![]() ![]() The other two were polite Japanese hosts, embarrassed by what they saw. When he didn’t, they weren’t sure how to react.ĭespite Douglas’ dominance, only one judge, American Larry Rozadilla, had him ahead, 88-82. It was the oddest thing, as if the crowd came to watch Godzilla destroy the town. While Douglas dominated the arena was silent, the punches echoing as if in an empty gym. When he did, I turned to long-time Associated Press boxing writer Ed Schuyler and said, “That’s as good as he’s going to feel for a month.’’ An hour later, Douglas was heavyweight champion and the left side of Tyson’s face looked like someone had stuffed three rolls of nickels under his skin. The fans applauded politely as Douglas raised his left arm, his head tilted to the side, in acknowledgment. The fighters entered from far behind the ring, so far that Douglas was seen on the Jumbotron long before he was visible to the crowd. Tyson’s the one who should have been weeping, because it was an omen. All he had left was a bombastic manager named John Johnson, who believed in him completely, and a sly trainer named John Russell, who found him weeping with a towel over his head several days before the fight, overcome with thoughts of his mother.Īround the same time, Tyson was knocked flat in sparring by former champion Greg Page. Tyson was right about that but wrong about Douglas, who was housed in a hotel room the size of a broom closet, steaming at every slight and hurting in the way a man can feel only when he’s lost everything. When not training, Tyson sat in a massive suite watching Kung Fu videos and telling a small group of sportswriters that the character Jodi Foster played in “The Accused,’’ who was a victim of gang rape, “Didn’t respect herself, man. Helens had spewed it forth.įor more than a week, Tyson barely had acknowledged Douglas. Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of that fight and if you didn’t live through the Tyson Phenomenon it is difficult now to understand how monumental an upset it was, but for those who remember they will never forget the sight of his mouthpiece shooting into the air as he fell, erupting as if Mt. What can he do to me worse than what’s happened?’’ His wife had packed the car and left, upset that he was risking his life while she too was ill.Īs Buster Douglas told an inquisitor a few days before the fight, “I don’t give a damn about Mike Tyson. His father, Billy “Dynamite’’ Douglas, an able fighter once and his son’s estranged trainer, no longer spoke to him. 11, 1990, inside the Tokyo Dome, and that’s why he knocked out someone the world thought impregnable.ĭouglas’ mother, Lula Pearl, had died 23 days earlier, begging him not to fight Tyson. But Buster Douglas didn’t give a damn what happened on Feb. Few wanted to invest the money it took to send a writer to a city where cherries cost $2 each to chronicle him beating a 42-1 underdog from Columbus, Ohio. Most daily newspapers covered Tyson like a soap opera. ![]() There were only six of us that week in Tokyo, six American sportswriters set to watch Mike Tyson annihilate a guy named Buster Douglas.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |