Today in Sports History: Douglas Defeats Tyson

February 11, 1990

Douglas beat Tyson

Mike Tyson had a reign of terror in heavyweight boxing. 

Albany, New York, March 6^th, 1985, the reign began in his first professional fight.  Hector Mercedes became his first victim.  Like many of Tyson’s fights, it didn’t even make it past the 1^st round. 

Of his first 28 fights, 16 of them ended in the 1^st round either by knockout or technical knockout. 

Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion at the tender age of 20 years and 4 months.  It didn’t take much for Tyson to grab the belt from reigning WBC champion Trevor Berbick November 22^nd, 1986.  Tyson won in a 2^nd round TKO.  He would add the WBA’s title March 7^th, 1987 by beating James Smith in Las Vegas.  Later that summer, August 1^st, Tyson added the IBF belt to his collection by beating Tony Tucker.  He had become the first heavyweight to have all three major belts at once.  

Iron Mike was 37-0 and the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world heading into a bout against James “Buster” Douglas.  Tyson’s most recent fight ended midway through the 1^st round when he knocked out Carl “The Truth” Williams.  Meanwhile, Douglas had a nice record of 29-4-1, but he was considered, by most, to be just a journeyman.  In fact, most considered this fight, in Tokyo, to be a tune up for a bout with Evander Holyfield.  Holyfield had ringside seats for this fight. 

While it is well documented that Mike Tyson faced many issues outside the ring, Douglas was dealing with is own problems.  His mom died in January, and the mother of his child was dealing with kidney issues.

In 2010, Richard O’Brien of Sports Illustrated, wrote:

The early rounds feature a lot of action and some real back-and-forth exchanges.   Douglas, fighting tall and moving Tyson back with that thudding jab, shows the blueprint for how to beat a fighter who until then everyone assumed was unbeatable. 

Nonetheless, most still felt that Tyson would prevail for the better.  In fact, Tyson knocked down Douglas at the end of the 8^th round.  Tyson’s promoter Don King, argued that Douglas was given the benefit of a long count. 

Both fighters survived a vicious 9^th round, but in the 10^th round, Tyson hit the canvas—for the first time in his career.  For the record, the referee was Octavio Meyran.  He began counting as Tyson searched for his mouthpiece.  Before he could find, get it back in and stand up, Meyran reached ten, and a stunning upset had been completed.

Sugar Ray Leonard was the part of the broadcast team that night on HBO.  In his words, the result was, “Unbelievable.”

Both fighters would eventually lose to Holyfield.  Douglas would lose his belts in his first title defense against Holyfield.  Tyson would go to jail, begin boxing again after his release, and regain the WBA and WBC belts.  He would lose the WBA title to Holyfield, November 9^th, 1996.  A rematch was held less than a year later, in June of ’97.  Mike Tyson went home that night with a little more of Holyfield than what he came with.  That was the bout that saw Tyson bite off part of Holyfield’s ear.

James “Buster” Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson, on this date, 1990.