs Douglas was good too, douglas had ferguson hurt early, then Ferguson preceeded to beat the **** out of Douglas the rest of the fight. This was not long before the Epic Douglas vs Tyson.... I mean Douglas vs Williams. I heard Douglas also fought a guy Dion Simpson, Simpson was so bad in the gym no one would fight him until Douglas. Douglas's legend was long before Tyson, Mr. Bill, you dumb bandwagon jumping ****. See if you can find Douglas vs Mike Giant White please if you get a moment Mr. Bill