James "Buster" Douglas
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James "Buster" Douglas (born April 7, 1960) was a heavyweight boxer from Columbus, Ohio who scored one of the biggest upsets ever in the sport by knocking out then-undefeated Mike Tyson in 10 rounds in 1990.
Douglas had been fighting since the early 1980s, but there was nothing in his record that suggested that he was capable of handing Tyson his first loss. In fact, bookmakers made him a 42-1 underdog for the February 10, 1990, fight in Tokyo, Japan. Douglas surprised the world by dominating the fight from the beginning, seemingly hitting Tyson at will with jabs and right hands and getting out of range when Tyson launched his own punches.Buster-douglas.jpeg
Only in the 8th round did Tyson come close to victory. In the waning seconds of the round Mike Tyson hit Douglas with an uppercut to score the first knockdown of the fight. Douglas was up at the count of 9, however, and the bell rang before Tyson could follow up on his sudden success. After the fight Tyson and his team would protest that the referee had started his count too late and that Douglas should have been counted out, but those protests were of no avail.
In the 10th round, a devastating combination from Douglas floored Tyson for the first time in his boxing career. When Tyson failed to climb to his feet on time, the fight was over. The public reaction was encapsulated by the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine, with the headline "Rocky Lives!", an allusion to the fictional boxing hero had, against all odds, gone the distance against the champion. Sadly, Douglas had to suffer many personal heartaches at this time. His beloved mother had died of cancer shortly before the bout and his wife was also very ill. When Douglas won the fight, he tearfully dedicated it to his mom. He talked of his religious faith and said he was not scared of Tyson and God was the only man he feared.
Douglas did not follow up on his success, however. In the following months he did little training and his weight increased. When he defended the title later in the year against Evander Holyfield, he was nowhere near the fighter he was when he had beaten Tyson. Holyfield knocked him out in three rounds and Douglas retired from boxing afterwards.
A couple of years later he made a comeback. He was successful at first, but when unheralded Lou Savarese knocked him out in the first round he hung up his gloves again. Six months later he came back and knocked out his next two opponents in the first round. He has not, however, fought professionally since 1999.
| Preceded by: Mike Tyson | Heavyweight boxing champion (WBA, WBC, IBF) 1990 | Succeeded by: Evander Holyfield |