How Would Buster Douglas Have Fared, Against Other Champs From The 70s - 80s?

He had the skill and physical attributes to be competitive against a lot of the top men from those two decades. The key is being at his best for said fights. I don’t think he beats Ali, Foreman, Frazier, or Holmes. Other guys like Norton, Witherspoon, Weaver and Dokes are question marks. If he’s well trained and motivated he might beat Tate, Coetzee, Smith, and a few others. I’ve often wondered how better versions of Berbick and Page would do against him. He beat Greg Page in 1986 but Greg was slipping. He defeated Trevor Berbick in 1989 who by that point was 34-35 years old.

 

Agree 100% IF Douglas is at his best he would be competitive against the "second" tier contenders--(e.g. Norton, Quarry, Witherspoon, etc.) But he would be clearly outclassed by the top HW's of the era no matter how well trained and conditioned he was coming into the fight.

 

Yeah it would really make me cringe to think about him beating Ali, Holmes or Foreman. I just can’t picture that

 

The Tucker-Douglas fight was actually highly skilled.

Hugely underrated win for Tyson to outjab a young prime unbeaten 6’5 TNT, who always fared well against Russians/Cubans before turning over.

 

I think Douglas has the potential to beat the vast majority. He’d turn it on against Bruno and Bonecrusher, he’d be too fluid for Quarry and Lyle.

 

He is capable of beating every post Ali champ in this period and maybe Frazier. Favoring him is a very different matter but theres not many guys in HW history hes incapable of beating. The 70s is the singular toughest era.

I'm not saying Douglas beats Frazier but Douglas would be the 3rd toughest opponent of Fraziers career after Foreman and Ali.