February 11, 1990: Mike Tyson steps into the ring at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, to defend the undisputed Heavyweight Championship of the World against James "Buster" Douglas.
Douglas, a few weeks shy of his 30th birthday, was 29-4-1. His losses had come to David Bey, a former USBA Heavyweight Champion who had lost to Larry Holmes for "the real title"; Mike White, who never came close to a title shot; Jesse Ferguson, who had lost to Tyson, but would later beat WBO Champion Ray Mercer; and Tony Tucker, in a fight for the then-vacant IBF Heavyweight Championship. His draw had come against Norwegian boxer Steffen Tangstad, whose last fight had been against Michael Spinks for the IBF title.
Douglas had beaten some good fighters: Randall "Tex" Cobb, who had fought hard against Holmes but lost; Greg Page, who briefly held the WBA Heavyweight Championship; Trevor Berbick, who held the WBC Heavyweight Championship briefly, until Tyson took it away from him; and Oliver McCall, who would later hold the WBC title.
But Tyson was "Iron Mike," "Kid Dynamite," "The Baddest Man On the Planet." He had been in 37 professional fights. He had won them all. He had won by knockout in 33 of them, with 27 coming in 4 or fewer rounds, and 17 in the very 1st round.
He had taken the WBC title from Berbick on November 22, 1986; the WBA title from James "Bonecrusher" Smith on March 7, 1987; the IBF title from Tucker on August 1, 1987; beat former undisputed Champion Holmes on January 22, 1988; destroyed the previously undefeated Spinks in 91 seconds on June 27, 1988; and had also beaten former partial champions James "Quick" Tillis, Pinklon Thomas, Tony Biggs, Frank Bruno and Carl "The Truth" Williams.
A few months before this fight, Tyson and his promoter, Don King, had played themselves in a music video. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince had written and record a song titled "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson." Of course, it was a comedy. Will Smith, the Fresh Prince, was no heavyweight. In the song, even his own grandmother bets on Tyson. Of course, Tyson wins.
(The video also included Tyson's fellow Brooklynite, comedian Chris Rock. In 2001, Will Smith, by then one of the movies' biggest action stars, starred in Ali. In 2022, Rock hosted the Academy Awards, and made a joke about Smith's wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith. Smith got up onto the stage and slapped Rock. Rock was taken by surprise, but the slap didn't knock him down. That should tell you that Smith was no Muhammad Ali, and wouldn't have stood a chance against Tyson -- even then.)
But that should give you an idea of how Tyson was thought of at the time. Nobody ever made a comedy record of how they could beat Jack Dempsey, or Joe Louis, or Rocky Marciano, or Ali. But Tyson was seen as absolutely unbeatable. And if anybody was going to beat him, it sure didn't seem like the rather ordinary Douglas was going to be the man to do it. And, just 23 days before the fight, Douglas' mother died. Going into the fight, the odds against Douglas were 42-1.
But is the fight went along, one thing became very clear: Douglas was not afraid of Tyson. Tyson's greatest weapon wasn't his physical strength, but the fear he put into his opponents. Douglas kept throwing punches as if he wasn't afraid, and kept landing them, dominating the middle rounds. Tyson was not used to even having middle rounds.
Soon, Tyson's left eye began to swell from Douglas' right jabs, preventing him from seeing his opponent's punches well. Tyson's cornermen were caught unprepared; they had not brought an endswell or ice packs, usually standard equipment for a fight, as they were so confident that Tyson would easily beat Douglas. Instead, they filled a rubber glove with ice water and held it on Tyson's eye between rounds.
Finally, in the last 10 seconds of the 8th round, Tyson, who had been backed onto the ropes, landed a big right uppercut that knocked Douglas down.
The referee was Octavio Meryan, a Mexican previously best known for overseeing the 2nd fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Durán, the "No Más" Fight. Although the knockdown timekeeper began when Douglas' backside hit the ring's surface, Don King, with an interest in keeping Tyson unbeaten, claimed that Meyran started his own count behind by two beats. Douglas rose as the Meyran counted 9, but the bell ended the round. King protested after the fight, but the most powerful man in the sport was turned down.
Douglas pounded his left fist on the mat. This was a sign: He was still not afraid, nor was he discouraged, he was angry. He had made a mistake against Mike Tyson, and been knocked down -- but wasn't knocked out. He still thought he could win.
When the 9th round began, Tyson went for the knockout. Douglas refused to go down, and pounded away, to the point where Tyson's left eye was closed. It was Tyson who was impaired, badly in pain and barely hanging on at the end of the round, not Douglas.
At the 1:54 mark of the 10th round, Douglas landed a right uppercut that snapped Tyson's head upward. He followed with four punches to the head, and Tyson fell, knocked down for the 1st time in his career. On his knees, Tyson fumbled for his mouthpiece on the canvas, before sticking one end in his mouth with the other end hanging out. He seemed to have gotten to his feet between the counts of 9 and 10, but, at the 1:37 mark, Meyran counted him out.
The fight had been close through 9 rounds: One card was 88-83 for Douglas, one was 87-87 for Tyson, and one was even at 86-86. If Douglas hadn't completed the knockout, it might have been a very controversial split decision in Tyson's favor, followed by a rematch in which Douglas might have been, to put it politely, encouraged to lose. I don't think he would have taken it.
During the post fight interview, Douglas broke down in tears when asked why he was able to win this fight when no one thought he could. "Because of my mother...God bless her heart," said the emotional new Champion.
On October 25, Douglas got the fight against Evander Holyfield that Tyson was supposed to get next. Holyfield knocked Douglas out in the 3rd round. Douglas didn't fight again for 6 years, and retired in 1999, with a career record of 38-6-1.
In 1991, Tyson was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for rape. By the time he was released, in 1995, he was 29 years old, having, essentially, thrown his prime away. He went right back to boxing, and won 4 matches within a span of a year: Knocking Peter McNeely out in the 1st round, knocking Buster Mathis Jr. out in the 3rd, knocking Frank Bruno out in the 3rd to reclaim the WBC title, and knocking Bruce Seldon out in the 1st round to reclaim the WBA title. He was 45-1, and the Douglas fight was beginning to look like the fluke of all time.
The next fight was his long-awaited matchup with Holyfield. Holyfield studied the Douglas fight, and knew that Douglas had won because he wasn't afraid of Tyson. Holyfield wasn't, either, and his 2 fights with Tyson ended up defining Tyson as much as the 46 fights before it: Tyson was a great puncher, but he wasn't even a good boxer. Holyfield was a great boxer.
Along with Super Bowl III, the New York Jets beating the Baltimore Colts, and the U.S. hockey team's win over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics, the Douglas-Tyson fight is regarded as one of the greatest upsets in the history of sports.
From March 6, 1985, his 1st professional fight, until February 11, 1990, Mike Tyson went 37-0. From February 11, 1990 onward, he went 13-6. From March 6, 1985 to November 8, 1996, Tyson went 45-1. From November 9, 1996 until his last fight, on June 11, 2005, he was 5-5.
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February 11, 1990 was a Sunday. This was also the day that Nelson Mandela was freed from prison. I have a separate entry for that event.
Baseball and football were out of season. On that day, the NBA held its All-Star Game, at the Miami Arena. The East beat the West, 130-113. Magic Johnson was named the game's Most Valuable Player.
There were 6 games played in the NHL that day:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Calgary Flames, 5-2 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2 at the Boston Garden.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-3 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-2 at the St. Louis Arena.
* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 7-4 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.
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