Tyson vs Douglas - One of the ATG Fights

[StarshipTrooper]

on February 11, 1990 in Tokyo, Japan, champion Mike Tyson defended his title against James`Buster`Douglas in a fight which turned out to be one of the greatest fights in heavyweight history.. Douglas was in tremendous physical shape and put on a A+ performance worthy of any great champion, jabbing & moving while letting fly with thunderous right-hand bombs.. Mike Tyson strong, brave & incredibly tough, soaked up the punches and hung in there as the fight ebbed & flowed back and forth for 10 titantic rounds, this fight had tears, controversy & joy it had everything and was as good as any heavyweight fight in history...
1/. How many champions could have beat Douglas on this night
2/. How many champions could have taken the punches Tyson took on this night

People really don't give Douglas enough credit for his performance that night. Honestly, I've seen that fight many times and Douglas would have been a tough fight for any ATG Heavyweight that night: It was simply a terrific performance by Buster. Tyson haters and Tyson huggers (ie. both extremes) both seem to try and discredit Douglas in that fight. The huggers because they're so desperate to explain away Tyson's loss, and the haters because they throw it in the face of Tyson fans everytime the subject of Mike comes up (and yes, I've been guilty of that myself at times when dealing with particularly obnoxious Tyson nuthuggers). As I said, I've watched that fight many times paying particular attention to how Tyson looked and the truth is he honestly didn't fight that bad a fight: If that had been Carl Williams in front of him Mike would have made it a short night. It's been said "well Tyson wasn't doing this or that like he did when he was prime".....the truth is, he started out trying to do those very things in that fight and Douglas wouldn't let him. All the credit for that should go to Douglas and it really isn't a fair example to use against Mike because, as I said, it would have been a very difficult fight for ANY ATG Heavyweight. It's like faulting Ray Leonard for losing the first Duran fight. At the same time, there's no reason for Tyson nuthuggers to jump through hoops trying to make excuses for Mike: Douglas was just the better man that night.

Poet

[Xyei]

I'm a Tyson fan so that fight really breaks my heart but it was an amazing performance by Douglas. I don't know if anyone could have beat him that night. With the recent death of his mother, he was completely determined and would have given any HW absolute hell.

Some Tyson fans say that he wasn't taking the fight seriously and that he was partying all night with Japanese hookers or whatever, which may be partially true but that's nobodies fault but his.

[Suckmedry]

That fight is what I love about boxing-anything can happen

To me it also is this fight and the aftermath of it that showed that Tyson really lacked the extra bit of "x" factor to make him a truly great champion. Things weren't going great for him, it was a bad night, he got beat, that is excusable. But he was never the same, he never rematched Douglas, he never showed the same kind of fire ever again. To me, it just seems that at age 23, a truly great fighter would have came back and at least tried to recapture his past glory.

I know he fought for titles too after that, but he just seemed to mentally cave in when things didn't go his way after that.

[Suckmedry]

I'm a Tyson fan so that fight really breaks my heart but it was an amazing performance by Douglas. I don't know if anyone could have beat him that night. With the recent death of his mother, he was completely determined and would have given any HW absolute hell.

Some Tyson fans say that he wasn't taking the fight seriously and that he was partying all night with Japanese hookers or whatever, which may be partially true but that's nobodies fault but his.

Yes he fought very well, and he would have given many guys trouble, but I see too many guys falling in for the whole "unbeatable douglas" crap in order to cover Mike's ass. Douglas still would have lost to evander, ali etc on that night.

[Xyei]

Yes he fought very well, and he would have given many guys trouble, but I see too many guys falling in for the whole "unbeatable douglas" crap in order to cover Mike's ass. Douglas still would have lost to evander, ali etc on that night.

Yeah, that may be but as I said before, I'm a Tyson fan. What can I say.

[Megamasterking]

on February 11, 1990 in Tokyo, Japan, Heavyweight champion Mike Tyson defended his title against James`Buster`Douglas in a fight which turned out to be one of the greatest fights in heavyweight history.. Douglas was in tremendous physical shape and put on a A+ performance worthy of any great champion, jabbing & moving while letting fly with thunderous right-hand bombs.. Mike Tyson strong, brave & incredibly tough, soaked up the punches and hung in there as the fight ebbed & flowed back and forth for 10 titantic rounds, this fight had tears, controversy & joy it had everything and was as good as any heavyweight fight in history...
1/. How many champions could have beat Douglas on this night
2/. How many champions could have taken the punches Tyson took on this night

That's a different way to see it, for me it's one of the worst i saw, Tyson was losing to Douglas ! I coulnd't believe it ! but i understand your point...

[SBleeder]

as the fight ebbed & flowed back and forth for 10 titantic rounds,

LOL, I almost missed this.

What "ebbing and flowing" were you watching? Tyson got smoked for ten straight rounds, with the exception of a few good shots here and there.

It was a great fight to watch, since Tyson was exposed for the fraud he was.

[sonnyboyx2]

LOL, I almost missed this.

What "ebbing and flowing" were you watching? Tyson got smoked for ten straight rounds, with the exception of a few good shots here and there.

It was a great fight to watch, since Tyson was exposed for the fraud he was.

you are a Troll... and this post proves so..
its obvious that you have never watched Tyson vs Douglas otherwise you would be well aware of how that fight "ebbed & flowed" with the 8th round being as controversial as `Battle of the Long Count`.... so i will now have to put you on my ignore list as i cannot do with clowns like you who troll the history section not knowing the difference between a boxing match and a football match... bye bye fool.

[BattlingNelson]

you are a Troll... and this post proves so..
its obvious that you have never watched Tyson vs Douglas otherwise you would be well aware of how that fight "ebbed & flowed" with the 8th round being as controversial as `Battle of the Long Count`.... so i will now have to put you on my ignore list as i cannot do with clowns like you who troll the history section not knowing the difference between a boxing match and a football match... bye bye fool.

Well IMO Tyson was given a one-sided beating. Apart from a single uppercut in round 8 he played the role of the catcher.

But of course saying that Tyson was 'exposed as a fraud' as Sbleeder did, is quite NSB'ish in it's exaggeration.

[Tyson.]

Douglous should have been KOed, the ref screwed Tyson in this fight.

It was one of the biggest roberies in boxing history. Douglous should have been stripped of his title.

Yeah Douglous does deserve credit for fighting a good fight but Tyson was wasnt training properly and was partying in the runup to the fight.