Open Mic: Biggest Disappointment: When Buster Knocked Out Tyson

There have been many disappointments in sports over the years, and being an Atlanta sports fan, pick a team for disappointments aplenty. Many of the ones I have seen have to deal with Braves and their inability to win the World Series more than one time in the 1990s, the 1997 NLCS sticks out in particular. One win in eight tries in the 90s is almost Buffalo Bills like except for the fact that the Bills played better teams in their four consecutive Super Bowl appearances. Despite that disappointing exercise in futility, the greatest sports disappointment was a little before my time and it had to be the unknown Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson. In the years leading up to debacle in Tokyo, Tyson had been undefeated and deserving of his moniker “The Baddest Man on the Planet” and Buster Douglas was about as good as the heavyweights who box now.

In all the Tyson fights that I had seen before the Douglas fight were foregone conclusions of a dominating Tyson victory. It was like what the Patriots were doing in the first half of last season. There was no inkling of a Douglas upset leading up to the fight. It was a beautiful thing to see a sporting event where the hype did not outdo the actual action. Douglas was to be another victim destroyed by “Iron Mike” Tyson on his way to a matchup with rising star and Atlanta native Evander Holyfield.

Douglas surprised the world by attacking the champion. I was in sheer disbelief that Tyson was letting this unknown dominate him after completely obliterating all of his previous opponents. After the first round, I thought Tyson would get serious, knock this loser through the ropes, and restore order in the world. Douglas did not let that happen and he continued to punish Tyson. Tyson looked like tired with his plodding feet and slow punches. Buster keep attacking Tyson’s face to the point where his eye was close to swelling shut. I am sitting there watching like “Mike, how are you letting him do this to you?” I had that feeling of wanting to beat up Douglas myself since Tyson could not do it. Finally, in the eighth round I think, Tyson fought back and showed he was talked about as the best heavyweight since Ali. He had Buster staggering about the ring and the looked as if it had reached its expected conclusion when Tyson knocked down Douglas. I am counting with the referee, hoping he gets to 10 before Buster can get back up, but my hopes were dashed when Douglas stumbled to his feet in time to continue. Douglas was bringing all he could to fight in holding off the desperate Tyson with his continuous jabs. Mike survived the ninth round and I was nervous about the tenth round, Douglas had gained tremendous momentum throughout the fight and the inevitable result was becoming a distinct possibility. Douglas came out and tagged Tyson with a big uppercut then some more jabs and hooks that dropped “The Baddest Man on the Planet” to the mat as well as my heart. The invincible Tyson had been defeated by a relative nobody and it left me speechless.

Douglas brought everything he could to the fight and rose to the occasion against “Iron Mike”. Tyson look unprepared and overconfident at the start of the fight and was late in bringing intensity to the fight. I only saw the ruthless Tyson I had become accustomed to seeing once in the whole fight. Tyson lost that fight to the better boxer. A telling sign that the Douglas victory was an extraordinary upset was manner in which Buster Douglas’ career burst into flames. He lost his title in his next defense against Evander “The Real Deal" Holyfield