![]() Douglas hoped with all his heart he could win. and it seemed, plainly, to shock the hitherto invincible Tyson.ĭouglas said he always expected to win that's true only if you believe in hope as an expression of unshakeable conviction – which is a dubious premise. Today, Douglas, now 55, lives where it all began in Columbus, Ohio and is enjoying life.ĭouglas will be the feature of an upcoming “Best I Faced” in a future issue of THE RING.It shocked nearly everyone at the time: the fight writers, the lone Las Vegas bookmaker who'd made Douglas a 42-1 shot, the promoter Don King. They were like, ‘He’s gonna do WHAT?!’ From that point on to winning the heavyweight championship, that was the ultimate but I’d have to say the whole career and top it off achieving an all-time dream and goal, winning the heavyweight championship.” I called him after my junior year in college and told him I was gonna come back that summer and turn pro. When asked of his proudest moment, Douglas reminisced, “My career, coming from where I started in my father’s basement. Time had moved on and despite several wins, he was never to return to the top table of world-ranked boxing, retiring for good in 1999, with a final record of 38-6-1 (25 knockouts). Soon after, he decided to make a comeback. Douglas knew he had to lose weight and did so. Things steadied and he left hospital awhile later. Holyfield easily dispatched him in three rounds.ĭouglas retired his weight ballooned to nearly 400-pounds and he fell into a diabetic coma in 1994. It wasn’t the same Douglas he looked flabby around the mid-section, 15 ¾-pounds heavier than for the Tyson fight. I got to the point where this was an awesome dream turned into a crazy nightmare.”ĭouglas returned eight months later and out of shape against Evander Holyfield. ![]() “I wanted to sit back and relax,” he said, “but it was like, ‘No, we’ve got to do this we’ve got to do that.’ It became very demanding. Douglas was now a celebrity and everybody wanted a piece of the new champion’s time. Douglas remembers his flight landing in Chicago: “We were getting off the plane and, at the end of the walkway, there was a bunch of people and I was like, ‘Man, I wonder what’s going on over there,’ and that’s when it hit me: They’re there to speak to me, lights, camera, action.”įrom then onward, his time wasn’t his own. ![]() Two rounds later, Douglas hurt and dropped Tyson, creating an unmatched electricity and referee Octavio Meyran counted out Tyson at 1.22 of the round.Īt that moment, life changed forever. Just for that moment, I took a moment to reflect and stop punching and start looking as if to say, ‘What do you think about me now?’ and gave me the answer when he threw that shot! (Douglas hit the canvas in the eighth round.) Then I got back on point mentally and the rest is history.” “I was working pretty good, hitting him with good shots, softening him up, kept banging on him. “The eighth started the same as the last seven,” he said. Douglas was in the lead as the eighth started. Douglas employed an excellent ramrod jab that jolted Tyson’s head back time and time again. He ran into a Buster Douglas that wasn’t to be denied.”Įarly on, in the fight, you got an inkling that this wasn’t a regular Tyson defense. Fortunately it was against one against one of the baddest men to have ever held that belt but I still felt good about my chances and it all came together. I wasn’t gonna let this opportunity escape me. “I’d made all the corrections and I was ready for the second time. That was my second shot at the world title,” he said.
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