James Buster Douglas

As you may already know, I have never claimed to be a boxing expert (although I did win Union Canes prediction league but thats by the by ), however I do always enjoy watching the sport and am more than just a fairweather fan.

Following on from Trussmans thread about fighters living off one win, the first name that came into my head was Buster Douglas.

So before I suggested it, I thought I would look into his post Tyson career.

His next fight was a loss to Evander but after that, he had another 9 fights, only losing 1. And that one fight was for the vacant IBA title. So my question is, how can a former champ, who went on to have a very good record, only ever get one more title fight?

And can anyone shed any light on his fight with Louis Monaco who got DQ'd for sparking him out after the bell of the first round? I cant find a video of it anywhere which is surprising in this day and age.

So how good was Buster, and should he be a legit entry on to Truss' list or should he be considered a genuine heavyweight goodie (I darent say great!)

His fight against Eander holyfield - he just showed how unreliable he was and people dont like to touch unreliable fighters

An under-achiever for sure...had probably the best jab with Larry and pinklon of the last 30 years or so.....

Had a tendency to quit in his career...Mills Lane said he thought Douglas could get up against Holy....he quit against Tucker who he outboxed..and earlier than that quit against a guy called jaco....

He also wasn't the most dedicated trainer..

Think a lot of things came together for Buster against Tyson...He was in personal turmoil and wanted to take it out on someone...Tyson was not his formidable self and he pulled it off!!!! and Buster was in shape!!!!

He is legit in the sense he made a lot of money post-Tyson...

However a decent heavy champ compared to the garbage these days..

Had all the tools be very very good and future fights with Holyfield, Bowe and Lewis could have been interesting were he dedicated. The Douglas of Tokyo beats anyone around today.

His record in pure numbers after losing to Holyfield may look impressive, but the level of his opposition certainly wasn't. If I remember correctly, his winning run was snapped by Lou Savarese who not long after found himself brutalized by a decidedly washed up imitation of Mike Tyson.

Douglas did nothing meaningful after dethroning Tyson (a fight in which he was admittedly fantastic) so another title shot was never going to materialize, and did only moderate work before, impressing early on against the very, very capable Tony Tucker before flopping late on. Can't put Douglas amongst the Heavyweight goodies, I'm afraid, though his performance against Tyson hinted at what could have been.

Does anyone know anything about the Louis Monaco fight?

Don't know anything about the Louis Monaco fight, sorry Adam.

Buster had an ok record before Tyson, was nothing really special and never showed that much to show that he was particularly special.

A lot of people said he quit against Tucker, I've not always been of that thinking, I've watched the fight twice and I think it's plausible that he actually just ran out of gas.

He showed good technique against Tyson, but I think it's all highlighted because it's a "prime" Tyson. Think he was at his very best for the fight, most certainly, but Tyson was in a poor state and I think this allowed for it to look as though Buster was better than he was. Also there's a million things leading up to the fight with Tyson barely training in the fights before this being decked by sparring partners and everything that was going on in his life at the time.

After the incredible win over Tyson he completely disgraced himself coming into the ring like a slob against Holyfield, I don'tt hink he actually trained at all for the fight, don't know whether it was he lacked motivation or what ever again, but he was nothing after the Tyson fight, worse than what he was before most certainly, just lacked the real mentality to be a consistent boxer, but had one great night.

I saw Buster Douglas..He was a quality heavy with good skill and a top quality jab!!

He boxed Oliver mccall's ears off!!! Not that you'd know they'd ever fought.

With all due respect Mate you weren't born then and like usual are denigrating a guy you don't even know!!

Leave it out..

I have researched Buster Douglas quite extensively, I agree he was a pretty good boxer, but don't think he was all that fantastic.

The performance against Tyson whilst unexpected was something many had thought he was capable of for a long time.

AlexHuckerby wrote:Don't know anything about the Louis Monaco fight, sorry Adam.

Buster had an ok record before Tyson, was nothing really special and never showed that much to show that he was particularly special.

A lot of people said he quit against Tucker, I've not always been of that thinking, I've watched the fight twice and I think it's plausible that he actually just ran out of gas.

He showed good technique against Tyson, but I think it's all highlighted because it's a "prime" Tyson. Think he was at his very best for the fight, most certainly, but Tyson was in a poor state and I think this allowed for it to look as though Buster was better than he was. Also there's a million things leading up to the fight with Tyson barely training in the fights before this being decked by sparring partners and everything that was going on in his life at the time.

After the incredible win over Tyson he completely disgraced himself coming into the ring like a slob against Holyfield, I don'tt hink he actually trained at all for the fight, don't know whether it was he lacked motivation or what ever again, but he was nothing after the Tyson fight, worse than what he was before most certainly, just lacked the real mentality to be a consistent boxer, but had one great night.

Interesting post Alex. Douglas fought a fantastic fight. It coincided with Tyson having a very poor night. No hear and body movement. No combinations. A shall of the fighter Tyson was. He took Doug;as lighty. But on that night Douglas would have been a handful for anyone in boxing history. Everything he tried came together.

But he is a case of what might have been with him. Had to stayed motivated, dedicated, he would have been a hell of a fighter. The Douglas that beat Tyson would be undesputed HW Diamond, Uranium, Colombite and Platinum champion.

I'm to young to remember the hype surrounding the fight and I'm no expert on Buster Douglas but he looked pretty unbeatable the night he beat Tyson.

I watched the HBO legendary nights episode for this fight a month or so ago. A few good judges on that said that they had been waiting to see that sort of performance from Douglas for a long time. Apparently he had it in him but never really seemed to be up for it.

SugarRayRussell wrote:I'm to young to remember the hype surrounding the fight and I'm no expert on Buster Douglas but he looked pretty unbeatable the night he beat Tyson.

I watched the HBO legendary nights episode for this fight a month or so ago. A few good judges on that said that they had been waiting to see that sort of performance from Douglas for a long time. Apparently he had it in him but never really seemed to be up for it.

buster went in to that fight on the back of some personal tragedies, and he fought like a guy with nothing to lose and absolutely no fear. holyfield and to a lesser extent lewis showed what you could do to tyson if you boxed him this way. unfortunately buster didnt always have the same attitude he took into this fight throughout the rest of his career

Lance wrote:

SugarRayRussell wrote:I'm to young to remember the hype surrounding the fight and I'm no expert on Buster Douglas but he looked pretty unbeatable the night he beat Tyson.

I watched the HBO legendary nights episode for this fight a month or so ago. A few good judges on that said that they had been waiting to see that sort of performance from Douglas for a long time. Apparently he had it in him but never really seemed to be up for it.

buster went in to that fight on the back of some personal tragedies, and he fought like a guy with nothing to lose and absolutely no fear. holyfield and to a lesser extent lewis showed what you could do to tyson if you boxed him this way. unfortunately buster didnt always have the same attitude he took into this fight throughout the rest of his career

Nothing to do with fear. Holy and Lewis beat Tyson because on the night they were better. Personally I have serious doubts about Mr EVANder HolyFIELD and how he seemed to recover from an apparent heart condition against Moorer, a thorough beating in Bowe 3 to fight that type of fight against Tyson.

azania wrote:

Lance wrote:

SugarRayRussell wrote:I'm to young to remember the hype surrounding the fight and I'm no expert on Buster Douglas but he looked pretty unbeatable the night he beat Tyson.

I watched the HBO legendary nights episode for this fight a month or so ago. A few good judges on that said that they had been waiting to see that sort of performance from Douglas for a long time. Apparently he had it in him but never really seemed to be up for it.

buster went in to that fight on the back of some personal tragedies, and he fought like a guy with nothing to lose and absolutely no fear. holyfield and to a lesser extent lewis showed what you could do to tyson if you boxed him this way. unfortunately buster didnt always have the same attitude he took into this fight throughout the rest of his career

Nothing to do with fear. Holy and Lewis beat Tyson because on the night they were better. Personally I have serious doubts about Mr EVANder HolyFIELD and how he seemed to recover from an apparent heart condition against Moorer, a thorough beating in Bowe 3 to fight that type of fight against Tyson.

yes they were better. but i think tyson would have had a few harder fights before douglas had some of his opponents realised how beatable he was and gone in with less fear themselves

I dont think so. Spinks is the obvious example. There's zero he could have done to make that fight longer let alone competitive. Tyson then was a force of nature. Mother nature and her mother caught up with him.

I've just seen bits and pieces of Buster Douglas but the obvious example looking at the Tyson fight was the way he constantly pumped that big jab in Tyson's face and tired him out. He was a big puncher too, McCall said he was up there with Tyson,Bruno etc.. in terms of power punchers he faced. Having said that the count against Tyson was ridiculous, easily 12,13 seconds..

He was incredible that night, but yet a completely below par Tyson decked him and had him on the canvas for 9 seconds.

Evander Holyfields condition was dubious. But I personally believe it. It was something like a reaction his heart had from eating something and it swelled his heart up. When his heart went back to normal he was fine, I'm doing it no justice with the way I'm saying it and making it sound rather hollow as I can't remember all the details from the top of my head. Also, I don't mean to sound like a Tyson nuthugger (Though I am) But the post prison Tyson wasn't really ever the same fighter, he still had a wallop but wasn't as good as before. Not discrediting the wins that Holyfield had over him (though one of them was a complete meltdown in the ring from Tyson) but it was a Tyson very much on the slide, would his tactics have worked against a peak Tyson, pushing him back as he did and being able to manhandle Tyson in the way he did? I'm not sure, one thing is there though, Evander probably was slightly past it at that stage too.

Also, little side note apparently in Bowe - Holy 3 I think it was the one where he ran out of gas apparently he had Hepatitus going into that and that's why he gassed so easily.

On a point of pedantry, Chris, he came back from near-death to start a second career, which was pretty inspirational considering how much he had suffered mentally and physically. Easy for folks to call him a quitter apart from Tyson fight; seems to me he was more of a warrior than I or most of us could be! Funny thought ,really, "Yes, apart from beating Mike Tyson, he was an alright kind of fighter..not that special however."

If he was fighting us fine - but he was fighting out there - and compared to thme - thats an accurate summation. He did quit - you think he everyone in boxing should be called great. I imagine every Pro boxer from Flyweight to Heavyweight would bnatter me senseless - doesnt make em great does it.

I find the buster story quite uplifting. He was written off as a quitter, even by some close to him. Has all sorts of stuff going on in his life. For one fight only he trains properly, and comes out like a man posessed. It doesn't matter to me that he couldn't do it again, he never tried frankly. He isn't and shouldn't be consisidered a great or anywhere near it. But he was for one night.

I feel a little for him, because the long count rubbish from don king and the tyson not training stuff, however true, detract from a truly exceptional performance. I challenge anyone to watch that fight and say that he wouldn't be a nightmare for any heavy in history on that night. Completely fearless, terrific handspeed, great work rate.

It's a good job he stopped tyson as amazingly 1 judge had the fight level and one had tyson ahead. We were only 2 rounds from potentially the worst decision in boxing history.