The things people forget about Douglas-Tyson.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Tyson’s pre fight problems are well documented but Douglas’ tend to go under the radar.

In the build up to the Tyson fight Douglas had:

-Lost his Mother, who passed away suddenly due to a stroke, less than a month before the fight.

-Had been divorced by his wife.

-His new partner was battling cancer.

-He’d had a falling out with his father and longtime trainer. (rumoured to be over his performance in the Tucker fight)

-He contracted the flu a day before the fight.

-Had been crucified by the media as a “quitter” due to his efforts in his previous world title fight against Tucker.

32 years later it still amazes me how James Douglas won that fight.

[_Rexy_]

The stars aligned for Douglas that night. He put on the performance of a lifetime.


Also, Douglas was never a bad boxer. People seem to think he was this terrible fighter who beat Tyson. He was ranked 2, 3 and 4 by the alphabets respectively, and I'm pretty sure Ring had him top 5 also. Mike just had that unbeatable aura around him.

[PRINCEKOOL]

It would of been great to see the rematch when Mike Tyson got out of prison 'Not sure why that fight did not happen, as it had a great theme behind it etc'

Mike Tyson took the loss initially very admirably, he has pretty much always taken his losses admirably accept for Holyfield II.

[ShoulderRoll]

Buster's problems seemed to fuel him to train and fight harder.

While Mike's problems robbed him of his discipline and desire.

[TheMyspaceDayz]

Name one opponent who showed up out of shape to a Tyson fight. Even the laziest of the lazy busted their butts in the gym out of fear. Buster working hard is weirder than seeing the laziest person you know work hard.

[boliodogs]

The strangest part is Douglas probably fought the best fight of his life. He looked great. I don't think he ever fought that well before and certainly never again.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

The strangest part is Douglas probably fought the best fight of his life. He looked great. I don't think he ever fought that well before and certainly never again.

I think it was a case of he reached the top of the mountain and never had the same hunger/motivation.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

The stars aligned for Douglas that night. He put on the performance of a lifetime.


Also, Douglas was never a bad boxer. People seem to think he was this terrible fighter who beat Tyson. He was ranked 2, 3 and 4 by the alphabets respectively, and I'm pretty sure Ring had him top 5 also. Mike just had that unbeatable aura around him.

Yeah good point. He was a such a major underdog cause of Tyson’s dominance and the aura/hype that came with it. Not because he was a bad fighter.

[_Rexy_]

Yeah good point. He was a such a major underdog cause of Tyson’s dominance and the aura/hype that came with it. Not because he was a bad fighter.

Douglas was coming off back to back wins over Berbick and McCall to GET that Tyson shot too. And if memory serves me, he dominated those two fights also

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Douglas was coming off back to back wins over Berbick and McCall to GET that Tyson shot too. And if memory serves me, he dominated those two fights also

He dominated Berbick on the undercard of Tyson-Bruno in Vegas. I think McCall was a little green and Douglas beat him via experience, winning by UD but I think that fight was quite competitive. That was also on a Tyson undercard and interestingly enough Lennox Lewis made his US debut that night.