Buster Douglas is an underachiever

Well, I think he's the greatest one hit wonder of all time. It's so hard to judge his career off of his performance against Tyson, because he never showed anything like that before or after. I think that him being at the top of his game unnerved Tyson, he wasn't expecting a fight but an execution and when he ran headlong into Busters determination he seemed to me to be unsettled especially after eating punches in the 5th round, in my opinion Tyson seemed sort of stunned by Busters fighting spirit . a spirit he never showed again. Greatest underachiever of all time? I'm with Emanual Steward on that,,,,it's Marciano.

 

Douglas did show that kind of performance vs Mike Williams, knocking him down 3 times with a jab in one of the best jabbing exhibitions ever. Douglas was also on a roll beating top contenders Berbick, McCall.

People tend to think Douglas just randomly put in an amazing performance vs Tyson. But in actual fact Douglas coming into the Tyson fight was on a hot streak, and having the best moments of his entire career.

For whatever reason Douglas decided to just check out after the Tyson fight, and had no motivation to get in shape again. But for a 2 year period prior to the Tyson fight he was in very good form.

 

Good analysis Dynamic.The Williams fight showed Buster had a jab in the same class as Larry Holmes and Sonny Liston.
Douglas was one of the many gifted 80s/90s heavyweights who just didn't care enough to achieve their full potential.

 

I think regarding talent the 80s probably had potentially the most skilled Heavyweights out of any era.

You had Dokes, Tubbs, who had some of the fastest handspeed ever.

You had guys like Page who was incredibly naturally talented, but I don't think his heart was ever truly in it.

Thomas had one of the best jabs out of any Heavyweight in history.

And then finally Witherspoon another very naturally talented fighter who started late.

Even fighters like Carl Williams, Tyrell Biggs, look great when you watch them in their pomp.

Probably the biggest waste of talent ever for a single era.

 

Yep,an unbelieveable waste of talent by so many potential ATGs.

 

My view is sort of half and half..

On one hand, yes…. If he had shown up for all of his fights in the same form as he did for Tyson he might not have lost to guys like Mike white, Jesse Ferguson and even perhaps Tony Tucker. On the flip side I think there are some limitations on how good he TRULY was on that ONE evening in 1990. A part of me feels that SOME of what happened that night also had to do with the form Mike Tyson was in.

 

Got it right again, mate
It was half Tyson and half Douglas for me.

 

Yeah, while I agree to some extent that Douglas indeed fought a great fight, this idea that “ Tokyo” Douglas was a one night - ATG has gotten blown out of proportion over the years.

 

Definitely, to a massive degree.

 

Honestly…I think Buster Douglas is starting to become overrated on this site …People are making threads about “Tokyo Douglas “ and asking how many ATG heavyweights he could have beaten…I think it’s getting out of hand

 

Razor Ruddock said that if he had been in the ring with Mike Tyson that night in Tokyo …that he would have knocked Tyson out in 3 rounds…and I believe him

 

Nothing like a boxer talking about someone who beat them twice to get the truth.

 

Ruddock really thinks that? Tyson would've Tillman'd the hell out of that man had they fought that night.