Mike Tyson vs. Buster Douglas, billed as Tyson is Back!, was a professional boxing match that occurred at the Tokyo Dome on Sunday, February 11, 1990. The then-undefeated, undisputed heavyweight champion Tyson lost by knockout to the 42-1 underdog Douglas, in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
Background
Going into the fight, Mike Tyson was the undefeated and undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and held the WBC, WBA, and IBF titles. Despite several controversies that marred Tyson's profile at the time, such as his allegedly abusive relationship with Robin Givens, contractual battles between longtime manager Bill Cayton and promoter Don King, and Tyson's departure from longtime trainer Kevin Rooney, Tyson was still dominant in the ring.
He scored a 93-second knockout against Carl "The Truth" Williams in his previous fight. Buster Douglas was ranked as the #7 heavyweight contender by Ring Magazine and had met with mixed success in his professional career up to that point.
His previous title fight was against Tony Tucker in 1987, in which he was TKO'd in the 10th round. However, six consecutive wins since the Tucker fight-including victories over former world champion Trevor Berbick and future world champion Oliver McCall-gave him the opportunity to fight Tyson.
HBO boxing analysts Larry Merchant and Jim Lampley expected to see "another 90-second annihilation." Instead of discussing Douglas's chances against Tyson, Merchant and Lampley compared their pets: Tyson had a white pitbull named "Duran" (after his idol Roberto Durán) while Douglas had a beagle named "Shakespeare."
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In an interview given to HBO prior to the fight, Douglas told reporters that his favorite Shakespeare play was the romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Singer Bobby Brown wrote in his autobiography that he met with Tyson in Tokyo and the two partied extensively the night before the fight.
The TRUTH About Tyson's Shocking Loss To Buster Douglas - Fight Breakdown
The Fight
From the beginning of the fight, it was apparent that Douglas was not afraid. Douglas displayed a lot of spring in his body movement and was not cautious in letting his punches fly whenever he saw the opportunity to attack Tyson.
He used his quick and accurate jab to prevent Tyson from getting inside, where Tyson was most dangerous. When Tyson tried to get inside, Douglas tied him up, moved away, or would immediately hit Tyson with multiple punches as Tyson came within Douglas' range. Early on, Douglas was more agile than Tyson and outlanded Tyson in exchanges.
Seeming to regain his form, Tyson landed a punishing left to the body that had Douglas look at his corner. Douglas would still dominate the middle rounds, although Tyson managed to land a few of his signature uppercuts. Tyson was wobbled by a chopping right during the fifth round.
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 were so confident Tyson would easily beat Douglas that they had not brought an endswell or ice packs, usually standard equipment for a fight. Instead, they filled a latex glove with ice water and held it on Tyson's eye between rounds.
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Aaron Snowell, Tyson's primary cornerman, at one point caught the chain from the identification badge hanging from his neck between the iced glove and Tyson's eye. Tyson winced in pain as Snowell moved dragging the chain from one side of his injured eye to the other. Confusion and panic grew in his corner as the fight went on.
Despite Tyson's inability to execute an effective fight plan, his corner continued to give him the same advice between rounds to move his head, jab his way inside and deliver a right hand. Within the last ten seconds of the eighth round, Tyson, who had been backed onto the ropes, landed a big right uppercut that sent Douglas to the canvas.
Douglas rose as the referee signaled nine, but the bell ended the round. In the ninth round, Tyson came out aggressively to try to end the fight and save his title, hoping that Douglas was still hurt from the knockdown.
Douglas was able to fight off Tyson's attack and was able to close Tyson's eye completely. Both men traded punches before Douglas connected on a four-punch combination that staggered Tyson back to the ropes.
With Tyson hurt along the ropes, Douglas closed in and unleashed a four-punch attack to try to knock Tyson out. In the tenth round, Tyson pushed forward, but he was still hurting from the accumulation of punishment he had absorbed throughout the match.
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As Tyson advanced, Douglas measured him with a few jabs before landing an uppercut that snapped Tyson's head upward, stopping Tyson in his tracks. As Tyson reeled back, Douglas immediately followed with four punches to the head, knocking Tyson down for the first time in his career.
In a famous scene, Tyson fumbled for his mouthpiece on the canvas before sticking one end in his mouth with the other end hanging out. The champion attempted to make it back to his feet, but referee Octavio Meyran counted him out. Buster Douglas thus became the new undisputed heavyweight champion.
The Aftermath
The official scorecards through nine rounds were 87-86 for Tyson, 86-86, and 88-83 for Douglas. 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.
Tyson's camp, led by Don King, immediately protested the result, claiming that Douglas had been given a long count by referee Octavio Meyran. At the time of the fight, Don King was said to have been negotiating for Tyson's next fight to be in the fall in Berlin against former champion Greg Page, who had decked Tyson while sparring with him three weeks before the Douglas fight.
| Fighter | Before the Fight | After the Fight |
|---|---|---|
| Mike Tyson | Undefeated, Undisputed Heavyweight Champion | Lost Title, Faced Controversy |
| Buster Douglas | 42-1 Underdog | New Undisputed Heavyweight Champion |
Plans for a rematch fell through, so Douglas' first title defence was against No. 1 contender Evander Holyfield. An overweight Douglas, weighing 14.5 pounds (6.6 kg) more than in the Tyson fight, was knocked out by Holyfield in the third round. Douglas retired after the fight.
Six years later, he launched a comeback after almost dying in a diabetic coma and won a few fights against journeyman opposition. Tyson would fight four more times after the Douglas fight before being convicted of raping beauty pageant contestant Desiree Washington in 1991.
Following his release from the Indiana Youth Center in 1995 he quickly regained the WBA and WBC world titles, before losing them to Holyfield and was never again a world champion. He fought on sporadically for another decade and lost in another title challenge against Lennox Lewis in 2002.
Buster Douglas went down in sports lore as a prize fighter who defied the odds to pull off one of the biggest upsets in sports history. Among the honors was a cover photo on an issue of Sports Illustrated with the title "Rocky Lives!," after the popular film series about a similarly underestimated boxing hero.
Douglas's upset against Tyson is the inspiration for the song "Tyson vs Douglas" by the Killers from their fifth studio album, Wonderful Wonderful (2017). In 1990, In Living Color made references to the fight in the "Three Champs and a Baby/Little Lady" sketches.