how did mike tyson lose to a 42 to 1 underdog ?

Really?

The whole world surely knows what happened.

Mike was a great fighter. But he’d already climbed Everest.

He’d already become the undisputed champion. He had no more huge goals left to achieve.

He’d lost his pure dedication in trying to be the best.

He was a former street kid, with three belts and millions of dollars at his disposal.

One of the most recognisable people on the whole planet, with women throwing themselves at him, with everyone wanting a piece of him in some way.

His circumstances had changed, so his level of commitment and enthusiasm had changed.

The warning signs were already there in the Bruno fight the year before.

He then took the fight in Tokyo, just because he was contractually obligated to.

He had zero motivation for the fight. He turned up and was out of shape, which worried King. King then had a wager with him regarding losing the weight, in order to motivate him.

He then just went through the motions in preparing for the fight.


Now James Douglas was a very good fighter. But he could blow hot and cold. He had the ability, but not the dedication. He was an underachiever.

But when he fought Mike, he was 100% motivated and hungry. He’d sadly just lost his mother, who was his hero. But instead of pulling out of the fight, he used it as fuel.

It gave him a will of iron. He had no fear of Mike. He wasn’t in the least bit intimidated by Mike, like many of Mike’s former opponents had been. He didn’t care if he was facing 2 versions of Mike that night.


So you had:

A very capable fighter who was 100% determined.

Vs

A great fighter who had no motivation.


The best version of Douglas vs the worst version of Mike.


Now maybe Douglas would always have beaten Mike. I personally don’t believe so, but we’ll never know.

But what can’t be debated, is that that version of Mike that Douglas fought, was nowhere near 100%, either physically or mentally.


It’s also happened to many other fighters throughout history.

I’ve personally seen James Toney beat great fighters in Michael Nunn and Mike McCallum, before struggling with a low level guy called Dave Tiberi, after just going through the motions.

I’ve also personally seen Chris Eubank beat Nigel Benn and Michael Watson, but then struggle with low level fighters like Dan Schommer and Ray Close.

I’ve also seen the same thing with Billy Joe Saunders.

The same thing also happens in many other sports, such as football. (soccer)

It happens every year in the F.A. cup.

When one team raises their game and are 100% committed, they can beat better teams who have superior ability.

 

I loved the reply from Douglas when asked, do you have any fear going into this fight, no, i just see a smaller guy with a lisp!!
Credit where credit is due though, he went for it and gave Mike a good hiding, and for those that say Tyson wasn't in shape i disagree, the beating Buster put on him in virtually every round, and the fight going as long as it did suggests Mike was in pretty decent shape, just that he came up against a very detrmined Douglas who had just lost his mother, and didn't his son just get diagnosed with cancer??

 

What?

 

I disagree with the Tyson getting destroyed part. If Douglas wasn’t the beneficiary of a good count, the fight could have easily ended earlier in Tyson’s favor.

 

A combination of things. Yes, Douglas fought exceptionally well that night. Definitely better than expected.
Tyson, for me, is sometimes overrated. I think he's a deserved ATG. But his prime was all too brief. For the Douglas fight I think he wasn't physically or psychologically ready (I definitely remember him saying he'd been seeing prostitutes in Japan before the fight). Plus it's important to remember the context of the time ... Tyson was viewed then as unbeatable. So I think that made the loss reverberate even more.

 

classic case of douglas just having tysons number.

 

It happens. Same question can be asked about Fury/Ngannou.

 

Mike wasn’t in 100% shape.

He looked lethargic and tired towards the end.

Yet in the Ruddock fight, they were still throwing bombs at each other in the final round, in a fight that was fought at a much higher pace.

Mike was also clearly unmotivated for the fight.

 

He didn’t just have Mike’s number.

We know that Mike wasn’t physically or mentally at 100% for the fight.

He turned up out of shape.

Greg Page was beating him up and knocking him down in sparring.

His normal great upper body and head movement wasn’t there.

He looked tired towards then end.

That was never Mike at his best, where Douglas just had his number.

 

If Tyson still had Rooney in his corner, I think Douglas would just be another one of Tyson's victims.

 

That’s one of the biggest lies in boxing.

Douglas would have beaten the count in any event and it wasn’t exactly as though the count was seriously bad.

And Douglas did deliver a fearful beating on Mike. Go back and have another look man.

 

Mike Tyson lost all focus after the Spinks fight. He broke his hand in a street fight with Mitch Green & was off for the longest period in his career up to that time before returning to fight Frank Bruno in 1989. He looked slow & ordinary in that one. It's just that Bruno was worse. Next fight was Carl "The Truth" Williams. Tyson one-punch kayoed him after 93-seconds. Told us nothing about where he was at. As someone said at the time "The Truth fought a good first 80 seconds". Next fight was Buster Douglas who was a decent H/W who had fought some tough opposition including prime Tony Tucker & tough as nails Oliver McCall who was a great lead-in fight for Tyson. Tyson btw no longer sparred with McCall who was the best sparring partner he ever had in terms of providing meaningful resistance in training. Tyson nearly pulled the fight out as Buster appeared to fade at a critical juncture late (as he had done against Tony Tucker) but managed to steady the ship & close the show. Great win by Buster Douglas against a 5'10 opponent who no longer had the blistering speed & skillset that carried him to the top.

 

Going strictly by what I saw in the ring, Mike Tyson began to slip around the time of the 1st Frank Bruno fight. By the time he fought Douglas I'd say he was operating at maybe 80% of his best.

Tyson in his absolute best form, I feel he probably would have won the fight but not a definite thing. Douglas fought his heart out that night very sharp with good punch variety nice combinations and moved well for such a large man.

 

Mike saw Douglas as zero threat and partied his balls off in Tokyo leading up to fight night. He was basically hung over

 

I thought the count was long even though Douglas could have got up earlier. Douglas definitely beat up Tyson but I disagree with the “fearful beating” part. To me, Cotto took a “fearful beating” in the first Margarito fight but we all have our own perspectives.