Why was Douglas expectet to be Tysons easiest titlefight?

[Jan]

I dont understand why peolpe thought Douglas is just a bum. Look at his record. He beat guys like Berbick, Page and MC Call even before Tyson.

[MEISINGER]

I dont understand why peolpe thought Douglas is just a bum. Look at his record. He beat guys like Berbick, Page and MC Call even before Tyson.

inconsistincy (sorry for bad spelling) but douglas was hit and miss and never upto that point
lived upto his potential

buster gave more than 100% for this fight and showed the world that he could of easily
of been a true world class fighter if he would apply himself
too bad it lasted for all of one fight

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I don't think anyone thought it was his easiest, just another in a line of guys that weren't in tyson's league. Hell, there were only a small percentage of people that thought Holyfield could compete with him at the time. Mike was looked at as indestructible and as the previous post states, you never knew when Buster would show up.

[granberry]

Buster Douglas was good at demonstrating he could win a fight in the first part of a fight and then collapsing psychologically and losing the fight toward the end.

Noticeable in his fight with Tony Tucker.

For his entire Tyson fight Douglas was in the RIGHT state of mind: he wanted to win, he thought he could win, he didn't like Tyson.

This is noticeable when Douglas was knocked down by a Tyson uppercut. Douglas slapped at the canvas with one hand in anger at himself for allowing that to happen.

That showed very clearly where he was psychologically for this fight.

He fought a great fight that night.

Then he didn't train at all and showed up for the Holyfield fight in the worst possible state of mind.

He was also completely out of practice for boxing.
He threw an uppercut while Holyfield was FAR away from him--which showed how screwed up his perceptions were and how out of practice he was.

Holyfield threw a workmanlike right hand when Douglas left himself wide open like that and Douglas went down.

Notice what Douglas did while he was down. He sat up, wiped his glove on his nose to see if it was bleeding, and then completely conscious, decided not to get up and stayed down.

Holyfield was given a gift in the Douglas he faced. Tyson got the opposite.

Once he was champion, Douglas could not take the pressure psychologically.
His solution?
Hide from the whole situation by not training at all.

His lower legs in the Holyfield fight showed he hadn't run ten feet since the Tyson fight.

Douglas had excellent ability--but the wrong psychological make-up to go with it.
EXCEPT when he fought Tyson.

He had nothing to lose against Tyson, and was not EXPECTED to do anything against Tyson.
That helped put him the right state of mind.

[Ezzard]

Granberry is spot on.

[BoxBuzz]

gran, that's very nicely stated, and I agree. So you may want to take a close look at what you said, cuz according to you I'm never right. So this presents quite a quagmire for both of us.

And we seem to both be on board regarding the "noggin factor" regarding the most successful fighters.

[Goodnight, Irene]

Buster Douglas was good at demonstrating he could win a fight in the first part of a fight and then collapsing psychologically and losing the fight toward the end.

Noticeable in his fight with Tony Tucker.

For his entire Tyson fight Douglas was in the RIGHT state of mind: he wanted to win, he thought he could win, he didn't like Tyson.

This is noticeable when Douglas was knocked down by a Tyson uppercut. Douglas slapped at the canvas with one hand in anger at himself for allowing that to happen.

That showed very clearly where he was psychologically for this fight.

He fought a great fight that night.

Then he didn't train at all and showed up for the Holyfield fight in the worst possible state of mind.

He was also completely out of practice for boxing.
He threw an uppercut while Holyfield was FAR away from him--which showed how screwed up his perceptions were and how out of practice he was.

Holyfield threw a workmanlike right hand when Douglas left himself wide open like that and Douglas went down.

Notice what Douglas did while he was down. He sat up, wiped his glove on his nose to see if it was bleeding, and then completely conscious, decided not to get up and stayed down.

Holyfield was given a gift in the Douglas he faced. Tyson got the opposite.

Once he was champion, Douglas could not take the pressure psychologically.
His solution?
Hide from the whole situation by not training at all.

His lower legs in the Holyfield fight showed he hadn't run ten feet since the Tyson fight.

Douglas had excellent ability--but the wrong psychological make-up to go with it.
EXCEPT when he fought Tyson.

He had nothing to lose against Tyson, and was not EXPECTED to do anything against Tyson.
That helped put him the right state of mind.

Wow. What insight.

...& the sky is blue.

[BoxBuzz]

Not to the colorblind GI.....not to the colorblind at all.

[Mr E]

Buster Douglas was good at demonstrating he could win a fight in the first part of a fight and then collapsing psychologically and losing the fight toward the end.

Noticeable in his fight with Tony Tucker.

For his entire Tyson fight Douglas was in the RIGHT state of mind: he wanted to win, he thought he could win, he didn't like Tyson.

This is noticeable when Douglas was knocked down by a Tyson uppercut. Douglas slapped at the canvas with one hand in anger at himself for allowing that to happen.

That showed very clearly where he was psychologically for this fight.

He fought a great fight that night.

Then he didn't train at all and showed up for the Holyfield fight in the worst possible state of mind.

He was also completely out of practice for boxing.
He threw an uppercut while Holyfield was FAR away from him--which showed how screwed up his perceptions were and how out of practice he was.

Holyfield threw a workmanlike right hand when Douglas left himself wide open like that and Douglas went down.

Notice what Douglas did while he was down. He sat up, wiped his glove on his nose to see if it was bleeding, and then completely conscious, decided not to get up and stayed down.

Holyfield was given a gift in the Douglas he faced. Tyson got the opposite.

Once he was champion, Douglas could not take the pressure psychologically.
His solution?
Hide from the whole situation by not training at all.

His lower legs in the Holyfield fight showed he hadn't run ten feet since the Tyson fight.

Douglas had excellent ability--but the wrong psychological make-up to go with it.
EXCEPT when he fought Tyson.

He had nothing to lose against Tyson, and was not EXPECTED to do anything against Tyson.
That helped put him the right state of mind.

I think this is right on the money. That Tucker fight was amazing-- Douglas was by far the superior fighter and then he just up and quit. He had talent coming out of his ears but he only employed it a few times during the course of his career-- huge potential wasted.

[Jan]

I don't think anyone thought it was his easiest, just another in a line of guys that weren't in tyson's league. .

Thats not quite correct. Douglas was an 42-1-underdog (!!) . Tucker for example was 10.1, Berbick 4-1. I think it was not realistic to say that the douglasupset is one of the greatest surprises or even the greates surprise in sporthistory.

[granberry]

Buster Douglas was good at demonstrating he could win a fight in the first part of a fight and then collapsing psychologically and losing the fight toward the end.

Noticeable in his fight with Tony Tucker.

For his entire Tyson fight Douglas was in the RIGHT state of mind: he wanted to win, he thought he could win, he didn't like Tyson.

This is noticeable when Douglas was knocked down by a Tyson uppercut. Douglas slapped at the canvas with one hand in anger at himself for allowing that to happen.

That showed very clearly where he was psychologically for this fight.

He fought a great fight that night.

Then he didn't train at all and showed up for the Holyfield fight in the worst possible state of mind.

He was also completely out of practice for boxing.
He threw an uppercut while Holyfield was FAR away from him--which showed how screwed up his perceptions were and how out of practice he was.

Holyfield threw a workmanlike right hand when Douglas left himself wide open like that and Douglas went down.

Notice what Douglas did while he was down. He sat up, wiped his glove on his nose to see if it was bleeding, and then completely conscious, decided not to get up and stayed down.

Holyfield was given a gift in the Douglas he faced. Tyson got the opposite.

Once he was champion, Douglas could not take the pressure psychologically.
His solution?
Hide from the whole situation by not training at all.

His lower legs in the Holyfield fight showed he hadn't run ten feet since the Tyson fight.

Douglas had excellent ability--but the wrong psychological make-up to go with it.
EXCEPT when he fought Tyson.

He had nothing to lose against Tyson, and was not EXPECTED to do anything against Tyson.
That helped put him the right state of mind.

I think this is right on the money. That Tucker fight was amazing-- Douglas was by far the superior fighter and then he just up and quit. He had talent coming out of his ears but he only employed it a few times during the course of his career-- huge potential wasted.

The right mentality can be worth more than all the ability in the world.

William Muldoon said of Jack Sharkey, "He's the best fighter in the world--from the neck down."

[TheGreatA]

Douglas was supposed to be the kind of an opponent that Tyson feasted upon. He had been intimidated and had broken down mentally in the past. McCall and old Berbick weren't too highly thought of at the time.

Of course Tyson had built himself into even more of an invincible monster than he had when he fought Berbick, Tucker, Thomas.

[funso banjo baby]

up until the douglas fight..... bonecrusher had landed one uppercut at the end of his tyson fight.

tucker (who'd beaten a listless douglas) had landed one at the beginning of his fight with Tyson.

and of course Bruno had got in big shot.


we were literally counting about 4 or 5 telling shots at a seemingly invincible Champion.

thats why the douglas win was the most unpredictable of all !!!!

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I don't think anyone thought it was his easiest, just another in a line of guys that weren't in tyson's league. .

Thats not quite correct. Douglas was an 42-1-underdog (!!) . Tucker for example was 10.1, Berbick 4-1. I think it was not realistic to say that the douglasupset is one of the greatest surprises or even the greates surprise in sporthistory.

Well, neither Berbick or Tucker would be considered a defense.

[Goodnight, Irene]

Good point. He actually only defended twice, if you follow his true championship reign --- from Spinks-onward.