Pounding the snowy streets, working harder than hard in a manner that could only have been possible due to the sad passing of his dear mother. This was James Douglas, AKA ‘Buster,’ in the weeks ahead of his shot at heavyweight king Mike Tyson. The immense efforts Douglas was making behind the scenes pretty much stayed there, with almost nobody having any inclination to believe Douglas was capable of pushing himself to the limits of his talents, either in the gym or in the fight that was coming up in Tokyo, Japan.
It turned out that Buster did both. Known, or at least suspected, as being a lazy trainer and a guy who would, if the going got tough, give in (this belief given some serious ammunition due to James’s quite perplexing capitulation in his fight with Tony Tucker) – Douglas ramped things up one serious notch in the lead-up to his date with destiny.
It was, as all fight fans are aware, 35 long years ago today when Douglas ruined Tyson (in more ways than one). And to this day, the stunning, shocking upset Buster pulled off ranks as THE biggest in the history of boxing, maybe in all of sports.
Maybe YOU remember where you were when you watched this fight, this monumental moment in sports history. It was, in truth, a fight nobody was excited about for a few reasons. Firstly, Tyson, at 37-0, was universally expected to not only beat Douglas but to wipe him out without breaking a sweat. Secondly, fans were pumped up at the idea of Tyson getting in there with far more worthy challengers, like Evander Holyfield and Razor Ruddock (both fighters would later be accommodated by “Iron Mike,” with different outcomes).
As a result, not too many folks were juiced up as they stayed up to watch Tyson do the expected destruction job on Buster, 29-4-1.
But, boy, those of us who did bother to watch the heavyweight champion of the world defend his crown against the 42-1 underdog sure got a life event. A fight/result/KO/upset that would never be forgotten.
Who can forget the way a fearless Douglas took the fight to Tyson, how the challenger out-jabbed and outboxed Tyson, soon to out-punch the so-called “Baddest Man on the Planet?” Soon enough, Tyson’s eye was busted shut, he was tired, he had been wobbled, and Tyson was getting his ass handed to him! Then, in round eight, a half-blinded, fatigued Tyson, still full of danger, dropped Douglas with an uppercut to the chin. Buster beat the count, the count that was administered by referee Octavio Meyran, and to this day, so many people, mostly Tyson diehards, say the third man blew the count that he should have awarded the KO win to Tyson. But Douglas did his job: he got up before the ref had tolled the count of 10. And then Buster proceeded to continue his ass-kicking job.
Douglas bossed the ninth round, and then he felled the giant, the “invincible” Tyson, in round 10. Buster’s neat and tidy, not to mention painful, combo put Tyson down in a groggy state, the soon-to-be former champ left pitifully groping for his mouthpiece.
James Douglas was the new heavyweight champion, and the whole world rocked and rolled over the news. It was, in a word, stunning.
35 years ago today: where were YOU?
