20th Aniversary of Douglas vs. Tyson

I was watching ESPN this morning and did not realize today was the 20th anniversary of the "Iron" Mike Tyson vs. James Buster Douglas.
Feb. 11, 1990 Buster Douglas was a 42-1 underdog. "Iron Mike" seemed like an unstoppable force at this point. He began to believe his own hype and did not take the fight serious. Buster's was in great shape and was ready to take Tyson out. And the motivation of Busters mom passing 3 weeks prior was all he needed. Even with Tyson dropping him in the 8th round Buster came back and dropped Tyson in the 10th.

Now let's get real here. Buster fought a great, inspiring, fight. He threw hard, crisp, combos at Mike and then immediately moved out the way before Mike could counter. And with Mike not training and not being focused he was overcome.

The aftermath is what is really what exposes the truth. After the fight Don King was trying to get a rematch for the fight but Buster declined. Why? Don King believed had a clause in the contract that Buster had to give Mike a rematch. Buster refused and Don sued him for everything he had. After Douglas lost the he was living in a barn according to ESPN.

The question is if Buster was so confident why didn't he fight Mike again? Buster had the rep when he knocked Mike out but did not get paid very much. A rematch would of let Buster ask for whatever amount of money he wanted. But I guess his pride couldn't be swallowed. He knew good and well a focused Mike Tyson would of washed him up. I personally would of taken the money. Win/Lose/or Draw Buster would of most likely of been financially set with one more fight with Mike. The hype would of been great. I can see it now.

THE ONE MAN WHO BEAT MIGHT TYSON!!! TYSON IS OUT FOR REVENGE!! THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL. TYSON vs. DOULAS II

 

Here's the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/03/sports/sports-people-boxing-trump-sues-too.html?pagewanted=1

Donald Trump and Don King sued Buster Douglas and his managers for not going on with the rematch. Those two guys have big money and I know Busters pockets couldn't handle one of them suing him much less too. It's obvious that Buster didn't wanna fight Mike again is why the fight didn't happen.

 

It said Trump sued the Mirage and its owner, Steve Wynn, and the heavyweight champion and his manager, John Johnson.

The heavyweight champion was Buster Douglas at this time. The article said that Mirage and Douglas sued King last month in an effort to have the fighter released from his contract with the promoter. So Douglas and his camp counter sued to avoid fighting Mike by getting Buster out of his contract.

Peter Parcher, a Trump attorney, said his client and Don King, the promoter, agreed to terms for a heavyweight rematch two days after Douglas won the title by knocking out Tyson in Tokyo last month.

This clearly states that two days after Douglas beat Tyson they agreed to a rematch with Mike.

So the stage was set but Douglas and his camp weren't trying to roll. I wouldn't wanna get sued by Don King or Donald Trump. Douglas and his camp got sued by both. You know they wiped him out.

 

That wouldn't of happened. That's why he and he didn't want to fight Mike again. But he got his moment in the sun.

 

That's what I thought. I guess his pride is bigger than a 8 figure check. I saw on ESPN a few years back that times got so hard that Buster was living in a barn at one time. One more fight with Mike could of put him on easy street. I would of taken the money I can't lie.

He was on ESPN selling a barbecue book. Don't think that's gonna bring in too much money.

 

Yeah he was good but once he tried to get out of his agreement to fight Tyson again and he got beat by Holyfield, boxing didn't need him anymore. And it seems like he gave up.