Buster Douglas vs Mike Tyson: 30 Years After the Upset of the 20th Century

[elmersalsa]

No need to say no more. At Tokyo's Korakuen Stadium in Japan, Buster Douglas, an unknown heavyweight contender and 42 to 1 underdog stops the great Iron Mike Tyson in 10 rounds for the Undisputed World Heavyweight Crown. It was Tyson's 10th title defense.

It was indeed the greatest upset of all time in all sports. Where were you when that happened 30 years ago?

[littlepug]

Probably in bed ! I was 16 and had just got into boxing but didn’t have sky to watch it, assumed Tyson was just gonna blow him away and I didn’t believe it when someone told me he lost the next day, clips of the fight were shown on the 10 o clock news and I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was unbelievable !
Next day before work I bought 3 or 4 newspapers as the pics were plastered all over the front and back pages, it probably took me a couple of weeks before I got over the shock ! The fight was rushed onto VHS pretty quickly and I made sure I got a copy and watched in awe in my bedroom as Buster boxed beautifully to tame the beast. Not long after that fight was Chavez v Taylor which pretty much made sure that boxing was gonna be a life long obsession for me

[bigjack]

I watched it live on TV and as each round went by I literally couldn't believe what I was watching.

[elmersalsa]

It was truly an unbelievable moment. As the rounds were passing by, I couldn't believe what I was watching. It was not that the great Mike Tyson couldn't be beaten like the majority of the public thought, (I believed at the time that someone would), but not Buster Douglas.

And when Tyson put him down in round 8 with that beautiful uppercut, I thought that it was over. Believe it not! Buster got up and gave Tyson the beating of his life in round 9 and finally stopped him in round 10. I never thought that Tyson would ever be knocked out.

[Onetimeonly]

At my friend Ken's, about 25 of us were there watching. I bet I'm the only one that still watches boxing at all.

I certainly didn't expect buster to knock him out, but, unlike Elmer, I was positive evander was going to knock Kim out next.

[Seamus]

My prediction was Tyson in 2 rds. Didn't watch the fight live, in fact I heard the shocking news when NBC sportscaster Mark Giangreco said "Well, the impossible happened in Tokyo, Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson in the 10th rd. I was thoroughly convinced Buster would do the same to Holyfield until I saw the kind of shape he was in, then I changed my pick.

[Ambling Alp II]

Guess I had the same reaction as you guys. Didn't have HBO at the time, so I was unable to see it live.
Thought Douglas-Holyfield was going to be a great fight, until the weigh-in and saw how out of shape Douglas was.

Similar to Onetimeonly, I don't know anyone personally that still follows the sport, not even casually. Things were a ,lot different 30 years ago.

[Onetimeonly]

Guess I had the same reaction as you guys. Didn't have HBO at the time, so I was unable to see it live.
Thought Douglas-Holyfield was going to be a great fight, until the weigh-in and saw how out of shape Douglas was.

Similar to Onetimeonly, I don't know anyone personally that still follows the sport, not even casually. Things were a ,lot different 30 years ago.

Yeah, sad. I mean I was the only nerd buying the magazines and knowing flyweights, but dozens of friends knew dozens of fighters. Young fans today don't realize how big the sport was. Way bigger than college football in the 70's, early 80's. Boza Edwards had more people watching him than Floyd.

[vidal]

BBC sport summed it up nicely. Whether it is the greatest upset in sporting history or not, it’s certainly the one all those since are measured against.

My dad called it. He even got the right round. I told him he was talking sh*t......... smug old sod

[littlepug]

No need to say no more. At Tokyo's Korakuen Stadium in Japan, Buster Douglas, an unknown heavyweight contender and 42 to 1 underdog stops the great Iron Mike Tyson in 10 rounds for the Undisputed World Heavyweight Crown. It was Tyson's 10th title defense.

It was indeed the greatest upset of all time in all sports. Where were you when that happened 30 years ago?

Didn't watch it, just thought it would another Tyson win. Strolled into the gym the next morning and asked "what happened in the Tyson fight?", expecting to hear that Tyson had stopped him in 2 or 3 rounds, or whatever.

I just couldn't believe it when they told me Tyson had lost. Thought they were taking the piss and then it came on the radio. Honestly, I was amazed. Funny looking back, pre-internet and social media. That's how things used to happen.

Sometimes teletext was the quickest way to find out a result, for some of the overseas fights I had to wait until Boxing News came out the following week !

[wouter]

Sometimes teletext was the quickest way to find out a result, for some of the overseas fights I had to wait until Boxing News came out the following week !

I usually had to wait until KO Magazine came out a couple of months later

[littlepug]

Sometimes teletext was the quickest way to find out a result, for some of the overseas fights I had to wait until Boxing News came out the following week !

I usually had to wait until KO Magazine came out a couple of months later

The agony!! Results on tap these days, young fans are spoilt !

[paddy chavez]

Didn't watch it, just thought it would another Tyson win. Strolled into the gym the next morning and asked "what happened in the Tyson fight?", expecting to hear that Tyson had stopped him in 2 or 3 rounds, or whatever.

I just couldn't believe it when they told me Tyson had lost. Thought they were taking the piss and then it came on the radio. Honestly, I was amazed. Funny looking back, pre-internet and social media. That's how things used to happen.

Sometimes teletext was the quickest way to find out a result, for some of the overseas fights I had to wait until Boxing News came out the following week !

I loved ceefax / Teletext .300 was sport I can't remember if there was a boxing number there was a general round up page that had boxing results on it

[Ambling Alp II]

I usually had to wait until KO Magazine came out a couple of months later

The agony!! Results on tap these days, young fans are spoilt !

Both of them?

[littlepug]

The agony!! Results on tap these days, young fans are spoilt !

Both of them?

I was teaching a boxing fitness class the other night for a cubs group and a lad asked me if I’d heard of KSI, I said “the YouTuber?” and he replied “no he’s a boxer”, it broke my heart a little