There was chaos and Douglas was still jabbing the untouchable Tyson closer to oblivion. Mike Tysons defeat by James Buster Douglas in February 1990 is one of boxings biggest shocks 'Im not going to Tysons dressing room. Tyson’s chief trainer, Aaron Snowell, improvised and claimed he filled the fingers of a rubber glove with ice but the temporary gadget looks like a condom. In round five Tyson’s left eye started to swell and the paid cuts man in his corner, Detroit veteran Taylor Smith, never had the correct tool, a tiny strip of metal called an Enswell, to contain the mound. Douglas, make no mistake, had been treated like a sacrifice by all involved. The American commentators joked about a 90-second bout and then spent the next 10 rounds finding ways to reverse their lazy and cruel cynicism. Monday 10 February 2020 12:10 GMT Comments Buster Douglas knocks out Mike Tyson in Tokyo (Rex Features) Nobody really cared about the heavyweight title fight in Tokyo that early morning. Tyson was unbeaten in 37 fights, it was his 11th world title fight and Douglas had won 29 contests, but lost four including the Tucker fight, which was an ominous blueprint for his inevitable surrender. It was obvious early that Douglas was not going to fall over at the first sign of Tyson’s violence. Just over 40,000 were inside the Tokyo Dome for the opening bell of the fight. Nine days later Douglas left for Tokyo, his mother in the ground, his wife gone and the mother of his child in hospital. She knew then, knew that he would be fine. Douglas will celebrate that victory in Columbus this weekend in a star studded affair. She had seen Tyson, knew he was ferocious and she held her son’s gaze. Buster Douglas defeated Mike Tyson 30 years ago in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. Though he still rates Mike Tyson as the best Heavyweight of all time, a few mistakes, such as removing Kevin Rooney, proved too costly, I won a lot of money on that fightonce I bet on Buster at the anwhile, Mike fired Kevin Rooney, and Don King. She had looked into her son’s eyes and asked if he would be OK. Going against the drift, he had put his money on ‘Buster’ Douglas to win. ![]() But they had not sat with Buster when he held his mother Lula’s hand before she died on 18 January. It was a mismatch – some experts called it an insult. ![]() The Douglas stopover in Tokyo was overlooked, it was routine, a massacre waiting to happen and, long as the odds were about a Douglas win, it was claimed that just one casino in Las Vegas took a bet. Less than a month before the fight King and Tyson held a conference in Beverly Hills to announce a fight with Evander Holyfield, which would have been boxing’s most lucrative ever fight at that time. He was, in simple boxing terms, a fearless man and it still amazes me that not one member of Tyson’s gang had any notion of the danger the podgy challenger posed. He was considered guilty of lacking heart for his abject performance in a 1987 world title fight against Tony Tucker Douglas was a 40-1 outsider but he was filled with a troubling mixture of hate, righteousness and hunger. Douglas arrived in Tokyo having just split from his wife, the mother of his child had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and a few weeks before he touched down his beloved mother had died.
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