Although it is highly unlikely, let's say Douglas for some reason saw the light (not the refridguater light), retains his focus and training habbits, and comes in at exactly the same shape and mental mindset in an immediate rematch, summer 1990 to fight Tyson, who has also prepared himself well. How much trouble does Douglas give Tyson? Can Tyson get his punches off better? Would he finish what he started in the 8th, only earlier? Or does Douglas have his number and is Tyson this time discouraged because things aren't going his way again, like in the Holyfield rematch? It has been observed that while Tyson looked a lot worse than he normally did, Douglas also did a lot better than all of Tyson's previous foes: the two are certainly not unrelated. How much of it was because of Tyson's lack of training and how much of it because of Douglas' ability?
I look at the first fight and reckon Douglas at his best beats any version of Tyson. I know I will take a lot of flak for holding that opinion. IF Douglas and Tyson fought a rematch, with Douglas in the same shape, I think he beats Tyson easier than the first time, however well Tyson prepares, because I think he'd have a psychological edge - having already knocked Mike out. But in reality, if the rematch had happened I suspect (I think we all suspect) Douglas would have come in out-of-shape and less motivated and would've been KO'd'.
I would be taking Tyson personally. He came into the first fight massively underprepared and i believe recieved enough of a wake up call to prevail in a rematch, but certainly not easily. He fought quite well in his next 4 outings before going to prison. Personally i believe Holyfield fought a better version of Tyson than Douglas did, but i will also add Buster was firing on a lot of cylinders that night, brilliant performance. Regardless of Tyson's preparation Douglas was always going to perform better than any previous opponent in that frame of mind given his tremendous assets. Douglas and Holyfield put forth the two best performances Tyson ever had to face.
I disagree that Douglas beats any version of Tyson. What we saw was a compounding affect of Tyson not showing up and Douglas showing up big time. The 8th round KD shows that if Tyson comes in shape and prepared then he can put together the kind of punches to make night a short night. A rematch would have given us the best Tyson out there. He would have been really motivated and if Buster were the same we'd have a classic in the making. I believe Tyson would be far more active in the rematch use better head movement and work the body alot better. I believe that Tyson would prevail via KO.
I think Douglas would always win if prepared, I think Tyson's weakness is a clever skillful heavyweight who knows all the tricks, the fight with Ruddock showed you can't blast him out no matter how good you are.
Could Tyson handle the re-match mentally? Maybe, but I think his promoters and mangers knew a second defeat by Douglas could have killed their golden goose, which is why we never saw the match. Tyson vs Dougals II would have made a lot of money. I tend to beleive we never saw the re-match for a reason, and its not Holyfield TKo'ing a bloated Douglas.
Holyfield was number 1 contender, and had been for months before Tyson fought Douglas. Douglas was paid $23 million to defend against Holyfield. If a Tyson rematch could have paid more then we'd have to ask why Tyson and his handlers didn't offer Douglas more. There WAS talk of a rematch, but I reckon Tyson's confidence needed rebuilding. I notice how Tyson faced the the easy Henry Tillman (the man who last beat him before Douglas - in the amateurs) next.
We never saw a rematch because Buster Douglas took a page out of Larry Holmes book, and took some snacks from Riddick Bowe's fridge. Tyson wanted that fight badly and it was never made because of Buster. Though its cliche, Tyson, before he went to jail was fighting for his legacy; he was fighting for the glory. He went as far as saying that he lost his heart to fight while in prison. I mean if you contend that Tyson is mentally weak then imagine what prison did to his psyche. I mean look at the Ruddock fights and how he was fouling and getting fouled and not caring even when Ruddock nailed hard him with the smash. Then look at the Holyfield fight where a few headbutts and he complains in a fight that was competitive. His promoters, managers and handlers despite the Douglas loss knew that Tyson wasn't taking things serious. Tyson back then was still good enough that he didnt need to be protected. They still would have put him in there Douglas. Holyfield had a gaurantee against the winner. Turns out it was Douglas.
