Fifteen years on, what an upset! Tyson vs. Douglas, February 11, 1990

By "Big Dog" Benny Henderson Jr. (February 14, 2005)

Buster KO's Tyson

The Time: February 11th 1990.
The Place: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan.
The Event: WBC, WBA and the IBF heavyweight titles.
The Upset: 45-1 underdog Buster Douglas knocks out Mike Tyson in round ten.

What happens when you take virtually an unknown, untested, 45-1 underdog who had been stopped three times prior and throw him in the ring with the undefeated hard hitting bad boy of boxing? Well, you get one of the greatest upsets in the history of the sweet science. It can’t be, it couldn’t be, there is no way on Earth it can even be fathomed, this must be a bad dream? Well, maybe for the Tyson fans and the defeated champ himself hoping it was a nightmare, but for the newly crowned champ Buster Douglas it was a dream, a dream come true.

James 'Buster' Douglas, 29-4-1 (19), the so called sacrificial lamb for the crowned heavyweight champion. The Ohio born fighter who started his career eight years prior hadn’t really made any noise in the heavyweight division. Up to this point he had beaten a few names in Tex Cobb, Trevor Berbick and Oliver McCall, but for each win over any reputable fighter was a loss to diminish his heavyweight stance, David Bey (0-0) TKO #2, Mike White (12-5-1) TKO #9, Jesse Ferguson (11-0) MD #10, and Toney Tucker (34-0) TKO #10. This guy was supposed to lose, there wasn’t going to be any belt changes, any sudden upsets, it was certain this guy was going to fall like the thirty-seven before him.

Wrong!

Mike Tyson, 37-0 (33), had laid to sleep seventeen of his victims in the first round and had been crowned the youngest heavyweight champion in the history of boxing just fours year prior after dismantling Berbick in two punishing rounds. After turning pro in March of '85 the indestructible 'Iron' Mike went on a rampage and was tearing through the division and with what seemed like another easy win for the youngster he was posed to continue the winning process in front of the Tokyo fans. There was no way the undisputed heavyweight champ would or could lose to the likes of a guy as Douglas.

Wrong again!

This was Tyson’s tenth title defense after becoming the champ at the age of twenty. He was invincible, he was dominating, and he was a machine! With the speed, the skill and certainly the devastating power Tyson possessed in either hand, 'Iron' Mike looked to stay undefeated facing less than noteworthy opponent James Douglas who seemed to be mentally unstable after losing his mother three weeks before the fight.

It would appear that Tyson would completely rip through his opposition at the sound of the bell for round one, but the story was just about to unfold. At the start the 6’4” Douglas towered over Tyson and worked the champion over to the amazement of the stunned crowd, with his 84” reach landing the jab beautifully staying out of firing range from the much smaller Tyson who stood at 5’10 ½” and had a 71” reach. For seven rounds the underdog Douglas was taking it to the champ landing jab after jab, frustrating the champ and was slowly taking the little guy apart when in the eight round Tyson would utilize the only thing he had going for him that night, power. Tyson landed a devastating short right uppercut while fighting off the ropes in round eight that sent the challenger to the canvas. The same uppercut had stopped better fighters before Douglas, so surely the fighter who was known as a quitter would just take his pay and call it day.

Well, Douglas got up!

At the count of nine Buster barely beat the count but got to his feet and rekindled his composure and was able to continue. Don King would claim it was a slow count and the fight should have been stopped then and there, but as we all know this wasn’t going to be the case. Buster had a date with destiny, if he was going to be forever known as the first man to disarm Tyson he had to ball up and bring it home, and he did just that.

In round ten the twenty-nine year old laid down the twenty-three year old champ, who prior to this bout seemed to be unbeatable. After all the bad, all the wrong, all the upsets in the recent life of James Douglas he finally found redemption in a five punch combination that changed the course of both fighters for ever. Jab, right uppercut, left hook, right cross and a finishing left hook sent the beat down Tyson to the canvas for the ten count and catapulted Douglas into the history books. How could this be? This was just a tune-up fight for the undefeated one, who already had a date to step in the ring with Evander Holyfield in a mega heavyweight showdown in Atlantic City on June 18th that same year. It was a spoiler, it was surprising, and it was an upset. Sure there had been upsets before and after the Tyson-Douglas showdown such as Clay-Liston in 1964, Braddock-Baer 1935, Ali-Spinks 1978 and Rahman-Lewis 2001, but this was different, this was THE UPSET!

Who cares that Tyson went on to make million upon millions of dollars and would regain the crown once more, does it matter that Douglas lost it all in his first and only title defense in his career? Will most boxing fans even comprehend or care about the life and career of Buster Douglas before or after the night of his earth stopping victory over Tyson? Doesn’t really matter? Well, one thing is for sure, February 11th 1990 will go down as one of boxing’s biggest upsets, and that day belongs to James 'Buster' Douglas.

Also See: From this month: MORE Mike Tyson News:

Mike Tyson With Beauty Queens Again! Dog.HB
Mike Tyson Super Punch Out is Officialy Back! DoghouseBoxing
Mike Tyson: What will be? "Big Dog" Benny Henderson Jr.
50 Cent Make Over for Mike Tyson's old Pad Doghouse
Mike Tyson Begins Training At Buddy Mcgirt's Dp
Jamie Foxx wants to play Mike Tyson role DHB
Time Mike Tyson got the message & count Himself Out dp
Interview: Mike Tyson
Tyson Fight Fallout

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