On February 11, 1990, in Tokyo, Buster Douglas fought “Mike Tyson, the undisputed, undefeated heavyweight champion of the world,” as Sports Illustrated’s Richard Hoffer put it, with a record “expressed as 37 victories and 33 knockouts” in “his five-year career.” “Douglas, from Columbus, Ohio was 29–4–1.” He was “installed as a 42-1 underdog by the one betting parlor that took action on this fight,” ESPN says. “Jimmy Vaccaro ran the race and sports book at The Mirage,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal says, and in Vaccaro’s words: “Now it’s three weeks before the fight, and I said we’re going to 42-1. The night of the fight, it’s still 42-1.”
Three weeks earlier, his mother had died. “She visited me the week before she died on Jan. 18, 1990,” Douglas told Andscape in 2018. “She died three weeks before my fight against Mike Tyson on Feb. 11, 1990.” “Just 23 days before the championship battle in Tokyo with Mike Tyson, Buster’s mother, Lula Pearl Douglas … died after suffering a stroke,” The Columbus Dispatch’s timeline says. “Lula Pearl’s death galvanized Buster, who, a few days before she died, had assured her that he wasn’t afraid of Tyson and would beat him,” Nigel Collins wrote for ESPN in 2015. “At her funeral, he looked down at the casket, vowed to keep his promise and headed straight to the gym afterward.”
In Tokyo, Sports Illustrated reported, “Tyson quickly found himself in trouble, was struck at will with right hands and had his left eye closed after nine rounds.” “Soon, Tyson’s left eye began to swell,” and “there was no debating what happened in the ninth round, when Douglas closed Tyson’s eye completely.” But the eighth round “closed with a sudden, classic Tyson right uppercut that dropped Douglas to the canvas with six seconds left.” SI caught the moment “right after the knockdown when Douglas pounded his left fist on the mat, in obvious annoyance at his own lapse.” “As Meyran signaled nine, Douglas rose, but the bell ended the round.” The referee, Meyran, had not picked up the count already running: “Instead of picking up that cadence, Meyran began his own count, two beats behind,” SI wrote, and he said later, “I don’t know why I start my count and make my mistake.”
In the 10th, Douglas “lifted Tyson upright with a right uppercut,” SI wrote, then “hit the suddenly defenseless champion with two more punches and then floored the reeling Tyson … with a chopping left hook.” Tyson “had never before been knocked down in his professional career.” “Tyson flipped himself over and began sweeping the canvas with his right arm” … “Finally, Tyson found his mouthpiece, started to insert it backward into his mouth.” “He never got up as Meyran counted to 10, then stopped the fight at 1:22 of the round,” the Review-Journal says; UPI gave the time as 1:23. The result stood: “Feb. 13, 1990: The other two boxing sanctioning bodies, the World Boxing Council and the World Boxing Association, recognized Buster as the champion after investigating a protest by boxing promoter Don King,” the Dispatch’s timeline says.
“Nobody else thought I could win,” Douglas said, The Seattle Times reported on February 25, 1990. “But I knew my mother did. I knew that, somewhere, she was saying, ‘That’s my boy. He’s gonna do it.’”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- He promised his mother he would beat Mike Tyson, but she died before the fight. ESPN: “Lula Pearl’s death galvanized Buster, who, a few days before she died, had assured her that he wasn’t afraid of Tyson and would beat him.” 6
- His name is Buster Douglas. Sports Illustrated: “Douglas, from Columbus, Ohio was 29–4–1.” 1
- The heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson, was unbeaten in 37 fights. Sports Illustrated: “Mike Tyson, the undisputed, undefeated heavyweight champion of the world” … “In his five-year career—expressed as 37 victories and 33 knockouts.” 1
- The only Las Vegas casino taking bets made Douglas a 42-1 underdog. ESPN: “installed as a 42-1 underdog by the one betting parlor that took action on this fight.” Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Jimmy Vaccaro ran the race and sports book at The Mirage” … “Now it’s three weeks before the fight, and I said we’re going to 42-1. The night of the fight, it’s still 42-1.” 87
- Just three weeks before the fight, his mother died of a stroke. Douglas, to Andscape: “She died three weeks before my fight against Mike Tyson on Feb. 11, 1990” … “She visited me the week before she died on Jan. 18, 1990.” The Columbus Dispatch: “January 18, 1990: Just 23 days before the championship battle in Tokyo with Mike Tyson, Buster’s mother, Lula Pearl Douglas … died after suffering a stroke.” SI.com: “His mother died of a stroke 23 days before the fight.” 945
- At her funeral, he swore he’d still keep his word. ESPN: “At her funeral, he looked down at the casket, vowed to keep his promise and headed straight to the gym afterward.” 6
- In Tokyo, he hit Tyson with right hands, round after round. Sports Illustrated: “Tyson quickly found himself in trouble, was struck at will with right hands and had his left eye closed after nine rounds.” Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Some of those involved recall that Sunday in Tokyo (Saturday night in the United States).” 17
- Before long, Tyson’s left eye was closing. Sports Illustrated: “Soon, Tyson’s left eye began to swell” … “there was no debating what happened in the ninth round, when Douglas closed Tyson’s eye completely.” 1
- With six seconds left in the eighth, Tyson’s uppercut floored Douglas. Sports Illustrated: “it closed with a sudden, classic Tyson right uppercut that dropped Douglas to the canvas with six seconds left.” 1
- He slammed his fist down, and rose at nine. Sports Illustrated: “right after the knockdown when Douglas pounded his left fist on the mat, in obvious annoyance at his own lapse” … “As Meyran signaled nine, Douglas rose, but the bell ended the round.” 1
- In the 10th, Douglas rocked him with a right uppercut. Sports Illustrated: James (Buster) Douglas “lifted Tyson upright with a right uppercut.” Las Vegas Review-Journal: “his own right uppercut that staggered Tyson.” 17
- Then three more punches dropped the champion for the first time. Sports Illustrated: “hit the suddenly defenseless champion with two more punches and then floored the reeling Tyson … with a chopping left hook” … “Tyson, who had never before been knocked down in his professional career.” Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Douglas followed with a three-punch combination that sent Tyson to the mat for the first time in his career.” 17
- He groped for his mouthpiece, and the referee counted him out. Sports Illustrated: “Tyson flipped himself over and began sweeping the canvas with his right arm” … “Finally, Tyson found his mouthpiece, started to insert it backward into his mouth.” Las Vegas Review-Journal: “He never got up as Meyran counted to 10, then stopped the fight at 1:22 of the round.” UPI: “He rebounded from an eighth-round knockdown to flatten Tyson at 1:23 of the 10th round.” 173
- “Nobody else thought I could win,” Douglas said. “But I knew my mother did.” The Seattle Times (Knight-Ridder, February 25, 1990): “Nobody else thought I could win,” Douglas said. “But I knew my mother did. I knew that, somewhere, she was saying, ‘That’s my boy. He’s gonna do it.’” 2
Sources
- Buster Douglas was floored by Mike Tyson in the eighth round, but then he got up and knocked out Tyson in the 10th round (Richard Hoffer, February 19, 1990) Sports Illustrated
- Douglas Convinced Iron Mike Was a Patsy (Robert Seltzer, Knight-Ridder, February 25, 1990) The Seattle Times
- Buster Douglas saw something of life’s cycles in 1990 (Mike Tully, December 27, 1990) UPI
- Timeline: James ‘Buster’ Douglas (June 8, 2007; archived) The Columbus Dispatch
- Interview with Buster Douglas (Bryan Armen Graham, February 11, 2010; archived) SI.com
- Recounting Douglas’ historic upset (Nigel Collins, February 11, 2015) ESPN
- Douglas’ knockout of Tyson still one of biggest upsets in sports history (Steve Carp, February 9, 2015) Las Vegas Review-Journal
- Steve Kim on Douglas vs. Tyson (December 11, 2018) ESPN
- Buster Douglas: ‘I wasn’t impressed with the success Mike Tyson was having’ (as told to Kelley D. Evans, December 11, 2018) Andscape
Notes
When she died: January 18, 1990, Douglas told Andscape, and the Columbus Dispatch agrees. That is 23 days before the fight by the US date, February 10 (24 by the Tokyo date); the Short says “three weeks,” his own words. Some retellings put her death just days before the fight; she died 23 days before. Her age differs between sources and is left out.
The promise: it is reported by ESPN (Nigel Collins, a former editor of The Ring, in 2015), not in the 1990 reports we read. The Short says only that he “promised,” which ESPN’s “assured her that he … would beat him” and “vowed to keep his promise” support; no words are put in her mouth or his.
The odds: 42-1 at the Mirage, the only Las Vegas book that posted the fight (Las Vegas Review-Journal, ESPN). Jimmy Vaccaro opened it at 27-1 and moved it through 32-1 and 37-1 to 42-1 three weeks out, the Review-Journal says. No other country’s odds are claimed.
The long count: the referee’s count ran about two seconds behind the timekeeper’s, Sports Illustrated reported, so “rose at nine” is the referee’s nine. Don King’s protest failed, and the WBC and WBA recognized Douglas as champion on February 13, 1990 (The Columbus Dispatch).
The knockout: Sports Illustrated says Tyson climbed up into the referee’s arms as the count ended; the Review-Journal says he “never got up.” The result is a 10th-round knockout, at 1:22 or 1:23 of the round by source. The Short says only that “the referee counted him out.”
The venue: Sports Illustrated calls it “Tokyo’s Korakuen Stadium” (the Tokyo Dome stands on the Korakuen site); the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Columbus Dispatch say the Tokyo Dome. The Short says only Tokyo.
Buster Douglas and Mike Tyson are alive. Only the fight record, published reports and Douglas’s own published words are used; nothing here goes into either man’s health, private life or money, and Lula Pearl Douglas’s death is told only as Douglas and the Columbus Dispatch report it.
Pictures: no free photo shows the 1990 fight or Douglas as a fighter; every photo of that night we found is an agency picture. Buster Douglas is shown speaking at a Mifflin Middle School event on June 21, 2020. Mike Tyson is shown in a ring in Las Vegas in 2006 (Ryan Lackey), at Wizard World Comic Con in Columbus, Ohio, on September 19, 2015 (Paula R. Lively, two photos) and in Los Angeles in June 2019 (Glenn Francis), years after the fight. The Tokyo Dome is seen from the front on October 21, 2007, from the air at night on April 11, 2008, and inside, during a baseball game, on April 2, 2019. The Mirage in Las Vegas is shown on June 14, 2024. The ring is at Gleason’s Gym in New York, on June 24, 2012, and the boxing gloves are in a U.S. Air Force photo taken at Vandenberg Air Force Base on August 5, 2009; neither has anything to do with Douglas.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Brahms, Tragic Overture, Op. 81 (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0); Mussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain (1886 version) (Musopen, public domain); Brahms, Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: IV. Adagio - Piu andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0); Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 'From the New World': II. Largo (Musopen, public domain).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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