What was it like when Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson?

Imagine if social media and 24/7 coverage existed back then.

It was a strange fight. You could definitely tell that Tyson wasn't his usual self and that his training staff had him unprepared.

Tyson had moved away from the training staff that had brought him up. I think D'Amato had died in '85 and Kevin Rooney and Teddy Atlas had been fired. Aaron Snowell and Jay Bright were one of his crew and were training him. Never good to have a yes-man hanger-on training you. Hell, they didn't even have the proper tools in his corner to manage a swelling eye. It was real minor league stuff.

Tyson's outside life was starting to bleed in as well with Robin Givens, which is never good for focus. End of the day, you could see he wasn't sharp.

Even with all that said, it was supposed to be a tune up type fight with a nobody and was epically unbelievable. Seeing Tyson stumbling around, dazed, looking for his mouth guard just didn't compute. I was younger, but in High School and as far as sports go, one of the most memorable things I've ever seen.

Watched it live and it was unreal to see.

I was 9 years old, but remember it like it was yesterday. My buddies and I thought Mike was invincible. Broke our damn hearts. We were so obsessed with Mike Tyson's Punch Out on NES and on that day, we now knew Little Mac could beat Tyson at the end of the game.

I was in basic training and the drill sergeants came into the barracks and told us Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson and absolutely no one believed them. They had to be fricking with us. Tyson was invincible at the time.

Buster was inspired to win the fight in honor of his mother.
She was only 46 when she died from complications of a stroke weeks prior to the fight.
Buster, motivated, in the best shape of his life, was a HUGE 42:1 underdog.
After a 10th round KO win over Tyson, Buster would face Evander Holyfield six months later.
Buster came in to the title bout overweight, out of shape.
Holyfield knocked him out in the 3rd round.

Reminds me the Killers did a song about it

Tyson vs Douglas

I just remember everyone making excuses for tyson at school the next day. Myself included. The ref counted too fast, Tyson was picking up his mouthpiece, tyson slipped on a wet spot, etc.

I was at a friend’s house and we watched rounds 1 & 2 expecting the usual quick KO. I think it was on regular HBO.

When the KO didn’t happen, we went upstairs to play Nintendo. About 30 minutes later, my friend’s little sister yelled up at us that Tyson got knocked out. We didn’t believe her at first.

Many will disagree, but I believe if Tyson had sticked with Rooney instead of don king’s lackeys, he would’ve retired undefeated. He would’ve beaten Douglas, Holyfield, Lewis, Bowe if he remained in shape and motivated. He was not the same fighter after getting with don king, and lost most of his skill after the 4 year layoff due to prison