OT: Tyson v. Douglas Turns 25

[Chin Diesel]

Feb 11, 1990 in Tokyo.

I remember where I was for this fight. At a friends apartment off-campus at RIT. I'm fairly certain he acquired the signal for the fight via alternative means (while the details have long since faded I highly doubt we forked over $50 for the fight).

It was like watching the dorky kid roll in to a party and bag the hottest chick there. We all saw it, yet no one believed it.

 

[B1GEast]

All I remember was the absolute shock of him losing, he was scheduled to fight Holyfield, who I thought could beat him. I was in utter shock to see photos on Tyson on the floor. It has to be one of the most historic moments in all of sports.

 

[whaler11]

It was a long time ago but I remember it being on HBO.

 

[Chin Diesel]

HBO or PPV I'll take your word.

One of the top 5 sports upsets of the 20th C.

 

[Catsailor]

I assisted on a cover photo shoot for Life Magazine with Iron Mike just prior to the Bone Crusher Smith bout. I was up close (10ft from him) during workout at his training gym. My thoughts at the time was heaven help anyone climbing in the ring with this guy. He looked invincible, the scariest, badest dude I've ever seen. Buster Douglas? Crazy!

 

[B1GEast]

I assisted on a cover photo shoot for Life Magazine with Iron Mike just prior to the Bone Crusher Smith bout. I was up close (10ft from him) during workout at his training gym. My thoughts at the time was heaven help anyone climbing in the ring with this guy. He looked invincible, the scaryest, badest dude I've ever seen. Buster Douglas? Crazy!

Cat, I worked at ESPN and Holyfield was in the newsroom filming a commercial, I was literally 6 ft away from that man, and like you, I was awestruck. He was insanely ripped. I couldn't believe that people would get in the ring with a guy like that, he was truely imposing.

 

[Catsailor]

I've been around world class athletes and celebs and had moments but nothing like watching Iron Mike in full attack mode knocking a body bag with his trainer attached around like nothing l had ever seen then or since.

 

[G0UCONN]

On HBO.

I remember being with bunch of guys and we were heading to party as soon as fight ended...assuming it would last about six minutes.....

One hour later or whatever it was and we were all in shock. Never forget it.

 

[CAHUSKY]

It was the day after my 22nd birthday and I was hungover as hell. I was at the Pepperdine (my girlfriends alma mater) v. University of San Francisco basketball game at War Memorial Gym in SF and Ill never forget when the PA guy announced that Buster Douglas had knocked out Mike Tyson. You could feel the air being sucked out of the room as everyone gasped in shock. We then went to a bar called the Bus Stop on Union Street and drank ourselves into oblivion again.

 

[noeynox]

If I'm not mistaken, uconn lost to cuse at the carrier dome that night. It was unreal watching Buster win round after round that night.

 

[Kitaman]

Tyson was flawed in that his conditioning was not to go the distance. He also was a fighter not a boxer, especially after he changed trainers. The longer the opponent stayed in the ring it increased his chances of winning, not in the obvious sense but in that wearing Tyson down and getting it to later rounds. Tyson also got rocked like never before. Buster was a big dude and started leaning/pushing on Mike, enduring his punches and then fighting back.

I knew that Holyfield could and would beat Tyson. Tyson was his size and Holyfield was just a great light heavyweight boxer/fighter going back to the Olympics. He was not going to be intimidated, and after beating George Foreman was happy to see a smaller heavyweight.

As for Tyson he won many fights before the first bell rung. Micheal Spinks looked like he was wearing a diaper and not a cup when he got into the ring with Mike. Mike was just a bad arse MF, born to fight.

 

[Waquoit]

My buddy had a black box and whenever there was a big fight we would pick numbers out of a hat for the pot. That fight we didn't bother, thinking whoever picked 1 would win. Each round we were thinking, is this even possible?

 

[Horatio]

Buster was an athlete with the perfect size to get it done . Plus, unlike most of Mikes opponents , Buster wasn't scared . I think has mother had died during that time( three weeks prior to the fight) . It was unfortunate but perfect mojo.
He was 6'3" , mobile , hungry and his momma just died. He probably would've
Beat Bruce Lee, Walker Texas Ranger and anybody else that night.

 

[Kitaman]

Pre-HD and for those now in school, remember these are not light punches being thrown:

 

[Cheeky]

Tyson got beat because he beat himself. Didn't train right. Got caught up with the wrong people.
Douglas just happened to be the guy there at the right time - he was a tomato can. It could have well been somebody else.

Tyson in his prime was the greatest fighter of all time. Not the greatest career, not the greatest boxer . . .

But if I could take one guy for one fight against any other boxer, I take Tyson when he was about 18 and 0.

What made Tyson so great was his movement on D. Watch his early fights and you'll notice the guy never got hit.

He was like a larger version of Floyd Mayweather, but with testicles.

 

[Deepster]

He didn't train as hard. He changed trainers. Hung out with the wrong crowd. C'mon.

He met the wrong guy at the wrong time. Right size to beat him. Wasn't afraid of him. Just a bad matchup. It's no more complex than that.

 

[nomar]

Definitely on HBO; my dad wouldn't have paid $50 to watch what he thought would be a 90-second-long fight!

One of the top-5 sports upsets of all time. For me, it was the most shocking upset ever. Sure, in hindsight you can see why it happened, but at the time, the notion that Douglas would beat Tyson was....inconceivable.

It was like Chaminade beating Virginia in the NCAA Championship Game (as opposed to the Maui Invitational).

 

[Marat]

And the odds were 42 to 1 in Tyson's favor. This has to be all-time top 5 upset in any sport.

The 1980 USA vs USSR Miracle on Ice is the only other one that comes to my mind that may rival this one. That Soviet team was beating NHL all star teams and just defeated USA 10-3 in a friendly right before......

 

[WillB4]

First match with Don King, first match without trainer Kevin Rooney.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Tyson got beat because he beat himself. Didn't train right. Got caught up with the wrong people.
Douglas just happened to be the guy there at the right time - he was a tomato can. It could have well been somebody else.

Tyson in his prime was the greatest fighter of all time. Not the greatest career, not the greatest boxer . . .

But if I could take one guy for one fight against any other boxer, I take Tyson when he was about 18 and 0.

What made Tyson so great was his movement on D. Watch his early fights and you'll notice the guy never got hit.

He was like a larger version of Floyd Mayweather, but with testicles.

Have you seen any of histories other great heavyweights in their primes?
I disagree having seen Ali, Frazier, Foreman etc... I've found the subset of folks that grew up with Tyson as 'the guy' hold this GOAT opinion of him. It is similar to a best movie of all-time discussion, lots of people ride with the first great movie that coincide perfectly their coming of age moment.

It would have been interesting though and possibly a real argument (Is Tyson among greatest heavyweights ever) had D'Amato lived, shepherding him through his career. Tyson & his skills never grew though like other great heavyweights that were challenged and your 18-0 comment is kind of indicative of that. He ascended but then immediately plateaued.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I would take Ali, Frazier, Norton, Foreman and Holmes in their prime over Tyson.

Ali and Holmes had the foot speed and jabs to pick him apart until he tired out.

Frazier, Norton and Foreman weren't afraid of anyone.

Not saying Tyson couldn't beat them, but I think he would be an underdog in all of them

 

[Catsailor]

First match with Don King, first match without trainer Kevin Rooney.

Kevin Rooney was extremely intense. He did all the talking, totally controlled Tyson and totally controlled the photo shoot as to what we could do and how long we could do it.

Tyson was so physically ferocious and aggressive, super-human very very scarey.

I think the loss of Rooney was a big reason Tyson's career declined. I agree with the posts above that he would be extremely difficult to beat in his prime with Kevin Rooney.

It was winter, Jan or Feb as I recall, and freezing cold with lots of snow. Earmarked for the cover but I don't think used, was a portrait of Mike on the roof shirtless. One of my jobs was to drag one of those huge propane heaters used in the NFL, back in the day, up several narrow flights of stairs thru tiny attic to the roof. I can still see Mike flexing with a big smile exposing that impressive grill...looking very much like a 1953-1956 Buick in gold rather than chrome.

The photographer I was working for was Co Rentmeester...a Dutch Olympic rower (1960) who became friends with Ali and later as a photojournalist made many memorable essays for Life.
He was wounded by a Vietcong sniper near Saigon. The story he told us was that he was covering a funeral of another photojournalist who was killed by a sniper and was shot as he was shooting the ceremony. The bullet entered the long tele lens he was using which exploded and took off a significant portion of his thumb...how ironic.

 

[Deepster]

One of the craziest things about the 1980 hockey game is that it wasn't live. It was on tape delay and, at that time, barely anyone knew the score or had heard the outcome of it. That could never happen today. I can't make it to 1:03 pm on a football Sunday without checking to see if anyone scored in the NFL yet.

 

[Dogdeacon]

One of the craziest things about the 1980 hockey game is that it wasn't live. It was on tape delay and, at that time, barely anyone knew the score or had heard the outcome of it. That could never happen today. I can't make it to 1:03 pm on a football Sunday without checking to see if anyone scored in the NFL yet.

Check out the 30-for-30 on the Russian team, it is really good. Deepens the story without taking anything away from the American side.

 

[G0UCONN]

That 30-for-30 series on ESPN is tremendous. Nearly every episode is riveting.

My personal favorite is called, I think, Blood Brothers., and is about Vlad Divac and Drazen Petrovic and the Yugoslavian Civil War.

Another great one is about how pro athletes blow their money.

But they are all great.....must see TV.