Buster Douglas vs Mike Tyson: After 35 Years, Still the Greatest Upset of All-time.

[elmersalsa]

On February 10, 1990, boxing history witnessed the greatest upset not only in boxing history, but in all the history of sports.

James "Buster" Douglas of Columbus, OH of all places, an off and on heavyweight contender, became the World Heavyweight Champion by stopping the seemingly invincible "Iron" Mike Tyson, of Brooklyn, NY in 10 rounds in Tokyo, Japan.

It was Tyson's first defeat in his first 37 bouts. Considered as the best heavyweight of the 80s decade with 10 title defenses, he was the Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion when he demolished all-time pound per pound great Michael Spinks in only 91 seconds in June 1988.

People at the time could not believe what they saw. But it happened. James "Buster" Douglas had the greatest win of his career.

[elmersalsa]

Your comments, please.

[gilgamesh]

It's one of the greatest upsets of all time indeed, and it's also been kinda pounded into the ground as a point of discussion for Boxing fans.

[goose 5]

Going in, I liked Tyson very early. Great memory .

[Seamus]

My prediction was Tyson in 2.

[Expug]

Had 30 th bday surprise party for my wife at our house. Big crowd. Decided to flip on the fight. After a few rounds, the party was around the tv. Hoo boy. Great stuff

[Controversial]

My memory of it was being in disbelief when I saw the newspaper the next day. We didn’t have cable TV (Sky) in those days, not even sure if that was around in the UK at that time or even broadcast on it if it was. Has to rank as one of the biggest upsets of all time although the whole 42-1 odds is a bit misleading as apparently only one casino in Vegas gave those odds, it wasn’t as wide as that elsewhere although of course no bookmaker gave Douglas a chance.

[wouter]

Saw a replay of it the following morning on Belgian TV. I did not know the outcome so it was as good as watching it live. We taped it and I must have watched it at least 10 times the following week.

[Les Norton]

We were a bit hungover after a mates wedding the previous night and went to a pub to watch the fight and recover with the hair of the dog.
To say we were stunned was an understatement. From the first round Buster was on, Mike was off but we were waiting for the bomb to detonate, floor Buster and restore normality.
It came, and it went (regardless of the count, Buster was with it and he simply followed what Meyran was saying and showing with his hands) and by early in the next round Buster was feeding it to him again.
The came the memorable 10th and the brutal and concussive finish.
35 years and it’s as clear now as it was then.
Biggest upset I ever saw.
I thought Holyfield v Tyson was a huge boilover too, but this one was earth shattering worldwide news

[bwu]

Greatest upset in the history of heavyweight title.

Greatest upset in the the history of the heavyweight division.

Greatest upset in the history of professional boxing.

Greatest upset in the history of the sport of boxing.

Greatest upset in the history of professional sport.

Greatest upset in the history of all sport.

So, yes.

[The Docker]

Greatest upset in the history of professional sport.

Greatest upset in the history of all sport.

So, yes.

It’s a two horse race though.

From an English perspective and in a mainstream sport too (not some sh!tty little backwater sport) Leicester winning the prem in 2015/2016 is by a country mile a bigger upset.

Think they were 5000/1 to win it, what was Buster?

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

- I was all over this fight, the first Tyson title fight I had to miss. Thing is, Tyson had been dropped in sparring and generally looked terrible.

I had seen Buster in action before, esp the Tony Tucker fight that was as hotly and skillfully contested as most great fights in history. Buster ended helpless and TKOed by Mills. What I didn't expect was for boxing media and other usual to slam Buster as a quitter in lousy condition because of his prediabetic condition. Somehow it had escaped the media dolts that Buster had a mighty fine comeback after Tucker with a KO of contender Mike Williams and wide decisions over former champs Berbick and McCall, so he was in fine condition for his 2nd Title bout.

Bookies generally passed on this fight, yet the boxing media were as usual completely sold on "Quitter" Douglas that completely ignored Mike's mental breakdown that required Psychiatric prescriptions of strong sedatives that had him looking like some horror movie zombie ate punches all night.

Finally a brain synapse clicked with a KO of Buster who ended up taking a 14 count like Gene Tunney did vs Dempsey 2.
In short, while it was no guarantee, I wasn't surprised as this was a DKing promotion where he found some no account Mexican referee to deliver the goods for him.

Ultimately Tyson was set up by King with bogus rape charges where King's personal accountant defended that set up Mike for his 3 year Purgatory. Mike had lost 2 of his HOF mentors in Cus and Jimmy Jacobs, so King by way of power of attorney set up himself as Tyson's caretaker of his $50 mil Retirement Annuity. 3 years later, Mike emerges and finds not only his Annuity has be sacked, but he was now in debt and forced to fight as the lesser Mike as a train wreck in slomo who quickly became something akin a 4 round Butterbean fighter. Oddly they had a fight scheduled that got conceled for some reason.

$ trails don't lie.

[elmersalsa]

Greatest upset in the history of professional sport.

Greatest upset in the history of all sport.

So, yes.

It’s a two horse race though.

From an English perspective and in a mainstream sport too (not some sh!tty little backwater sport) Leicester winning the prem in 2015/2016 is by a country mile a bigger upset.

Think they were 5000/1 to win it, what was Buster?

It was the EPL, not the UEFA Champions' League. That's another level.

[Controversial]

Greatest upset in the history of professional sport.

Greatest upset in the history of all sport.

So, yes.

It’s a two horse race though.

From an English perspective and in a mainstream sport too (not some sh!tty little backwater sport) Leicester winning the prem in 2015/2016 is by a country mile a bigger upset.

Think they were 5000/1 to win it, what was Buster?

It was the EPL, not the UEFA Champions' League. That's another level.

To be fair Leicester winning the premiership was pretty remarkable, 38 games played against the best teams in England and the top tier of Europe

[The Docker]

Greatest upset in the history of professional sport.

Greatest upset in the history of all sport.

So, yes.

It’s a two horse race though.

From an English perspective and in a mainstream sport too (not some sh!tty little backwater sport) Leicester winning the prem in 2015/2016 is by a country mile a bigger upset.

Think they were 5000/1 to win it, what was Buster?

It was the EPL, not the UEFA Champions' League. That's another level.

Doesn't matter a jot, they were 5000/1 for the win. Those were the universal odds based on their merit chances of winning.
It's considerably a bigger upset, that's everyday of the week and twice on Sunday's

Im actually not diminishing the scale of the Buster win, just adding some perspective when someone says its the biggest upset in the history of sport.

[Expug]

1980 miracle on ice. Bigger upset my opinion. Tyson half assed trained for it. Partying in Japan. Motivated and talented fighter Douglas’ decides he wants it bad. Perfect situation for getting tuned up. Russian red army squad one of best teams in the world some would say the best at that time 1980. Americans were thrown together college kids. I know one of the guys on that team. Jack Callahan. He’s the ONLY person I’m around occasionally, that leaves me a bit … speechless.

[Flump]

I remember getting up at silly o'clock in the UK to watch this live. It was sensational, and all played out in front of a crowd that made Saudi seem raucous.

[wouter]

From an English perspective and in a mainstream sport too (not some sh!tty little backwater sport) Leicester winning the prem in 2015/2016 is by a country mile a bigger upset.

Think they were 5000/1 to win it, what was Buster?

You can't really compare the odds. In a single match, Leicester would not have been a 42-1 underdog against any team in the Premier League that year.

[bwu]

This is what I love about this board: The debates. Obviously, we'll never have unanimity. There have been literally millions of sporting events over the history of recorded (and unrecorded) mankind and the great upsets that others have mentioned in this discussion are absolutely viable contenders. But I stand by my selection.

Tyson losing to Douglas was front page, international news, not just in the sporting press. In 2025 reasons, there are plenty of reasons to see why it might've been Buster's night. But in 1990 before the fight, I'm aware of exactly two people who called for the challenger to win (outside of his training camp): An Ohio newspaperman and a sport columnist for a small state university in Northern Pennsylvania. I would love to say that I called for an upset, but I figured it would be another quick win for the champion.

I also recall Tyson being dropped by Greg Page in training. At the time, there was some discussion that it was staged so as to build up interest in the fight. Many (if not most) observers at the time were already pointing to Tyson as an all-time great and speculating that he would reign for years.

Obviously, people shortchanged Douglas. But in retrospect, the way he faded against Tucker combined with the knowledge that his mother passed shortly before the Tyson match made it reasonable to believe that he wouldn't be mentally up for Tokyo.

As I've stated several times on this board, I give Tyson his due, but I've not been a fan. He's great, but not in my top 10. Candidly, I was more shocked by Holyfield's first win against him than this upset (and again, I had no inkling that Mike would lose).

For all that, with Tyson on such a roll in 1990 and with such a promising future, against a guy who seemingly lacked the emotional tools, the result was huge. On top of that, l would argue that Tyson was really the last heavyweight champion who transcended the sport. There have been greats who held the title since then (greater than him, I would say), but his aura was remarkable and the sport, to my eye, was still preeminent. Boxing hadn't slipped in prominence the way we've seen in recent years. I understand that this might be skewed by my U.S. perspective.

That combination, the great undefeated champion against a seemingly marginal challenger, who was coming in under enormous mental pressure, at a time when the sport was still in the big headlines, created what I think was an unprecedented atmosphere. Knowing that the promoter and the officials were seemingly against Douglas (as witnessed by the post-fight shenanigans) added to analysis.

I respect the many other views and I enjoy the discussion, but I genuinely think that this was the biggest upset of all time in any sport.

[nobleart1978]

It was on BskyB in Uk at a time when hardly anyone had sattelite tv or you had to put your suit and dickie bow on to go and watch it at a closed circuit screening at 3am !

[nobleart1978]

It was on BskyB in Uk at a time when hardly anyone had sattelite tv or you had to put your suit and dickie bow on to go and watch it at a closed circuit screening at 3am !

[bwu]

It was on BskyB in Uk at a time when hardly anyone had sattelite tv or you had to put your suit and dickie bow on to go and watch it at a closed circuit screening at 3am !

I think we're going to need a picture.

[The Docker]

From an English perspective and in a mainstream sport too (not some sh!tty little backwater sport) Leicester winning the prem in 2015/2016 is by a country mile a bigger upset.

Think they were 5000/1 to win it, what was Buster?

You can't really compare the odds. In a single match, Leicester would not have been a 42-1 underdog against any team in the Premier League that year.

You are correct.

No single entity football match of teams from the same league would offer such odds in a one match shoot out. Pretty much why folk still love the FA cup

Leicester’s premiership win is exponentially more amazing and unlikely versus a one off shock in a two horse race.

Two horse race upsets are nothing new or remarkable to sport.

Tyson was already a boxing cultural icon at this point, mass hysteria wherever he went. Leicester City weren’t even icons to the people who live in Leicester.

The level of worldwide exposure for the Buster win versus the Leicester win are incalculable.

One will always be played worldwide for folklore and the other mainly played in Leicester to support their folklore.

Worldwide level of exposure does make the Buster win measurably bigger from an audience to view standpoint, doesn’t make it bigger in its likeliness of happening.

I respect the many other views and I enjoy the discussion, but I genuinely think that this was the biggest upset of all time in any sport.

Would be right at the forefront of any discussion.

As a single entity event it has to be right up there.

[wouter]

No single entity football match of teams from the same league would offer such odds in a one match shoot out. Pretty much why folk still love the FA cup

Yes, and the odds also shortened as the season went along.

[The Docker]

No single entity football match of teams from the same league would offer such odds in a one match shoot out. Pretty much why folk still love the FA cup

Yes, and the odds also shortened as the season went along.

Naturally.

Busters odds would've tumbled too the more the fight went on and Mike hadn't got him out of there. Let's call it the nuances of odds betting.