This content is protected Mike's 9th pro fight. The announcers play up Donnie a fair bit in the intro as him being Mike's first real test, how was he as a fighter at that time was he indeed somewhat respected?
At 15-3 he was the first ‘live body’ Tyson had faced. He might could be charitably called a ‘test’ in the sense that he at least had some experience, was in the early stages of a journeyman career and was above what Tyson had faced to that time — but not in the sense that there was much doubt that he wasn’t in Tyson’s class. Long had a stoppage win over Dino Dennis, who had a numerically good record (40-something-and-3 I think) with losses to George Foreman and Gerry Cooney and Leroy Jones, but whose only win of note was over Scott LeDoux. Dino’s record was carefully crafted but he wasn’t a real threat in his prime and was past it when Long beat him. Long had also gone the distance with James Broad and a comebacking, hardly the same, John Tate, but also been KO’d by a nobody with a bad record. He was a Midwest circuit guy from Ohio with a decent enough record to look good as an opponent but he wasn’t a prospect of any sort. He didn’t win many fights after Tyson, but at this point he was fresh enough that you’d expect him to come to fight Tyson and not just survive. He wasn’t, as Mike’s earlier opponents to this stage, there to fall down and knew their role.
Donnie's "Master of Disaster" Long was expecting his entry into the "big stage" in the fight against Mike Tyson.