Douglas in good place 25 years after upsetting Tyson

Buster enjoying life as family man in Ohio; credits his mom with inspiring Tokyo shocker

COLUMBUS, OHIO— An uppercut and three follow-up punches made James “Buster” Douglas a household name.

And 25 years later, the brief heavyweight champion is still pleased his knockout of Mike Tyson ranks among the biggest upsets in sports.

“Being crowned champion was a dream for me,” Douglas said of his Feb. 11, 1990 upset. “To achieve that was the ultimate. It was awesome.”

A promising if enigmatic fighter, Douglas was given almost no chance of hanging around long with the undefeated heavyweight champion in their title fight in Tokyo. The bout was considered a tune-up for Tyson before an anticipated match with rising star Evander Holyfield.

In fact, the day before Tyson fought Douglas, promoter Don King called a news conference to discuss the dates and terms of that showdown. Douglas took note.

Douglas was a terrific athlete — he played small-college basketball — but was considered less than committed to boxing despite a 29-4-1 record as a professional.

But roughly three weeks before the opening bell with Tyson, the person who believed in him the most, his mother, Lula Pearl, died.

Reminded this week that no one had thought he had a chance against Tyson, Douglas hesitated before saying: “Yeah, but she did.”

Tyson was 37-0 with 33 knockouts heading into the fight. Las Vegas oddsmakers made him a 42-1favourite to do his wrecking-ball thing against Douglas.

Just before the opening bell, someone in the crowd shouted to Douglas to win it for his mother.

The six-foot-four Douglas, with J.D. McCauley, his trainer and uncle, along with manager John Johnson in his corner, came out inspired. He held his own in the early rounds, holding off the shorter Tyson’s charge with his left jab.

Late in the eighth round, Douglas went down.

King and Tyson would later claim Douglas didn’t get up in the mandatory 10 seconds as the round came to an end. But by the official’s count, he was standing and in control of his faculties at the count of 8.

After the fighters returned to their corners, Douglas dominated the ninth. Then in the 10th, he rocked the world.

“I finished him up with a combination,” Douglas said. “He wasn’t able to get up.”

Through a spokesman, Tyson declined to speak with The Associated Press about the fight.

The two boxers have met each other only once since.

“We only crossed paths once, and that was a few years back down in Cincinnati,” Douglas said. “There wasn’t much conversation. He was still kind of short (with me). So I didn’t push it any further.”

Douglas is content to live a quiet life in a large home near a farming village 25 miles from his hometown of Columbus.

He quickly lost the heavyweight title to Holyfield in October 1990 in Las Vegas. His cut of his lone defence, estimated at $7 million (U.S.) after taxes, set him up for a comfortable existence.

Douglas has thrown himself into raising his four sons with his wife, Bertha. He spends five days a week coaching young boxers at a local rec centre.

All these years later, he says Tokyo was no fluke.

“I believed in myself and that I had the ability to do that.”