Douglas was overlooked at the time due to his somewhat spotty reputation, but remember he was beating Tucker till he gassed out and he earned a shot against Tyson with a 6 win streak with some impressive finishes particularly the one against Williams. McCall even revealed in an interview to Tyson's camp to not underestimate Douglas, plus Bowe claimed that Tyson would lose against Douglas since behind the scenes his downfall was inevitable.
They sparred as amateurs, and Holyfield only weighed about 178, Tyson was about 210, and Evander held his own in there with him. That alone gave Evander a lot of confidence.
Oh, the fan boy with the excuses. Who would have guessed. You'll have to excuse me not wasting any time on you. You're just not worth it. I would have blocked you, but don't think you're really worth the effort.
Cobb had not lost a fight since losing to Larry Holmes. In fact until Douglas, Larry Holmes was the only person to beat Cobb beyond dispute. Randy had previously only lost to world champions. By either split or majority decision. Would you call anyone else who until that point had only lost” beyond dispute” to Larry Holmes as trash? Even in his next fight after Douglas beat him cobb was relaunched into a rematch with Dokes for some kind of title slash eliminatior. As I remember It ended up as a technical no contest or something after an early cut took Dokes out of the fight. So they were still pushing Cobb for bigger fights even after losing to Buster. So Cobb, at that point had to still have been considered one of the top heavyweights at that time. This is what is overlooked. Douglas beat one of the top heavyweights here. And nobody took notice of that. I am often critical of Page in relation to Larry Holmes, but in relation to a lower regarded fighter there is less need to be as critical. Page, whatever anyone now thinks, was then still regarded around the top of the division. He was having his first fight back after losing his title to Toby Tubbs. Page was lighter for Buster than he was against either Witherspoon or Tubbs. Yet Douglas not only beat Page. But he dropped him too. This gets overlooked because Page went on to journeyman status after this. But Greg couldn’t have been so far away from Coetzee, Tubbs and Witherspoon at this time. Douglas was not recognised as being a part of this group even though he did a better job on Page during the same period. I criticise Tucker, not because he was without talent but because he was without resume. until he fought Douglas, Tuckers resume was as thread bare of competitive wins as just about anyone I can think of who was rated so highly within an alphabet organisation. He had fought nobody. Until Douglas. Before even fighting Douglas, without proving that he beat somebody like Douglas, the IBF somehow believed they should strip the lineal champion of their recognition unless he fought Tucker. Who had he fought? He had not beat Douglas at that point! My gripe is with the IBF selection of Tucker not so much Tucker himself. However, Tucker did beat Douglas. And so far as wins go, it’s about the best thing on Tuckers record.
Holyfield was roided to the gills. And Tyson wasn't trying to push them back, that's just a waste of energy. Tyson usually used the clinches to rest.
I'm with chok on the majority of these points, except I watched Page lose one too many fights he should have won. For instance, the Berbick, Bey...too many. Sometimes I wonder if he was in a way unmotivated like Bowe.
I can't believe you made such a stupid comparison. Holyfield was roided to the gills and bigger when he fought Tyson than when he fought Foreman. Also, Foreman weighed much more than in his prime. He was 220 lbs vs Ali, and 257 lbs vs Holyfield. Foreman was much, much stronger in his comeback. It didn't matter that he had a 10 year layoff, power is the last thing to go. He came back in 88 and fought Holyfield in 91. That's 3 years where he trained very hard and fought before taking on Holyfield. The extra mass means much more strength. Also, him being way heavier meant he was very hard to push around. IMO, prime vs prime, Foreman was probably a bit stronger than Tyson, though not by much.
They sparred in 84, when both missed out at the Olympics. I doubt Tyson was that heavy back then, though I could be wrong.
You are basically saying Cobb gets brownie points for "only losing to champions". That's nice, but who did he beat? Was he even ranked? How good a fighter is considered depends on an important criteria: if they beat any good fighters. Areola has been beaten by vitali, adamek, stiverne, wilder, Kownacki, and Ruiz. The only name there who wasn't a champion was Kownacki, does that mean Areola is good for constantly being put in there with current/former champions? Cobb kept getting opportunities because he was a "safe" opponent and a great white hype. As long as you didn't just stand there trading blows with him, you could beat him relatively easily. A tough but very straightforward slugger. Page went onto journeyman status because he kept LOSING. Douglas beating him was overlooked because Page had lost 3 of his last 4. He wasn't ranked and he didn't have a belt. I don't think anyone in boxing History was given a bunch of praise and put on notice for beating a Journeyman who lost 3 of his recent matches. You can gripe with Tuckers selection if you want. That isn't my point. Douglas hadn't done much to separate himself from the rest of the crowd either. Cobb and Page were not ranked, so what exactly did Douglas do to qualify for the IBF eliminator?
George was much stronger overall than Iron Mike, but Mike had the hand speed and overall better boxing skills imo.
Douglas had not done much to separate himself from the crowd other than beat Page and Cobb. Two wins that were overlooked. Buster was likely dismissed ahead of beating Page, for losing a split decision to an unbeaten Jesse Ferguson which later doesn’t look so bad considering jesse later beat Ray Mercer. I watched that fight Buster had with Ferguson. It was a good fight. Two good heavyweights. All I am saying is Douglas was overlooked. He totally schooled page and dropped him. That win over Tyson did not come out of nowhere. we didn’t know. And that’s why it is overlooked. Page was supposed to win. Douglas later hit his stride after the Tucker loss with wins over Williams, Mcall and Berbick. you add earlier names of Page and Cobb ..the close disputed loss to Ferguson..it’s a pretty good resume without Tyson. but he beat Coetzee, lost only on points to Tubbs and Bey. Page was in the fights he lost to Tubbs and Bey. Page had to have been considered one of the top guys. As Ex champ I bet Page was still ranked with the WBA. The organisations would have found a spot for Cobb at that time otherwise they would not have sanctioned that rematch with Dokes that was for some kind of minor WBC continental Americas title which came after Buster beat him.
Well, you're a Tyson fanatic that hasn't made one good post since you came here. That might be why you have a hard time swallowing that comparison. As have the other poster here, Sangria, who can post nothing but about his love for Tyson. It's tedious and not really worth wasting time arguing with. Take the time to learn that boxing is a bigger sport than just Tyson, until then - so long.
So do you agree that Douglas didn't do much to qualify for an IBF eliminator, or are you only critical of Tucker? Never said the resume was terrible, but it's slightly above average at best. Certainly nothing that would raise an eye brow to make you think he'd have a serious chance against Tyson. It doesn't matter if Page was "supposed to win". Page had lost 3 of his last 4, so it's not that great of a win for Douglas credentials as a challenger for Tyson, nor as a contender for a vacant belt. Ditto for the Cobb win. The 42-1 odds were a little extreme, but there's nothing in those two wins that would make any sensible person think Douglas has anymore chance to survive than an ice cube in hell outside of a punchers chance. Being in the fight and putting up a decent challenge doesn't change the fact he lost. His ranking and name value as an opponent had gone to the gutters. I could see that if it were only 1-2 losses but 3? The organization would have to be very corrupt or playing favoritism. So the answer is he didn't beat anyone?
