Sugar Shane Mosley failed to defy the oddsmakers when he bowed ? expectedly ? to Manny Pacquiao in their WBO welterweight title fight in Las Vegas last May 7. The former three-division world champion from Pomona was anywhere between a 6-1 to a 9-1 underdog and fought like he was destined to lose.
Pacquiao never gave Mosley a chance to think upset. He floored Mosley in the third round and breezed to a unanimous 12-round decision where two judges gave the Filipino icon a 120-point shutout.
But in February 1990, an upset of epic proportions created a major tremor in Tokyo ? a tremor that was not to be in Pacquiao?s bout against Mosley. James (Buster) Douglas, a 42-1 underdog, got up from a knockdown in the eighth round and was saved by a long count to halt ?Iron? Mike Tyson at 1:22 of the 10th to wrest the WBC/WBA/IBF unified heavyweight crown.
Tyson, then 23, was supposed to be indestructible, entering the ring with a perfect 37-0 record, 33 by KO. Douglas, then 30, was considered a fringe contender who had already lost to fighters like Tony Tucker, Jesse Ferguson, David Bey and Mike White. Experts saw the Tokyo fight a warm-up for Tyson who was headed for a $25 million showdown with Evander Holyfield.
?Could anybody blame the public and media for dismissing Douglas?? wondered Thomas Myler in the book ?Boxing?s Biggest Upsets ? Fights that Shook the World.? ?He was undoubtedly a no-hoper against the fearsome champion who looked unbeatable. Tyson-Douglas was considered such an outrageous mismatch that Mike?s manager and promoter Don King could not get it into any American venue and was forced to take it outside the US with Tokyo offering to put it on.? The fight was on free TV in the US because a pay-per-view deal couldn?t be sealed.
As it turned out, Douglas proved to be a hard nut to crack. He stood 6-4 and towered over the 5-10 Tyson. Douglas had, in fact, earned a two-year basketball scholarship to play for a school in Kansas but decided to concentrate on boxing after winning a junior Olympic title.
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Discipline was something Douglas had little of. He struggled with weight problems since turning pro as a 220-pounder in 1981. Douglas ballooned to 260 for a fight in 1983 then went down to 220 a year later. The fluctuation in weight meant he was far from consistent in the gym.
Against Tyson, Douglas tipped the scales at 231 1/2. He took the fight under stressful circumstances. His mother Lula Pearl had died of a stroke three weeks before the fight. A few months before, his wife of two years walked out on him without even explaining why. Three years earlier, a brother Artie was accidentally shot to death cleaning his gun. The mother of his 11-year-old son was afflicted with leukemia. And Douglas was just coming off the flu.
The odds were ridiculous. After a high roller wagered $70,000 on Tyson for a potential profit of only $2,000, all bets were off as the odds moved to 42-1. When the fight began, Douglas surprisingly held his own. He used an incredible one-foot advantage in reach to keep Tyson from charging in. The action see-sawed until the eighth when Tyson landed a powerful right uppercut to the chin. Myler recalled that the blow twisted Douglas? head around. Mexican referee Octavio Meyran failed to pick up timekeeper Riichi Hirano?s count and started at one when Douglas had dropped at least three seconds earlier. Douglas was up on his feet at nine but Hirano had already counted to 10. In all, Douglas was down for 13.25 seconds and the length of the round was timed at three minutes and 14 seconds.
Douglas managed to clear the cobwebs and stormed back firing from all cylinders. In the 10th, Tyson took five stinging left jabs and his legs wobbled after absorbing a right uppercut. Then, a brutal combination left him sprawled on his back. With his mouthpiece laying on the canvas, Tyson scrambled to rise. His eyes were glassy. He turned over on all fours. He picked up his mouthpiece and clumsily tried to put it back in place. He courageously tried to beat Meyran?s count but to no avail. At the time of the stoppage, judge Larry Rozadilla had it 88-82 for Douglas, judge Ken Morita 87-86 for Tyson and judge Makazu Uchida saw it 86-all.
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?The win was for my mother,? said Douglas. ?God bless her heart. I wasn?t afraid of Tyson. I fear only God. This is a dream, this is truly a dream.?
King filed an official protest over the long count in the eighth round but the WBA, WBC and IBF upheld Douglas? win by knockout.
The careers of both fighters were never the same after the upset. Douglas went on to weigh 246 pounds in his first defense of the title against Holyfield in October 1990. He picked up a $24.6 million paycheck only to lose by a third round knockout. Douglas lost control of his life and his weight shot up to 400 pounds. He nearly died of a diabetic coma. After a six-year layoff, Douglas returned to the ring and strung up six wins in a row over palookas like Quinn Navarre, Brian Scott and Louis Monaco. In 1998, he was knocked out in the first round by Lou Savarese and wound up his career with a stoppage of Andre Crowder in 1999. Now he?s 51 and broke.
Tyson, 44, recovered from the Douglas debacle to win eight straight, including three by first round knockout. He regained the WBC and WBA titles but in 1996, was halted by Holyfield. In 1997, Tyson was disqualified in a rematch with Holyfield for twice biting hisear. Tyson lost three of his last four outings and retired after he was halted by Kevin McBride in 2005. Like Douglas, he is now bankrupt. It was estimated that he earned at least $400 Million during his ring career.
Surely, there are lessons to be learned from boxing?s biggest upset.
