.....the early favorite by a slight edge was douglas....but as the news kept coming out about buster's weight and eating habits they switched over to holyfield....neither was a big favorite over the other....but at fight time holy started getting more favorable the closer the hour to the fight itself.
According to sites I have found, Holyfield opened as a 2-1 favourite amid rumours of problems in the Douglas camp, the odds drifted up to 12-5, then had drifted back down to 6-5 before the time of the weigh-in. After Douglas officially weighed in at 246 pounds, 20 pounds higher than he ever had, Holyfield immediately jumped back up to a 9-5 favourite, and per the Mirage, 90% of the money they took after the weigh-in was on Holyfield.
I was at this fight & I'm sure I was the only dumb fuk that still went & bet on Douglas at the Mirage book They was a stampead from the ballroom where the weigh-in took place once Buster hit the scales. My Missis said you backing Evander? NAH! let these mugs do their $$$$ I said:yep It's in the bag that Buster will flatten Holy as I nodded wisely to all those smiling about meatsch
Props on posting the details, I knew there was a big money shift after the weigh-in once people saw how out of shape Buster was. :thumbsup
didn't you hear those rumors about Buster and him ordering pizzas delivered to the steamroom the week before the big fight? That was the only way they could get him to drop weight, was the steamroom. What you could take from that--back then and I sure did--was 1 guy was working himself up to be in top condition for the fight and was looking to put in a career best performance. The other guy--with a reputation of not being a dedicated gym guy, was not sparring or jumping rope to drop the pounds. Nope. He was using steam rooms. And then having food--not celery sticks either--delivered to him. it just shows how big $$$ can affect guys and their basic character can come out. That big money creates lots of new problems for a guy and Douglas was still going through a lot with Don King. All new things for him. And those Buster Douglas types never do quite have that fairy tale ending for the rest of their careers, do they? Right back to what they used to be and do. Try having that A game for 3 or 4 fights in a row. A chameleon can change colors, but it's still a lizard. Not another life form.
Even with the rumors surrounding Douglas' camp one couldn't be blamed for backing Douglas up until the weigh in. A lot of people thought the old axiom, about a guy improving from winning a championship applied to Douglas in a lot of minds. There was also Douglas' size advantage, natural athleticism, and the general precedent about guys moving up to heavyweight getting flattened when challenging for the championship. Although Holyfield had good wins at heavyweight already, Thomas and Dokes had already succumbed to their vices, and Holy was taken to hell and back by Stewart and Dokes, so many reasoned that Douglas, even a lazy Douglas, could tattoo Holy, lean on him during clinches, and stay out of danger to win a decision. Steve Farhood, probably the analyst I respect most in boxing picked Douglas before the fight, so as I say, you really can't be too critical of others for thinking the same thing.
