Buster Douglas

The Tyson fight was scheduled for February 11, 1990 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo. Almost all observers assumed that the bout would be another quick knockout for the champion; no fighter had taken Tyson beyond the fifth round since 1987. Many thought it was a tune-up for Tyson before a future mega-fight with undefeated Evander Holyfield, who had recently moved up to heavyweight after becoming the first undisputed world cruiserweight champion in the history of that weight class. Douglas's chances of lasting deep into the fight against Tyson, let alone winning, were so lightly regarded that only one Las Vegas betting parlor even bothered to establish odds for the fight. That lone casino, the Mirage, made Douglas a 42-to-1 underdog.

Douglas's mother, Lula Pearl, died of a stroke 23 days before the title bout at the age of 46.[4] Douglas, who had trained hard, surprised the world by dominating the fight from the beginning, using his 12-inch reach advantage to perfection. He seemingly hit Tyson at will with jabs and right hands and danced out of range of Tyson's punches. The champion had not taken Douglas seriously, expecting another easy knockout victory just as the overwhelming majority of neutral observers had. He was slow, declining his usual strategy of moving his head and slipping his way inside. Rather, Tyson set his feet and threw big, lunging hooks in efforts to stop Douglas with one punch.

By the fifth round, Tyson's left eye was swelling shut from Douglas's many right hands and ringside HBO announcers proclaimed it was the most punishment they had ever seen the champion absorb. Larry Merchant memorably added, "Well, if Mike Tyson -- who loves pigeons -- was looking for a pigeon in this bout, he hasn't found him." Tyson's cornermen appeared to be unprepared for the suddenly dire situation. They had not brought an endswell or an ice pack to the fight, so they were forced to fill a latex glove with cold tap water and hold it over Tyson's swelling eye. The eye would swell almost completely shut by the end of the fight.

In the eighth round, Tyson landed a right uppercut that knocked Douglas down. The referee's count created controversy as Douglas was on his feet when the referee reached nine, but the official knockdown timekeeper was two seconds ahead. In the ring, however, the final arbiter of the ten-count is the referee, and a comparison with the count issued to Tyson two rounds later revealed that both fighters had received long counts.[5]

Tyson came out aggressively in the ninth round and continued his attempts to end the fight with one big punch, hoping Douglas was still hurt from the eighth-round knockdown. Both men traded punches before Douglas landed a combination that staggered Tyson back to the ropes. With Tyson hurt and dazed, Douglas unleashed a vicious attack to try to finish him off but, amazingly, Tyson withstood the barrage and barely survived the round.

In the tenth round, the damage Douglas had inflicted upon Tyson finally began to take its toll on the champion. Douglas dominated the round from the outset. While setting Tyson up with his jab, Douglas scored a huge uppercut that snapped Tyson's head upward. He followed with a rapid four-punch combination to the head, knocking Tyson down for the first time in the champion's career. Tyson struggled to his knees and picked up his mouthpiece, which was lying on the mat next to him. He awkwardly tried to place it back into his mouth. The image of Tyson's mouthpiece hanging crookedly from his lips would become an enduring image from the fight. He was unable to beat the referee's ten-count, and Douglas was the new world heavyweight champion.[6]

As Douglas said in an interview years later, “I thought Tyson was getting up until I had seen him looking for that mouth piece and then I knew that he was really hurt. So anytime you know you only got ten seconds to get up so you aren’t going to worry about anything but just getting up first. So when I had seen him looking around for that mouth piece I knew he was really hurt.”[7]

Douglas's joy over the victory soon turned to confusion and anger as manager John Johnson informed him in the dressing room that Tyson and Don King were lodging an official protest about the referee's knockdown count in the eighth round. A week later, during a television interview, Douglas said that the protest and the post-fight confusion ruined what should have been the best time of his life.[8]

Although the IBF immediately recognized Douglas as its champion, the WBA and WBC initially refused due to Tyson's protest.[9] However, Tyson withdrew his protest four days later amid worldwide public outcry and demands from boxing commissions around the world, and Douglas was officially recognized as undisputed heavyweight champion.[10][11]

While still champion, Douglas appeared on the February 23, 1990 episode of the World Wrestling Federation's The Main Event III, as special guest referee for a rematch between Hulk Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Originally, Tyson was scheduled to be the guest referee, but following the upset, the WWF rushed to sign on Douglas for the event. At the end of the match, Douglas was provoked into a kayfabe punch and knockout of Savage, who was the heel wrestler in the match.[12]

The defeated Tyson clamored for a rematch and Douglas was offered more money than he had ever made for a fight. Not wanting to deal with Tyson's camp or his promoter Don King, Douglas decided to make his first defense against #1 contender Evander Holyfield, who had watched the new champion dethrone Tyson from ringside in Tokyo. Douglas went into the October 25, 1990 fight at 246 pounds, 15 pounds heavier than he was for the Tyson match and also the heaviest he had weighed in for a fight since a 1985 bout with Dion Simpson, in which he tipped the scale at just over 247 pounds.

Douglas came out rather sluggish, and was thoroughly dominated by Holyfield during the first two rounds. In the third round Douglas attempted to hit Holyfield with a hard uppercut that he telegraphed. Holyfield avoided the uppercut and knocked an off-balance Douglas to the canvas with a straight right to the chin. Douglas merely lay flat on his back, motionless and disoriented, as referee Mills Lane stopped the fight. Buster Douglas retired after that bout.

Douglas vs Holyfield was a reported $24.6 million payday for Douglas. Doing little for the next several years, Douglas gained weight, reaching nearly 400 pounds. It was only after he nearly died during a diabetic coma that he decided to attempt a return to the sport. He went back into training and made a comeback. He was successful at first, winning six straight fights, but his comeback almost came to a halt in a 1997 disqualification win over journeyman Louis Monaco. In a bizarre ending, Monaco landed a right hand, just after the bell ending round one, that knocked Douglas to the canvas. Douglas was unable to continue after a five-minute rest period and was consequently awarded the win by disqualification (on account of Monaco's illegal punch).

A fight with light-heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. was touted in the late 1990s, although ultimately fell through.[13] In 1998, having bounced back into a minor stardom, Douglas was knocked out in the first round of a fight with heavyweight contender Lou Savarese, for the low regarded IBA heavyweight title. Douglas subsequently had two more fights, winning both, and retired in 1999 with a final record of 38–6–1.