Listen: Oliver McCall warned Tyson about Douglas!

Buster Douglas thought he could beat mike from the start. Just like alot of tall boxer punchers. Douglas just had everything the others didn't and confidence. When his mother died the night before the fight it just put him on another level of focus. He put his whole life into that fight. My father always talks about the feeling he got at the weigh in and saw the type of shape douglas was in. He said he hasn't seen douglas like that since his early fights. He was ready and he wasn't scared of mike.

 

Nope, he never has been. Closest he's ever come to getting knocked down was when Bruno rocked him with that right-hand.

 

the biggest upset in boxing history

 

Oliver also knew about 9/11 thats in the second part of the interview.

 

Very lucid and correct comments by McCall. Everything he said is right on the money.

 

I bet you now wish you had put a bet on Buster to win? You could have profited quite a bit because the odds for him win, let alone by stoppage indicated that he had no chance at all!

Mike Tyson is the reason I first got interested in Boxing & I've never looked back. I love the sport & always will. However, I take nothing away from Douglas who was inspired that night, but its quite clear Tyson underestimated him & took him lightly. Hey, that wasn't Douglas' concern though!

I agree with McCall in that if Douglas had showed up for Holyfield in the same condition he was in for Tyson, then James would have made a successful first defence of his title! However, for Douglas beating Tyson was like winning the lottery & I guess once he got that win, the motivation quickly evaporated!

People point to a number of things about how Tyson wasn't as good as he once was & that's accurate. However, after he & Rooney parted company, Tyson's sparring partners in general went down a notch. Apart from McCall, he only sparred guys he would nearly always get the better of & you do not learn anything by that!

Quality, hard, tough, competitive sparring, Tyson always had that back in the day. It kept him sharp & alert!