In This Corner

In This Corner

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Legendary Fights: Mike Tyson vs. Buster Douglas

February 11, 1990

Buster was a 42-1 underdog. There was no reason he shouldn't have been. His heart had been questioned as he'd seemingly given up in several fights. Everyone had said he recommitted himself and he'd won six fights in a row going into his bout with Tyson.



Nobody seriously thought Buster could win the fight. It wasn't just because he'd given up in previous fights, or because he'd never looked like an elite fighter. Nobody thought he could win because he was fighting Iron Mike Tyson. In the fight poster above you can not only tell that is Mike Tyson, but it's a nice piece of artwork of him. The opponent doesn't even look like Buster Douglas. It didn't really matter because Douglas was just another victim.




Tyson's camp had admitted that he hadn't been training. I thought he looked to be in pretty good shape, but there were comments from the experts saying he didn't appear to be. Tyson had replaced the corner that had gotten him to the top. Don King replaced the crew from Catskill with an unproven and unknown corner. They didn't even have the tools to work on Tyson. Late in the fight when Mike's eye was swelling they had nothing to work with. They were so sure of victory that they didn't bring the proper equipment.




Buster's mother had died just 23 days before the fight. If Buster had quit and taken the out in this fight nobody would have blamed him or even cared, but he didn't want out of the fight and used it for motivation. "This one was for my Mother." Buster said. It was clear from the opening bell that Douglas intended on winning. He was not just trying to just hang around or put up a good fight. He wanted to be the first person to beat Mike Tyson.




Mike Tyson didn't look good and Buster looked as good as he'd ever looked. Buster was moving and had good spring in his step.Tyson looked slow and he was trying to land the one big punch. As Buster poured straight shots right down the middle, Tyson had a high guard but the head movement was not there. The sharp quick movements of the Peek-a-Boo were gone. He moved lethargically around the ring trying to hit Buster with the single knockout blow. Buster kept the right distance and wrapped Tyson up on the inside.








When Tyson dropped the first two rounds the ringside commentators were shocked, but there was still the feeling that Tyson could turn it around. As the fight moved on Buster was becoming more relaxed and confident. He seemed to be getting stronger as the fight went on. Tyson seemed to be getting slower and had lost all upper body movement. He was a target and Buster was picking him off from the right distance. In the eighth round Tyson dropped Douglas at the end of the round. Buster beat the count. The referee quit counting several times to look around for Tyson. He was down for a count of thirteen or fourteen. The round ended as Buster got up from the canvas.






In the ninth round Tyson came out throwing some hard shots. He was hoping to catch Douglas while he might still be trying to collect himself. Buster would show that his head was clear when he started throwing hard combinations of his own. He took control of the round and had Tyson in trouble and against the ropes. with 0: 48 left in the round it wasn't clear that Mike Tyson would get out of there on his feet. He managed to stay upright for the rest of the ninth round, but the tenth round was something different all together.





In the tenth round Buster came out swinging. He hit Tyson with some shots that could have knocked his head off his shoulders. Then he landed an uppercut that ripped his head upward violently. That was the beginning of the end. Mike Tyson was out on his feet. Buster poured it on left after right until Tyson was on the floor. I think Buster knew he wasn't getting up. Tyson was out but managed to get on his hands and knees. He fumbled around for his mouthpiece and stuck it partially in his mouth. As he stood up the ref called the fight. Mike Tyson had tasted defeat for the first time in his career.  





The Fight: Mike Tyson vs. Buster Douglas


 





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