Oliver McCall warned Mike Tyson about the Douglas fight ~ Listen In

Good stuff.

I remember watching Buster Douglas fight Mike Williams on the Tyson-Spinks undercard and being impressed that this fighter was improving and had developed into a real hungry young contender, and the only real knock on Buster was his suspect heart and resilience in a long, tough, fight. He'd boxed pretty well a year earlier than that, v. Tucker, but had let himself down at the end when he seemed to fold a bit too easily. But up until then he'd boxed well.

I didn't expect him to beat Tyson but I had been impressed by Douglas as much as any of the other contenders out there (aside from Holyfield), he looked "in form" rather than just another guy clogging up the ratings waiting for the payday. On the other hand, the same could be said for Carl Williams, who Tyson beat in 93 seconds just 6 months before the Douglas fight.

Douglas had talent. But even at 230 pounds I wouldn't pick him to beat Holyfield. Styles make fights. Douglas left himself open for that counter whatever shape he's in, and Holyfield had about as good a straight counter-right as you'll ever see.

 

Interesting stuff. I believe McCall.

 

Interesting, although I always wanted to know why Tyson never had a rematch with him? if I was humiliated like that infront of millions of people against such an underdog I don't think I'd be able to fight again until I redeemed myself.

 

Tyson wanted a rematch badly. Go to youtube and search for a video of Tyson and Douglas in the studio with Larry Merchant shorty after the fight. Tyson says he's willing to fight that day and he says he wants Douglas and says ˙˙But if he wants to run away from me and fight Holyfield instead, ok...``. And what did Douglas say to that? NOTHING. He didnt even had the cahones to look at Tyson. In that studio Buster looked like a man who lost his belts not Tyson. Tyson was also angry at Don King for not making the Douglas rematch right away, but Douglas turned the rematch down.
He knew that what he did was a once in a life time performance and he knew deep down he'll never be able to perform like that and beat Iron Mike. Buster robbed Mike of a rematch! He also IMO did it beacuse if they had a rematch, Mike would knock him out inside 6 rounds and Buster's win would fade to oblivion. Now at least he can keep on saying he beat Iron Mike and Tyson didnt beat him....Buster is a coward! :deal

 

Truth is, Holyfield deserved a shot more than Tyson. Holyfield had been waiting. If anyone did any running away and fighting someone else instead, it was Tyson and King choosing to fight Douglas when Holyfield had been calling him out for months.

Maybe not, but he had the balls to get in the ring and beat him up, as he already had done so.

Ok. Tyson beat him in the game of "studio talking", let's make a special championship belt for that and give it to Mike.

No.

 

Well I ddin't know that to be honest thanks for the info. I'll check it out.:good

 

No? Are you Buster Douglas? :yep

The Douglas win was a fluke and he knew it. For once in his life he got into shape and performed perfectly. I wont take that away from him. But as he showed againts Holyfield there is no way he could have kept that up.

Holyfield deserved the title shot more?! :rofl Cut the crap even Ruddock deserved the tittle shot more (who was ducked by many including Tyson in 1989). Its really King's fault for not including a rematch clause in the contract. Just shows you how they all thought Tyson was invincible. :-( But as it is in history when a champ - an undisputed champ loses his belts in an upset he deserves a rematch straight away - more then anyone else, period.

Beat him in studio talking? You obviously didnt see the show, or your a complete idiot. Tyson didnt do no dirty talk and he gave Buster the credit. But Buster did in fact look very insecure and didnt respond to him being labeled a coward - albeit in a subtle way.

Why am I even responding to a fool like you? :nut

 

And another thing. Tyson also wanted Douglas after he got out from jail. This is a know thing, but buster Douglas avoided him. Then in 1998 Douglas was set to fight Savarese and if he was to win a fight would Tyson was supposed to happen. Douglas got his ass wiped out in the first round and of course no Tyson for him. :deal

 

1987 Ring ratings:

Michael Spinks, Champion

1. Mike Tyson
2. Evander Holyfield
3. Tony Tucker
4. Tim Witherspoon
5. Pinklon Thomas
6. Carl Williams
7. Trevor Berbick
8. Adilson Rodrigues
9. Tyrell Biggs
10. Mike Weaver

1988

Mike Tyson, Champion

1. Evander Holyfield
2. Carl Williams
3. Adilson Rodrigues
4. Tim Witherspoon
5. Michael Dokes
6. Razor Ruddock
7. Tony Tucker
8. Orlin Norris
9. James (Buster) Douglas
10. Francesco Damiani

1989

1. Mike Tyson
2. Evander Holyfield
3. Michael Dokes
4. Francesco Damiani
5. Tim Witherspoon
6. Orlin Norris
7. James (Buster) Douglas
8. Carl Williams
9. Razor Ruddock
10. Gary Mason

1990

1. Evander Holyfield
2. Mike Tyson
3. Razor Ruddock
4. James (Buster) Douglas
5. Tim Witherspoon
6. Carl Williams
7. Francesco Damiani
8. Riddick Bowe
9. Ray Mercer
10. George Foreman

 

Those 87 ratings are interesting. I didnt think Evander was on the scene this early. How sad is it in hindsight that Spinks didnt take a warm up against Evander before he took the Tyson fight. It would have been an absolute pearler. In fact, maybe one of the ten greatest heavyweight fights ever that could have taken place that didnt. Hope i dont drag this off topic, but i think i might make such a list for myself more than anything.
1. Sullivan vs Jackson
2. Lewis vs Bowe
3. Norton vs Frazier
4. Johnson vs Dempsey
5. Foreman vs Holmes
6. Holyfield vs Spinks
7. Foreman vs Tyson
8. Dempsey vs Wills
9. Dempsey vs Langford (wow he dodged a few goodies though they were older fighters i guess).
10. Tyson vs Bowe

 

Anyone who watched Douglas knew he was not a flash in the pan or lucky. Lennox Lewis paraded around calling Rahman the Buster Douglas of the 90's because he got the win against him but really Douglas at his best would have wiped the floor with Rahman. It was a way of really making Rahman look better and Douglas look worse than they actually were by Lewis.
Douglas' biggest problem was his heart, his skills were leagues better than Rahman's ever were.

 

In 1987 THE RING got sick of the insane proliferation of weight divisions and decided to only rank 8 divisions, and throw the most worthy of the active fighters in "junior-" and "super-" divisions into the appropriate weight class. So, cruiserweights became eligible to rank as heavyweights. Hence, Holyfield's rating.

Holyfield was certainly being talk of as a heavyweight prospect and future challenge to Tyson as early as early '87, when he fought Tillman. Unifying the cruisers titles was always part of the long-term plan to go for the heavyweight title.
:good

 

Holyfield was the mandatory challenger for Tysons title and was guaranteed a shot at the winner. In fact he was sitting ringside in Tokyo watching Tyson get his head handed to him, thats why he fought Douglas next. Douglas did his trash talking with his fists, he didnt care what Tyson said in the studio and the rematch couldnt be worked out because Holy was the mandatory challenger and wouldnt step aside. Douglas would have fought either one, and was basically not interested in the politics of who he fought next and always left it up to his manager.