Douglas - Tyson -- When did you first think upset?

For me, Greg Page's knockdown of Mike in sparring was a red flag. Members of the sporting press dismissed it with, "Yeah, but that's Greg Page!" To me though, something was already seriously amiss. Didn't think Buster Douglas would be the guy to capitalize though, and I thought Holyfield was too small. I believed then that Foreman would be the guy.

 

I had to be someplace the night of the fight, and I, too, thought it would only last a round or two. I didn't even bother to videotape it. The next day I saw the headline which read "TYSON KO'd" . I just glanced over it, thinking it was Tyson who scored the KO, and really did a double take when I looked again. Tyson had shown some signs of unraveling, as when he was knocked unconscious when he recklessly slammed his car into a tree, but I could not envision him losing in the ring for a long time yet to come.

 

When I saw Douglas punch Tyson back after Tyson hit him after the bell in round one I saw a look in Tysons eye that I still will never forget my dad looked at me and said this guy douglas is not scared he came to fight.

 

When Tyson tried to put his gum shield back in, it was James 'Buster' Douglas, he always choked...

 

When they raised his hand....TBH, I felt like Tyson was only a punch away from ending the fight the whole time in spite of how good Buster was performing. I am not even close to being a Tyson fan, but the thought even during the fight that Buster might win was laughable to me (In seriousness, I am still surprised even in hindsight). When Tyson turned the corner and dropped him, I hung my head in frustration (The type that only athletes whom I cheer against stir in me...ala MJ, LBJ, Kobe etc.) realizing that Tyson was about to pad his legacy by winning a fight he was trailing in. I would say I didn't even consider upset a possibility until it was already over.

 

I remember calling a buddy of mine around the 4th or 5th round and telling him to turn it on, this guy was kicking Tyson's ass. Then on my feet screaming in round 9 and going berserk in round 10 during the final sequence. Remember thinking how Mike took his ass-kicking like a man.

 

I felt so sorry for Douglas when Tyson knocked him down and he pounded his fist on the ground. I thought Mike would turn it up and finish him.

 

First, me old fella told me that he can see the world in shock when he witnessed Douglas receiving the long count, and miraculously managing to beat it.
Then I told him: "Tyson is no Dempsey, he will get it done".
And then, when Tyson got a short count, and barely failed to beat it, the upset was complete.
That actually surpassed Dempsey vs Tunney.

 

I did n't catch it live. I switched on the radio to be greeted by two iconic news items -


1/ Nelson Mandela had been released.

2/ Mike Tyson had lost his world title.


The former was expected,but the latter was n't. Around this time,I thought Tyson's days were numbered but I did n't think that Douglas was going to be the guy to knock Mike off his pedestal.

 

About the end of the third round. A few things had remained the same since the first round and Mike had not reversed anything.

The guy was landing combos on Mike and he wasn't responding well. And he'd made it through the danger rounds by that point and most folks thought it'd go 2 rounds and Tyson was going to catch him early. But that first round saw buster landing that jab and moving. Jab, then a right hand, then a nice left hook. Then moving. Mike would throw and miss and couldn't get a bead on the guy. After 2 more rounds of wash rinse repeat, it was clear that Tyson was not doing anything to systematically break this opponent down. It was get the big ko.

The guy doing the systematic breakdown thing was Douglas. The big question was if he was in condition enough to keep it up. That had been a problem in the past with him. But Tyson wasn't doing things to make him uncomfortable or draining his gastank.

By the 5th round, even the announcers were finally acknowledging Mike was in some trouble. But they still thought he was doing "okay" and would find a way to win. Me, I saw things going the other way and Buster just continued to land combos. I thought Tyson had lost every round and that didn't seem to be an important issue. Tyson must've thought the guy had 3 hands because he was peppered in there after the jab. And he sure wasn't dealing with the foot movement and mobility of Douglas very well.

But this kind of fight is what happens--over the course of a long bout--when a guy gets taken apart in there. It's not a flashy knockdown type affair. But a bricklayer job and usually not appreciated as it's happening, but definately is in hindsight. And Mike Tyson was taken apart that night.

Usually you seldom see champs taken apart when they lose the title. They lose a different way, and even fewer of the elite fighters ever get taken apart. The surprise was it was a Buster Douglas administering the visit to the woodshed and it was Mike Tyson taking a trip there for a long sustained beating.

 

Theres 2 stories involved in this which culminated in Tokyo

A) you have the ****y over confident champ, spoilt, getting his way with everything, maybe not fully focusing on the task at hand and
B) the downtrodden, overlooked challenger who just lost his mother, had nothing going for him and needed to take it out on someone.

I think it was Spinks who said, boxing is a good sport for letting off steam and people are in trouble when Mike Tyson wants to let off steam. I guess this time the tables were turned.

I know this is overstated but, one of the reasons why Tyson lost to both Holyfield/Douglas, or at least why he was stopped was, he had no defense whatsoever, no head movement, just reckless aggression, constantly walking into jabs etc.

The last uppercut by douglas, because Tyson walked into it.

 

Yep. A weakness in his game. Everyone has them. Trouble with the frontrunners is how devastating they look when things go their way. And how fragile they can become when things don't.

 

A weakness which a Kevin Rooney would have corrected.

Tysons problem has always been frustration, not lack of heart. Hence why he would rush in constantly and this is what cost him against douglas and holyfield.

How did tyson become fragile? despite being reckless he was still the agressor in both the douglas and holyfield fights. You cant be fragile and be the aggressor at the same time. As someone whose boxed, i know this.

Douglas himself has stated he expected Tyson to cave in after a few rounds, but after round 5, he said he looked in tysons eyes and he was still there, there was no fear.

 

That's a good few lines.