What was Buster Douglas truly capable of..?

you want my Tyson excuse that something was wrong?

Tyson vs Tucker: Tyson landed 216 of 412 total punches
Tyson vs Smith: while Tyson connected on 191 of 317.
Tyson vs Holyfield: Tyson threw 313 and landed 81

Tyson vs Douglas: He landed 128 of 243

so as you can see, yes there are less rounds in the fights I mentioned. But if you remove like say 50 to be generous, he still threw more punches in other fights than he did douglas

 

He is another "rise to the occasion" heavyweight fighters. On a given night they are far different than their typical efforts. The fly in the ointment is the champion or whomever they are fighting is also aware of this.

 

Hard to throw punches when you are getting your ass kicked man.

 

Evander beat his ass too and in only 1 more round the punch stat suggests that there was something wrnog

 

Heck I really feel ANY version of Mercer up to that comeback streak he had in the early 2000’s is a very live dog for anyone. Even after the Wlad beat down… he was actually holding his own and arguably beating roided up Briggs.

The Mercer that fought Witherspoon stood up to BRUTAL shots

 

They were neck to neck in the first 5-6 rounds, Buster was beating Tyson like a drum from the starting bell.

Not to mention Holyfield fought way closer to Tyson than Douglas did.

 

I think you haven't watched the Douglas ifght in a while. And probably didn't watch the Holyfiled fight in a while.
Evander was the one that made it look like Mike was hurt in like the 1st and 2nd round. That is unheard of. And I think it was the only itme I ever saw Mike go "Wtf is going on,this dude isnt following hte script" in the first round

 

Tyson wobbled Holyfield with literally the first right hand he threw, Holyfield was still winning most exchanges but until round 6 they were both landing bombs on each other and scrapping toe to toe.

But Tyson literally couldn't do anything against Douglas besides that one uppercut in round 9, and the main reason why he didn't throw as many punches was because unlike Holyfield Douglas wasn't exchanging combos with him nose-to-nose, he spent most of his time at long range throwing stiff jabs and uppercuts as Tyson tried to close in on him.

 

Mike caught Evander by surprise because Evander expected to be hit with a left.
If you watch the 1st round against Douglas, Douglas is running backwards and is scared, you can tell he wasn't confident right away. He got some hits in sure,but watch Evander fight Mike in the first round and Mike shells up and he gets hurt. Evander walks into him the entire time and beats him up stunning him several times.

Mike was in worse shape against Douglas based on his punch stat. in the first round, Douglas without establishing much of any jab has mike just looking at him stupid. Mike against Evander actually goes in and tries to do something and looks in much better shape.

 

Yeah but Evander himself ate some hard shots and got wobbled at times as well, because he did exactly what you said, he walked into Mike the entire time and exchanged combinations with him. Douglas didn't, maybe he didn't land 3 consecutive hooks on Tyson's face like Holyfield did but he was actually hitting Tyson without getting hit himself by keeping his distance and fighting at long range.

You can't judge somebody's condition by punch-stats, if thats the case everybody Mayweather beat was out of their usual shape. Tyson didn't throw as much because this time he wasn't fighting with a guy that came at him and traded bombs with him, he was against a big HW with an 83 inch reach that kept his distance and knew how to use his range advantage. Even when Tyson slipped Douglas' jab, Douglas would just stick out his elbow to push Tyson off or straight up clinch him and smother his offense.

 

If you are having the lowest punch output of your career fighting similar opponents for nearly the same amount of rounds and the only fight your punch stat is at an all time low nearly over 50% less than normal There is a problem with you I think, not your opponent.
It is just a difference of opinion