The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Enormity of Douglas’ win showcased in ‘42 to 1’
The film “42 to 1” — which debuts Dec. 11 at 9 p.m. on ESPN — begins with a 1990 clip of Mike Tyson before his title fight vs. James “Buster” Douglas in Tokyo.
Tyson — the most popular athlete in the world at the time — says this when asked about Douglas, who most everyone thought was yet another quick victim in the ring for the then-unstoppable Tyson:
“I don’t have any idea what he’s thinking … I don’t care.”
A short time later, Tyson and a million others cared about Douglas, and what he did on Feb. 10, 1990 changed boxing and sports forever.
Douglas’ stunning knockout of Tyson in the 10th round gave the Columbus native the heavyweight championship belt. More important, it rocked the sports world with arguably the greatest upset.
Many save that title for the 1980 U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team that defeated the powerful USSR at the Winter Games.
To understand the magnitude of a sports upset, look at the odds:
• The 1969 Jets and Joe Namath were 18-1 underdogs to the Colts in Super Bowl III. The Jets won, 16-7.
• At the 1980 Winter Olympics, the U.S. hockey team that stunned Russia, 4-3, was made just a 3-1 underdog in Las Vegas.
“I’m tired of hearing of the Miracle on Ice,” says Las Vegas oddsmaker Jimmy Vaccaro in the film when asked about comparing that game to Douglas-Tyson. “... None of the sports books would even lay odds on Tyson-Douglas. Well almost none. I did.”
Tyson entered the bout 37-0, and was never seriously challenged to that point in his career. In 1988, he reached the peak of his reign and popularity with a first-round KO — 91 seconds to be exact — of Michael Spinks to unify the heavyweight belts.
When pitting Douglas vs. Tyson as a tuneup to the bout everyone
wanted to see — Evander Holyfield-Tyson — promoter Don King had his motives to make sure the latter would come to fruition.
“Buster Douglas is a dog,” said King prior to the fight. “He’s always been a quitter. Really, that’s why I picked him.”
An overconfident Tyson said: “There’s no way I can lose.”
That’s what most of the world thought, except Douglas and those closest to him. Douglas was the son of Bill Douglas, a talented boxer. He rose to the ranks of a contender, but by the time the Tyson fight was announced no one associated with a venue in the United States would pay to host Tyson make quick work of Douglas.
In Vegas, no one would bet a buck on Douglas. Vaccaro opened
Douglas as a 27-1 underdog, then 32-1, then 37-1 …
“I kept raising the odds to maybe get someone to bet on Buster Douglas,” said Vaccaro. “We couldn’t find anyone until we got to the pinnacle — 42 to 1.”
Vaccaro said he took several bets — on Tyson. Meaning to win $1,000 on Tyson, a person would have to put up $42,000. That’s how big of a favorite the champion was vs. Douglas.
Tragedy hit Douglas and his family weeks before the bout as his mother Lula died of a stroke on Jan. 18, 1990.
On Feb. 10, Douglas entered the ring focused and not intimidated. He used his size advantage (he was 6-foot-4) and left jab to keep Tyson at bay for the first seven rounds. In the eighth, Tyson caught Douglas with an uppercut that dropped the challenger.
Douglas got up, beat what some believed was a long 10 count, and came back strong in Round 9. By the start of Round 10, Douglas keep attacking Tyson, and then floored the champ with a flurry of jabs, a vicious right upper cut, then finished him off with a straight left to send Tyson’s mouthpiece flying.
Eight months later, Douglas lost the belt to Evander Holyfield then drifted away to mostly obscurity. He trains boxers at his Columbusarea boxing gym, but will always be remembered for his stunning victory over Tyson — and those really, really long odds.