As an initial surprise, Douglas displayed a lot of spring in his body movement and was not cautious in letting his punches fly whenever he saw the opportunity to attack Tyson. ( March 2011) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)įrom the beginning of the fight, it was apparent that Douglas was not afraid. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. This section possibly contains original research. Brown claims Tyson refused to go to sleep early for the fight, deeming Douglas "an amateur" he could beat "if I didn't sleep for five weeks". Singer Bobby Brown wrote in his autobiography that he met with Tyson in Tokyo and the two partied extensively the night before the fight. Lampley suggested that if Tyson were asked the same question (assuming he had read Shakespeare), he would choose something more bloody and violent, such as Henry the Fifth or Macbeth. HBO boxing analysts Larry Merchant and Jim Lampley expected to see "another 90-second annihilation." (When asked by a Japanese customs official how long he expected to be working in Japan, Ed Schuyler of the Associated Press replied, "Oh, about ninety seconds.") Instead of discussing Douglas's chances against Tyson, Merchant and Lampley compared their pets: Tyson had a white pitbull named "Duran" (after his idol Roberto Durán) while Douglas had a beagle named "Shakespeare." Merchant, after saying that "this fight is over before it begins or soon thereafter" and describing Douglas as "just another frozen tuna" from the Tokyo fish market, opined that "any prizefighter with a dog named Shakespeare can't be all-bad." In an interview given to HBO prior to the fight, Douglas told reporters that his favorite Shakespeare play was the romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Additionally, the mother of his son had a severe kidney ailment, and he had contracted the flu on the day before the fight. In the time leading up to the fight, Douglas faced a number of personal setbacks, including the death of his mother, Lula Pearl, 23 days before the fight. However, a string of six consecutive wins gave him the opportunity to fight Tyson. His previous title fight was against Tony Tucker in 1987, in which he was TKO'd in the 10th round. 7 heavyweight by Ring Magazine, and had met with mixed success in his professional boxing career up to that point. Tyson was viewed as such a dominant heavyweight that he was not only viewed as the world's top heavyweight, but often as the number one fighter in the world pound-for-pound (including by Ring Magazine), a rarity for heavyweights.īuster Douglas was ranked as the No. Most considered this fight to be a warm-up bout for Tyson before meeting up with then-undefeated number 1 heavyweight contender Evander Holyfield (who was ringside for the fight). Despite the several controversies that marred Tyson's profile at the time, such as his allegedly abusive relationship with Robin Givens, the contractual battles between longtime manager Bill Cayton and promoter Don King, and Tyson's departure from longtime trainer Kevin Rooney, Tyson was still dominant in the ring, scoring a 93-second knockout against Carl "The Truth" Williams in his previous fight. Going into the fight, Mike Tyson was the undefeated and undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and was very popular at the time. The fight is widely regarded as the biggest upset in boxing history. The then-undefeated, undisputed heavyweight champion Tyson lost by knockout to the 42:1 underdog Douglas. Buster Douglas, billed as Tyson is Back!, was a professional boxing match that occurred at the Tokyo Dome on February 11, 1990. WBA, WBC, IBF, and The Ring heavyweight champion WBA, WBC, IBF, and The Ring heavyweight titles
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