Binge Sports: Tyson vs Douglas Turns 25

The debate has been going on for decades. What is the biggest upset in sports history? Many would argue Super Bowl III, when Joe Namath guaranteed his New York Jets would defeat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts and then delivered. Some would go to the NCAA Tournament in 1985 when Villanova defeated Georgetown to become one of the most improbable championship teams of all time. Or two years earlier when the late, great Jimmy Valvano led N.C. State to an unlikely title game victory over Houston and Phi Slama Jama. The heavy favorite in this category is the “Miracle on Ice”, which celebrates it’s 35th anniversary this year. But an event that undoubtedly deserves to be in this conversation turns 25 today.

On February 11, 1990, Mike Tyson would defend his undisputed world heavyweight championship against James “Buster” Douglas from Tokyo, Japan.

Welcome to Binge Sports and our look back at this historic boxing match that unbelievably celebrates its 25th anniversary this week. If you’re one of our younger readers and you only know Mike Tyson as that boxer from The Hangover, then I feel sorry for you. I know we now live in an MMA society and that boxing has taken a back seat in the sports world. While I’ve eagerly awaited boxing’s return to the glory days, it becomes more and more apparent that day may never come. Believe me, I still want it to as I’ve always been a big boxing fan. I still believe it’s an art form, but interest in the sport has been diminishing for years, and at some point, I’d like to just write about that. But it ties into what I’m writing about today, because back when I was growing up, boxing was still the cool thing to like. And for my generation, the biggest reason to watch boxing was simple: Mike Tyson.

I know what the general consensus is about “Iron Mike”, but back in the day, you weren’t missing a Tyson fight. The way he could dominate anybody put in front of him was mesmerizing. And you couldn’t even think of him as a kid, but he was. He won his first title in 1986 at 20. TWENTY! That’s unheard of. He would go on to unify the WBA/WBC/IBF titles and was recognized as the undisputed champion of the world, but some still thought he wasn’t the best in the division. Others looked at Michael Spinks, who had won an Olympic gold medal and was 31-0 in 1988 when he ran into Mike Tyson. Just take a look at what happened.

So that’s that. Mike Tyson is officially the “baddest man on the planet”. He would walk into the Tokyo Dome with a record of 37-0, 33 KO. Damn.

James “Buster” Douglas came to Japan with little fanfare. Don’t get me wrong. He was not a bad fighter at all. Hell, he was a top ten heavyweight, but he wasn’t Mike Tyson. Nor was the number one contender, a young man who sat at ringside named Evander Holyfield. But he had won 29 of 35 fights, including his last six, and had earned his way here in the eyes of some. But this was basically another payday for Tyson put together by Don King. He was a crazy pay-per-view draw and every fight generated millions in revenue. But it was supposed to be a tuneup for the champ. Holyfield awaited the winner of the fight, which everyone knew would be Tyson. The outcome was so easy to predict that only one Las Vegas casino, The Mirage, put odds on it. Douglas would enter as a 42-1 underdog. Oh, and did I forget to mention that his mother had died only three weeks earlier? He really had nothing to lose.

But what gets lost sometimes when this fight gets mentioned is that besides the title, maybe Mike Tyson didn’t either, and he just didn’t care. His ex-wife, Robin Givens, had humiliated him on national television during a very public and very messy split. The man who had taken him in and taught him how to be a man, Cus D’ Amato, was now gone. Perhaps the downward spiral that would plague Tyson throughout the 90’s started earlier than we all thought.  But when you’re an eleven-year-old kid, do you really think I gave a damn about any of that at the time? Absolutely not. It’s a Tyson fight. Let’s just watch this poor guy get knocked out.

It was evident from the first bell that Douglas wouldn’t be intimidated on this night. That was the problem with just about anybody who had previously fought Mike Tyson. They knew they were going to lose. Even Spinks knew. But Douglas came out different. He came to fight that night. He had about a six-inch height advantage, outweighed the champ by eleven pounds, had a reach that was a full foot longer, and he knew just how to use all of them to his advantage that night.

In the early rounds, he would land jab after jab after jab to the face of the champion. He simply outboxed him. Tyson was a brawler for the most part. He always wanted to land that big shot that would get the crowd going, but the challenger wouldn’t let him. He kept him at a distance. Even when Tyson tried getting to the inside, he had minimal success early on. Douglas would continue to land those quick jabs and swelling of the left eye would soon become a big problem for “Iron Mike”.

Speaking of iron, that would become a very big problem in the champ’s corner. The team he had working for him had forgotten an enswell, also called an “eye iron”. You know when you’re watching a fight and you see that big piece of metal that gets put on a fighter’s face. That’s an enswell. These guys didn’t have one. I suppose when you think your fighter is going to work for two minutes and go home, it’s an easy thing to forget. Oops. So what they had to do is pour water into one of the rubber gloves and put that on his eye instead. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s harder to defend getting hit in the face when you can barely see the large fists being thrown at it. But Tyson continued to hang in. He would land some shots here and there, but the crowd wanted fireworks. And near the end of the eighth round, they would get some. After finally getting inside, the champion would finally land one of his signature uppercuts that would send Douglas to the canvas for the most controversial nine-count in boxing history.

In a count that would later be disputed, Douglas answered the referee count and was subsequently saved by the bell as Tyson moved in for the kill.

The round that followed, the ninth, was nothing but raw power shots by both men. Tyson came out looking to finish what he had started in the previous round, but Douglas would counter with some great combinations that rocked Tyson like he had never been rocked before. Every time I go back and watch this round, I think the ropes may have saved both of them at one point. Tyson was up against them getting hammered and I believe would have fallen backwards, but then he lands a hard shot which I think would have knocked Douglas straight down had he not landed on Tyson who was on the ropes. For a boxing fan, it was a very fun round to watch.

And we come to the tenth. I think no matter what, the fight was going to end here. If you really watch the legs of both fighters, they’re jelly in the ninth. One big shot was going to do it and it was just the matter of who it was going to be. We always knew that Mike Tyson was capable of knocking someone out at any given moment, but “Buster” Douglas had dominated this fight. We would get our answer soon enough. Tyson would land a hard right out of the corner and that was it for him. Had he landed some of the other punches he threw, things might have gone another way. But this was not his night, and you could see Douglas waiting for just that right moment to pounce and pounce he did with a Tyson-like uppercut that stunned the champ.

And what followed would stun the world. Out on his feet, Tyson could do nothing to stop the onslaught that followed. Left, right, left, and “down goes Tyson!”

Wait, what? Are you kidding me? “Buster” Douglas is the new undisputed heavyweight champion of the world?

Why, yes he is, and he earned every little bit of it. He came in that night with nothing to lose and he just wanted it more than Mike Tyson did. Unfortunately, the outcome would not come without controversy. As I mentioned earlier, Douglas’ win would be protested by Don King (shocking, I know), and actually wouldn’t be recognized by two of the three federations until the appeal was finally dropped.

In another unfortunate turn of events, the rematch that could have been the biggest draw of all time never came to be. Douglas would defend his title only one time. In October of that year, he squared off against Evander Holyfield and gave the press exactly what they’d been looking for, an excuse to call the biggest win of his life a “fluke”. He was knocked out in the third round and retired after the match.

Mike Tyson would eventually win back some of his titles and have that inevitable showdown with Holyfield. It didn’t go so well.

But that’s not all, folks. If you think the first fight was bad, I think we all remember what happened the second time these two squared off.

Mike Tyson would be suspended and would lose his only other title fight to Lennox Lewis in 2002.

James “Buster” Douglas would attempt a comeback in the late 90’s, winning eight of nine fights before finally retiring for good in 1999.

To this day, Mike Tyson remains an icon in the sports world. He’s truly one of the greatest fighters to ever live. But the beauty of sports is that anything can happen. And for one night 25 short years ago, “Buster” Douglas was the best fighter in the world.

So where were you that night? Tell me below or give me your thoughts on one of the biggest upsets in history @BingeSports and/or @THElukenorris. I’ll see you next time.