Douglas vs Tyson among great HW perfomances?

I agree, and its unfortunate it took so much unrelated things to bring the best out of Douglas. There was nothing else that could do it again. He always showed flashes of how good he could really be, but that was the one and only night it completely came together for him.

 

Tyson in his latest documentary openly admits to not training for the fight, but he also admits that he didnt think much of Douglas as a fighter at the time. He compared him to Tucker, but worse. Arrogance is a lot of fighters downfalls.
Im sure Tyson didnt prepare for some of his other fights either after leaving Rooney, but he also didnt expect to be in a tough fight.

 

There's a difference between purely overlooking someone from the start, and staying up all night with hookers after your training camp is a joke.

 

True, but I think with Tyson's history that the rumors of him staying up all night is a very good possibility.

 

Good post. I think some fighters due to styles have other fighters numbers. And while I think the best version of Tyson beats the best version of Douglas, Douglas has a style that would likely always cause Tyson problems and obviously a less than a 100% version of that Tyson lost when they fought. Essentially Douglas stood up to Tyson and beat the living crap out of him. And full marks to Tyson for being able to take one hell of a beating before going down, much like he did in the Lewis fight.

 

Checked the fight out.Very good performance from Buster.This was a high quality heavyweight bout.I was surprised by Douglas' mobility and workrate.Tyson's timing and balance were way off. He was passive and not slipping Douglas' punches. He wasn't throwing any combinations and missing with his counters and then walking into Douglas' own shots.

I think Douglas could easily have gone the distance with Mike even at his best.

 

My reason and intelect tell me that this fight was as much about what Tyson didnt do as what Douglas did do.

My reason and intelect also tell me that Douglas did not go from being a second rater to a legend killer overnight and then back again.

And yet Douglas looked absolutely awsome that night.

If I had been in a coma for 20 years and the first thing you showed me was that fight I would think I was looking at the curent ATG in action.

I would add that it is one of my favourite fights of all time and however many times I watch it I want to punch the air when Douglas wins.

 

He barely lasted to the 9th against the **** Tyson that he did fight, how do you suppose he "easily" goes the distance against the far better Tyson that took out Spinks, Holmes, Tubbs?

 

Not win. Gone the distance.

 

Any fighter who could jab and move would of beat tyson that night . Ray Leonard even said during the fight that when tyson is fighting a guy who has a huge height and reach advantage , hand speed and good jab and good lateral movement . tyson needs to work his way in with his jab and take away douglas movement with bodys shots instead of walking straight in throwing one punch . tyson never once did this except in round 3 where he hit douglas to the body and slowed douglas down a bit . for some reason he didnt keep it up . the tyson who fought bruno was just as bad as the tyson who fought douglas the differnce is bruno didnt have douglas speed , movement and boxing skills to take advantage of tysons walk straight in and throw one punch at a time . it was douglas style and boxing skills that beat tyson . but that tyson showed up to the tucker , thomas , tubbs , biggs fight he would of got beat aswell .

 

Bokaj thank you for this thread. It's a top 5 HW performance no doubt. Douglas was brilliant and only was a hair overconfident during the late stages which caused him to get knocked down (Yet, people use this to play on the Tyson had heart because he dropped him with an uppercut on the inside but openly say he was obviously not the same fighter but invincible in 1988. Yadda yadda).

I will say this. A 1990 Tokyo Douglas beats prime Tyson. I'm sick of how much this victory gets discredited. Douglas didn't just beat Tyson he whooped his ass! Huge difference. Also, the only way he loses if he gets the same scorecards he got in Tokyo. That was ridiculous. In that scenario he gets robbed in a decision. Of course against a prime Tyson, Tyson isn't getting KTFO. I predict a Douglas SD instead.

atsch :rofl

 

Indeed.... it proved to be a matter of motivation & Mike Tyson was not motivated. So when tyson went up against someone with skills, belief, courage.... someone without fear.... he folded. :tired James Douglas was very motivated & it showed.:good

That being said... if douglas had fought a 1986 or 87 version of tyson the fight would have been much closer.