By John Stevens: It make seem strange to talk about a man who won the world title as an ‘under-achiever’ but the fact is that Busters entire legacy is dictated by that one great performance. And no question about it – it was a great one. The big mystery is – where was it in the rest of his career? How can a man who showed such amazing talent that one night be so lackluster in the majority of his other performances? When you look at Buster’s career, it does leave you scratching your head a bit.
Buster started off as most other noteworthy fighters do by winning with relative ease against journeyman opposition. However that ended in his fight with fellow contender David Bey, a tough fighter who would go on to have many contests at top level. Bey was making his pro debut here and knocked Douglas out in the second round. Douglas bounced back and for the next 14 fights continued on a winning streak against relatively moderate opposition. Again though he was found out when he came derailed against the giant Mike White, a 6’10 operator who had his moments in his career but was soundly beaten every time he moved up. However, Buster was stopped in the 9th round in a very uninspiring performance
The next 14 fights saw Buster winning some notable fights on points against the likes of Oliver McCall, Greg Page and Trevor Berbick. However these victories were also punctuated with defeats by Tony Tucker and Jesse Ferguson. Throughout this period Buster also struggled at times to deal with journeymen such as David Jaco, Dee Collier and Jerry Halstead – all of whom he beat but did not look particularly convincing doing so. Most of Busters victories were now coming by way of points and he didn’t really look like a man possessed of any great knockout power. I saw the McCall, Tucker, Page and Berbick fights and whilst I thought that Buster looked a pretty tasty boxer, I never saw anything in him really that said he would be anything other than a high-level opponent. At no time did he look like champion material to me. Thus when I heard that he was to be Mike Tyson’s next opponent I kind of rolled my eyes thinking that here was another lamb to the Tyson slaughter. Boy, how wrong I was!
The story of that fight has been written about so many times that there’s no point going into it here. We all know that Tyson had neglected his training, was suffering distracting domestic problems and totally under-estimated his opponent; but nothing can be taken away from Douglas’s performance on that night which was, quite frankly, beautiful to behold.
I remember watching the fight live and when Buster stripped out of his gown and was limbering up there was something about his eyes and body posture that made me think ‘hang on a minute…!’ he looked totally focused, totally fearless and seemed huge in comparison to Tyson although he wasn’t really; it was just his whole demeanor translating into a very imposing presence
From the opening bell he was in control, throwing very accurate and hard punches, combinations, body shots – the whole gamut. He was fighting like he had never fought before, or had even looked capable of in the past! It seemed like, all of a sudden, all the years of training and hard fights had come together and shaped him into a supreme boxer. It was amazing to behold, and no one was more surprised than Tyson or his team who had shocked expressions on their faces during every break
However, Tyson being Tyson – he rallied himself and began to claw his way back. He caught Buster flush with some devastating blows but unlike before, Buster didn’t flinch and time and time again took control of the fight using awesome boxing skill – and he was well ahead on points when suddenly in the 8th round he was caught with a massive Tyson uppercut which put him down in a heap
There’s no getting away from the fact that the count was long and that a further Tyson onslaught was stopped by the bell – but Douglas looked clear-eyed throughout the count and when the 9th started he carried on where he left off, peppering Tyson with hard jabs and wicked overhand rights. 1 round later it was all over. The greatest shock in heavyweight boxing history. Tyson simply had no answer to the startling amount of accurate punches he was getting tagged with and even a man as resilient to punishment as him could not stand that kind of pounding forever. Buster was heavyweight champion of the world – and deservedly so. It really felt to me at the time like a new era was dawning. This was one of the finest displays of boxing I had ever seen – one that had left me slack-jawed with awe – and you couldn’t help feel that, now Buster had suddenly found his Zen – he was going to be around at the top for a long, long time – but oh boy, again, how wrong can you be!
Whatever spirit possessed Buster Douglas that night in Tokyo disappeared as soon as it arrived. In his first title defense, against the fearless Evander Holyfield, he looked a shell of the fighter he was previously. Body language tells great stories and when Buster entered the ring he had the posture of a defeated man before he even started. He looked flabby, distracted, nervous, and with a ‘I don’t wanna be here’ expression on his face – the complete opposite of where he was in the Tyson fight; and was taken out with effortless ease
What happened to this man? – does Buster himself even know I wonder? Whatever the reasons may be, Douglas then seemed to come unhinged, Doing nothing for the next 6 years and bringing his weight up to a potentially life threatening 400lb. He finally made a comeback but struggled against journeyman fighters like Dicky Ryan, Louis Monaco and Rocky Pepeli. During his fight with Monaco he looked decidley unsteady on his feet and was wobbled badly by a overhand right in the first round, then hit with a punch after the bell which got Monaco disqualified. The punch seemed to separate Douglas from his senses as he couldn’t get off his stool for over 5 minutes and it was hard to believe that this was the same man who withstood Tyson’s power-bombs all night long in Tokyo. The end came in 1998 when he was knocked out in the first round by Lou Savarese, a decent, if limited heavyweight. Buster had a couple of victories against low-ranked opposition thereafter and then called it a day
One of the greatest mysteries in boxing history then!! how can a fighter as average looking as Buster Douglas throughout his entire career pull off such an incredible display of boxing prowess for one night and knock out such a great champion; showing skill, power, resilience and heart he’d never really shown before or thereafter? If only Buster could have retained that form his story would for sure have been a very different one. Obviously he had it in him – but for strange, unknown reasons, he only showed it on that one glorious night.
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