You Need to Know Why You Are Doing It: How Buster Douglas Shocked the World in 1990
February 11, 1990, Tokyo. The master of ceremony starts:
“Wearing the white trunks. Fighting out of Columbus Ohio. His weight is 231 and a half pounds. His record is 29 wins, 4 defeats, 1 loss, 1 draw, with 19 wins by way of knockout. He is ranked number 3 by the WBC, and number 4 contender by the WBA. Please welcome, the challenger, James, Busteeeeeeeeer, Douglas!”
He continues:
“And his opponent, the defending champion, on my left, really needing no introduction the world over. He is ready to fight out of the red corner, attired in black trunks. Hailing from Catskill New York, he weighed in at 220 and a half pounds. His outstanding record is 37 wins, no defeats, with 33 big wins by way of knockout. He is making his tenth defense of the heavyweight crown. Introducing the undefeated, undisputed, heavyweight champion of the world! The one, and only, Iron, Miiiiiike, Tyson!”
Going into the fight, Mike Tyson was considered invincible and one of the most feared heavyweight champions in history. He had never lost a fight, and his previous opponent, Carl Williams, managed to survive for mere 93 seconds before getting knocked out.
Buster Douglas, on the other hand, had a boxing career with ups and downs. He got knocked out on his previous title fight, but after some consecutive wins he got the opportunity to fight Mike Tyson for the title.
The odds of Buster defeating Tyson were so small that virtually all betting places in Las Vegas refused to take bets on the fight. The Mirage was the only casino that did, placing Buster Douglas as a 42-to-1 underdog.
As soon as the fight begun, however, people noticed that something was strange. Douglas was moving fast, jabbing very effectively, and as consequence he managed to dominate Mike Tyson for the first five rounds.
Tyson was 6 years younger, and Douglas had contracted the flu just a day before the bout. Not coincidentally after the fifth round Douglas started to get tired, and Tyson got back in the fight.
During the 6th and 7th rounds Tyson demonstrated that he would not be parted from his belt so easily. He landed some signature uppercuts and body shots, inflicting some damage on Douglas.
With 5 seconds remaining in the 8th round, Mike Tyson landed a ferocious uppercut on Douglas’s chin, and the man went down. The strike was so powerful that no one thought Douglas would get back up.
“One. Two. Three. Four. Fight. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine…”
Somehow Douglas managed to stand on his knee and then back on his feet before the referee finished the count.
It was open warfare during the 9th and 10th rounds. Both fighters swinged and punched their hearts out. At this point, it was not about technique or even about boxing anymore. It was about will.
Something kept Douglas moving and pushing and punching.
One minute into the 10th round Douglas landed an intense sequence of four punches, knocking Tyson out. This was the first time ever that Mike Tyson had been knocked out during an official fight. Tyson awkwardly tried to get his mouthpiece and stand up, but he couldn’t, and the fight was over.
James Buster Douglas had done the unthinkable, and was the new heavyweight champion of the world.
How was that possible?
How could a 42-to-1 underdog knockout one of the most powerful and most feared boxing champions of all time?
The answer is simple: Douglas had a very clear “why.”
Just three weeks before the fight his mother suffered a stroke and died. Not many people believed Douglas could stand a few rounds with Tyson, let alone win the fight. But his mother believed he could do it, and repeatedly told him so before the fight.
Douglas entered the ring that night determined to prove everyone around the world wrong and his mother right.
He knew why he was doing it.
What about you?
Tyson vs. Douglas Full Fight (YouTube)
Daniel Scocco is a programmer and entrepreneur located in Brazil.