How did Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson?

He is overrated

Im not saying he wasn't a great fighter

But he WAS beatable even on his best day

 

Worked the jab to perfection

 

He wasn't afraid like everyone else, imposed his will and used his skills.

 

Rumor has it he punched him a bunch of times.

 

I'm not gonna try to say it's the be all/end all here, but haven't noticed much said about the big changes made to his team in the corner...

He had a serious clown show goin on ( "buddies" and yes men only after his $) and they didn't EVEN HAVE any end swell for **** sake!!

But Douglas was on fire that night...

 

Make of t what you will, but is worth a watch if you haven't seen it:

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He managed to time Tyson coming in and he had enough on his punches to keep him honest.

It's impossible to say exactly whether Tyson's timing was just enough off for Buster to succeed like he did. Tyson was after all very dependent on his timing and even a slight off-set could have pretty big ramifications against someone like Douglas. But we do know that fighters Thomas and Tucker had managed to time even what's seen as peak Tyson pretty well for a couple of rds, but didn't manage to keep up the pace. According to Tucker, his output faded due to a broken hand and Thomas blamed problems with his right arm going into the fight.

Douglas was heavier built and stronger than Thomas and Tucker and managed to impose his physicality like no one had done previously. He also roughed Tyson up in the clinches, where Mike typically liked to rest. So while me will never know for sure, there are good reasons to claim that it was more about what Douglas did right than what Tyson did wrong.

 

The jab was key, along with some unbelivable work rate from Douglas. Buster landed more punches in the entire fight than Tyson THREW! That is just crazy tbh.

Also the punches were hard and precise. The crowd in Tokyo was so quiet, that you could clearly hear how much force Douglas put behind every punch, including the jab.

I still believe that Tyson at his very peak would have been too much for even this Buster Douglas. BUT as others have pointed out, it’s Tyson’s own responsibilty to come prepared for the fight. Douglas just lost his mother, and still he was ready!

Oh, and I guess having a bunch of amateurs in the corner of Tyson didn’t help either. A strange day indeed!

 

From the "Undisputed Truth" (by Mike Tyson and Larry Sloman):

 

My thoughts exactly

 

I remember one interview and buster getting asked was he intimidated by Mike when he saw him, and he replied no I just see a small guy with a lisp!
Didn't his son have leukemia at the same time or am I mistaken, but that aside he executed his game plan superbly, people still saying Mike was not himself, the same argument could be made saying Douglas didn't allow him to be himself, Mike was getting out boxed all night, different angles constantly and made to look bad, you couldn't seriously question his fitness because he lasted until the tenth and took plenty of shots before getting sparked by one of the best upper cut left right left combo you will ever see.

 

I've seen that fight probably around 10-15 times since and a few takeways I had from it:

- Obviously Tyson didn't have a good training camp. It was well documented that he was dropped during a sparring session and he was engaging in a lot of "extra curricular" activities leading up to the fight.

- Buster Douglas wasn't some gatekeeper level type of fighter; he was one of the very best fighters at HW during 1989-1991.

- Although Tyson did get knocked out, he still gave a good account of himself. He had his moments throughout the entire fight including I believe round 7 where he gave as good as he received. They were both landing some thundering shots especially the last few rounds of their match.

- That's one of Tyson's fights which IMO add to his legend; that guy had some kind of chin on him to withstand a lot of those power punches that Douglas was landing on him. He endured a ton of punishment and kept coming forward all night.

I wish the rematch took place. Smart money would've been on Tyson KO'ing him early. That was Buster at his peak catching Mike on a very off night.

 

Bottom line is Buster Douglas had the brass balls to get up and then he had enough left to knock Iron Mike out. Iron Mike did not have it in him to get up and continue. That's the gist of it. Buster had more left in him than Mike.

 

Buster Douglas was actually very good and was peaking leading up to the Tyson fight. Tyson looked very sloppy in the fight with Bruno and wasn't on his game when he fought Douglas. Douglas on top of his game would be a good challenge for anyone he had one of the better jabs I've ever seen and had the size to control fights. Douglas didn't show up on his game for every fight but on the night he fought Tyson he was at his best and would've given Tyson a tough fight no matter what forum Tyson showed up in.