For a man who pulled off one of the performances of all time, he doesn't get alot of exposure on here. I'm interested in people's observations on him He seems painted as a talented underachiever, who had one great night,then reverted to type. Any thoughts/opinons/tales regarding J.B.D. ?
When he showed up motivated and in shape he was a very good big man. One of the better jabs in heavyweight history. Hes biggest short comings was his lack of desire he didn't have the consistent competitive drive to be a great fighter but On the night he beat Tyson he was great....
He was a good fighter but he lacked the motivation. I think it was his mom who passed away that gave him that motivation on the Tyson fight. If he stayed like that on the rest of his career, he would have been talked about more even without tyson as part of the topic.
He comes across as a gifted but dissillusioned talent. Frustrated and dissilusioned for spells during his career. You get there impression that other prospects were getting more backing and pushed and Douglas was a kind of a "Gate crash kid" who had to abide his time and step in and gate crash his way into a closed shop. He was a substitute against Cobb and was matched as the opponent for most of his big wins. Finally Don King gave him some opportunities on Tyson undercards and buster had quite a purple patch totally under the radar between losing to Tucker and beating Tyson. His resume actually stands up very well against many belt holders that have been higher regarded. I'm thinking Tim Witherspoon and Pinklon Thomas.
Douglas before and after Tyson didn't do big things. (This doesn't mean he was 100% talentless) He's very overrated nowadays .By some opinions he was a boxing god without heart. Funny but some underrated Tyson's victims were much more impressive before and after Tyson.But nowadays lots of brainwashed boxing fan lick Douglas' ass. -Some examples before and after Tyson: Tony Tubbs : before he was world champion after he beat Seldon and he was competitive against Bowe Holmes: Before Tyson: ATG After :He beat the unbeaten Mercer The 42 and years old Larry went the distance with Evander(The prime Douglas couldn't) . Tony Tucker before Tyson: He was world champion and knocked Douglas out. After : Tucker who was far away from his prime went the distance with Lewis. But lots of Tyson's victim was much more impessive than Douglas Spinks,Bruno,Ruddock,Berbick,Smith etc. Basically Douglas did nothing before and after Tyson his record is a little bit garbage. Seemingly before his Tyson win nobody said he had big talent. After this win he proved nothing. When Douglas had a dangerous opponent( Mike White,Ferguson,Tucker,Tyson,Holyfield,Savarese) he lost and/or he was down. I think Douglas' talent is much more overrated than Corrie Sanders'.
On that one night, Douglas was a GREAT fighter...similar to Max Schmeling in that first fight with Louis. Douglas's dismal decline in form vs Holyfield doesn't detract from that one great performance one iota, any more than the 1 round blitzing by Louis in'38 can detract from Max's masterpiece ascension to greatness in that 1st bout with the Brown Bomber.
Did you see his fight with Tucker? he was leading on points and outboxed Tucker..till he ran out of gas..he wasn,t even knocked down.
The talent was there. It was always there! Trouble was he was disillusioned for long periods. That does not excuse the fact that on a given day he might lose to a Leon Spinks and beat Tyson on the next. A fighter who was good on one night isn't worth much. But he's worth more on the good night. Take a fighter on his entire career and Douglas is still a very good fighter. On his night he's a great fighter. But that's just one night. You cant bank on one nights.
I hated it when he quit against Tucker in 87, IN A FIGHT HE WAS WINNING, but he more than made up for it by the infamous KO of Tyson.. Seemed like a cool easy going cat, wasn't into the macho, crotch grabbing, trash talking, thuggish BS, side of the sport.. If he would have had Holyfields heart he would have went a lot further for a lot longer... Made a comeback in 1997, but his punch resistance was history..
The stamina is one of the most important factor in the boxing. It's a bad excuse. I never said Douglas was down against Tucker. Tucker won and knocked Douglas out, that's all. I think it was the landed punch stat before the last 10 round. Tucker landed 134 Douglas landed 120 punches This "Douglas outboxed Tucker" is far away from the reality. He was competitive to the ko.(But just to the ko !)
