![]() ![]() ![]() If he’d have counter faster, I’d have gotten up faster than I did.” But I took the eight-count and gave myself a body check, to make sure I was on point. J.D: “I could’ve gotten up quicker, earlier. Have you ever thought about what might have been if the referee had given you a quick count and waved the fight off? ![]() I saw in his eyes that he was all woken up and ready to get the win and I knew I had to get right back at him.” But I was totally into the fight and I was totally aware of everything. The force of the punch knocked me down as I was trying to stop myself from going down. I was more off balance, he hit me while I was squared up. But I’ll give it a shot: how badly hurt were you in that eighth-round when he knocked you down? Q: So much has been written about the Tyson fight and you must have been asked just about everything about that incredible fight. I was experienced at that time and I had earned my stripes.” Yeah, I faced some good fighters in the lead up to the Tyson fight. I had to make sure that pressure never psyched me out. My jab was underestimated and a lot of fighters, when I hit them with a stiff, firm jab, they were not sure if it was a jab or a right hand. The pressure was just crazy, whatever you hit him with, he just came right at you. He actually reminded me of my father (former middleweight, Billy “Dynamite“ Douglas), who I sparred with a lot as a teenager. Q: Another often unmentioned fight of yours is the one you had with the tough Randall “Tex” Cobb, who you beat on points. I knew I could compete with the best – those losses told me that – and I knew I had a lot to offer the game.” J.D: “Oh yeah! The lessons that I’ve talked about, they made me even more determined. Q: Despite the Tucker loss, you still believed you’d become world heavyweight champion one day? I learned from all my setbacks on the way up.” Tucker was a good fighter and once again I made sure I learned from that experience. You know, you’ve gotta be right in all aspects when going into a big fight. In the camp and during the lead-up to that fight, I wasn’t mentally focused as I should have been. J.D: “The Tucker fight, it was pretty tough, that whole experience. What happened? I know the critics gave you a tough time after that loss. Q: And the 1987 fight with Tony Tucker, for the IBF title, you were winning that but got stopped in the tenth-round. I had left the amateurs at age 15 and come back at age 21 and I had to learn the game and adjust.” But all those fights, they were just learning experiences, or growing pains as I called them at the time. I hit him with what I thought was a good punch but they said I hit him on the break and took a point from me. I guess I was just overwhelmed, but that was a learning experience for me and I did learn from it. James Douglas: “Well, the Bey fight, that was my first shot at the big time, my first fight on a big card. Q: I’ll come to the Tyson fight a bit later if that’s okay, James! As talented and as gifted as you were, how did you lose to David Bey (TKO by 2) and get held to a draw by Steffen Tangstad, both in your early days as a pro? But Douglas, who exited with a 38-6-1(25) record in 1999, had a number of other interesting fights, not all of them wins, and here he recalls his career for Boxing News: COLUMBUS, Ohio’s James “Buster” Douglas will always be remembered for one incredible fight/upset: the one that occurred the day he challenged the seemingly invincible Mike Tyson on February 11th 1990 in Tokyo, Japan.ĭouglas simply shocked the entire world with his tenth-round KO win and his name will forever live in the history books as a result. ![]()
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