James Douglas

James "Buster" Douglas (born April 7, 1960) is a former undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion who caused one of the most shocking upsets in sports history when he knocked out undefeated champion Mike Tyson on February 11, 1990 in Tokyo, Japan. At the time, Tyson was considered to be the best boxer in the world and arguably one of the most feared heavyweight champions in history due to his utter domination of the division. The Mirage Casino in Las Vegas had Douglas as a 42 to 1 underdog for the fight.

Growing up

The son of professional boxer William "Dynamite" Douglas, Douglas grew up in Columbus, Ohio, in the predominantly black Linden-area neighborhood, Windsor Terrace. He attended Linden McKinley High School where he played football and basketball, even leading Linden to a Class AAA state basketball championship in 1977. After high school, Douglas played basketball for the Coffeyville Community College Red Ravens in Coffeyville, Kansas from 1978-1979. He is in the Coffeyville Red Ravens Men's Basketball Hall of Fame. [1]

Boxing career

Douglas had been fighting since the early 1980s. Among his most notable early fights were points wins over Randall "Tex" Cobb and former world titlist Greg Page, and a stoppage loss against David Bey. He fought the undefeated Tony Tucker in 1987 for the vacant IBF heavyweight title. Douglas was leading on the scorecards until he appeared to grow tired in the later rounds before being stopped by a TKO in the tenth round. After the Tucker loss, Douglas notched six consecutive wins, including decisions over Oliver McCall and Trevor Berbick and a knockout of Mike Williams on the undercard of Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks, to earn a shot at the heavyweight championship.

Championship fight against Mike Tyson

Almost everyone assumed that Douglas' fight versus Mike Tyson was going to be another quick knockout for the champion. Only one betting parlor in Las Vegas would hold odds for the bout, and many thought it was just an easy tune-up for Tyson before a future mega-fight with undefeated cruiserweight champion Evander Holyfield (who was ringside for the event).

Douglas' mother, Lula Pearl, died 23 days before the title bout.^[1] Douglas, who had trained hard, surprised the world by dominating the fight from the beginning, utilizing his 12-inch reach advantage to perfection. He seemingly hit Tyson at will with powerful jabs and right hands and skillfully danced out of range of Tyson's own punches. The champion had not taken Douglas seriously, expecting another quick and easy knockout victory. He was slow, refusing to move his head and slip his way in (his usual effective strategy) but rather setting his feet and throwing big, lunging hooks, repeatedly trying to beat Douglas with single punches. By the fifth round, Tyson's left eye was swelling shut from Douglas' many right hands, and ringside HBO announcers proclaimed it was the most punishment they had ever seen the champion absorb.

Tyson's cornermen appeared to be unprepared for the suddenly dire situation. They had not brought an endswell to the fight, so they were forced to put ice water into a latex glove to hold over Tyson's swelling eye. By the end of the fight, Tyson's eye had swollen almost completely shut. In the eighth round, Tyson landed a right uppercut that knocked Douglas down. The referee's count engendered controversy as Douglas was on his feet when the referee reached nine, although the official knockdown timekeeper was two seconds ahead. However, a comparison with Douglas's winning knockdown count issued to Tyson two rounds later revealed that both fighters had received long counts.^[2]

Tyson came out aggressively in the ninth round and continued his attempts to end the fight with one big punch. Douglas continued to utilize his strategy and held Tyson at bay with his jab. Douglas dominated the tenth round from the outset. Douglas scored a huge uppercut, followed by a rapid combination, and knocked Tyson down for the first time in his career, making boxing history. Tyson struggled to his knees and picked up his mouthpiece lying on the mat next to him. He awkwardly attempted to place it back into his mouth. The image of Tyson with the mouthpiece hanging crookedly from his lips would become an enduring image from the fight. He was unable to beat the referee's count, and Douglas was the new heavyweight champion of the world.

After the upset

While still Champion, Douglas appeared on the February 23, 1990 episode of the World Wrestling Federation's "WWF The Main Event", as special guest referee for a rematch between Hulk Hogan and Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Originally, Mike Tyson was scheduled to be the guest referee, but following the upset, the WWF scrambled to sign on Douglas for the event. At the end of the match, Douglas was provoked into a 'storyline' punch and knockout of Savage, who was the 'heel' wrestler in the match.

Douglas made his only defense of the heavyweight title on October 25, 1990, against Evander Holyfield. Douglas came in the fight heavy, at 241 lbs (over 15 pounds heavier than in his fight against Tyson). In the third round, Douglas loaded up with a right uppercut that Holyfield easily countered with a straight right that knocked Douglas down and out for the full count. Douglas decided to retire after the fight.

Later career

He did little for the next several years, living off his wealth (he received a reported $24.6 million for the Holyfield fight) and gaining weight to nearly 400 pounds. It was only after Douglas nearly died during a diabetic coma that he decided to attempt a return to the sport. He went back into training and made a comeback. He was successful at first, winning 6 straight fights, but his comeback almost came to a halt in a 1997 disqualification win over journeyman Louis Monaco. In a bizarre ending, Monaco landed a right hand just after the bell to end round one that knocked Douglas to the canvas. Douglas was unable to continue after a five-minute rest period and was consequently awarded the win by disqualification (on account of Monaco's illegal punch).

A fight with light-heavyweight champion Roy Jones, Jr. was touted in the late 1990s, although ultimately fell through.^[3] In 1998 Douglas was knocked out in the first round of a fight with heavyweight contender Lou Savarese. Douglas subsequently had two more fights, winning both, and retired in 1999 with a final record of 38-6-1.

Recent events and current status

According to public court filings, Douglas currently resides near the city of Johnstown in McKean Township twenty miles east of Columbus, Ohio.

Book

Douglas and co-author Tony Reynolds wrote an inspirational new cookbook for diabetics called, Buster's Backyard Bar-B-Q, Knockout Diabetes Diet which is available at Amazon.Com and Target. Com.

Martha Stewart recently chatted with Buster on her Sirius radio show, after Tweeting with each other.

Film and Game

Douglas made his feature film acting debut in the Artie Knapp science fiction comedy film Pluto's Plight.

Douglas was the star of the video game James 'Buster' Douglas Knockout Boxing for the Sega Master System and Sega Genesis. (In reality, Sega took a pre-existing game, Final Blow, changed the name, and changed one of the character's names to Douglas'). This game is considered as a response to Nintendo's Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, especially since Tyson lost to Douglas, which Sega took advantage in order to promote their early Genesis does what Nintendon't advertisements.

In 1995, HBO aired Tyson, a television movie based upon the life of Mike Tyson. Douglas was portrayed by actor Duane Davis.

Honors

Douglas is one of the few non-students to be honored by The Ohio State University with the opportunity to dot the "i" during the performance of the Script Ohio by the The Ohio State University Marching Band.^[4]

Boxing record

38 Wins (25 knockouts, 12 decisions, 1 disqualification), 6 Losses (5 knockouts, 1 decision), 1 Draw, 1 No Contest[5]
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Win	38-6-1	Andre Crowder	TKO	1 (10), 1:11	February 19, 1999	Burlington, IA
Win	37-6-1	Warren Williams	KO	1 (10), 2:56	December 12, 1998	Boise, ID
Loss	36-6-1	Lou Savarese	KO	1 (12), 2:34	June 25, 1998	Mashantucket, CT	The vacant IBA Heavyweight title was on the line.
Win	36-5-1	Quinn Navarre	TKO	4 (10)	July 13, 1997	Biloxi, MS
Win	35-5-1	Louis Monaco	Disqualification	1 (10), 3:00	May 13, 1997	Biloxi, MS	Monaco was disqualified for knocking Douglas out after the bell to end round one.
Win	34-5-1	Brian Scott	KO	6 (10)	March 30, 1997	Uncasville, CT
Win	33-5-1	Dicky Ryan	Unanimous decision	10	February 12, 1997	New York City, NY
Win	32-5-1	Rocky Pepeli	Unanimous decision	10	January 10, 1997	Uncasville, CT
Win	31-5-1	Tony LaRosa	TKO	4 (12), 0:00	June 22, 1996	Atlantic City, NJ
Loss	30-5-1	Evander Holyfield	KO	3 (12), 1:10	October 25, 1990	Las Vegas, NV	Lost the IBF, WBA and WBC Heavyweight titles.
Win	30-4-1	Mike Tyson	KO	10 (12), 1:22	February 11, 1990	Tokyo, Japan	Won the IBF, WBA and WBC Heavyweight titles, becoming the eighth Undisputed Heavyweight Champion in history. This fight was named upset of the year by The Ring.
Win	29-4-1	Oliver McCall	Unanimous decision	10	July 21, 1989	Atlantic City, NJ
Win	28-4-1	Trevor Berbick	Unanimous decision	10	February 25, 1989	Las Vegas, NV
Win	27-4-1	Mike Williams	TKO	7 (10)	June 27, 1988	Atlantic City, NJ
Win	26-4-1	Jerry Halstead	TKO	9 (10)	April 16, 1988	Las Vegas, NV
Win	25-4-1	Percell Davis	TKO	10 (10), 0:00	February 24, 1988	Duluth, MN
Win	24-4-1	Donnie Long	KO	2 (10), 2:18	November 19, 1987	Columbus, OH
Loss	23-4-1	Tony Tucker	TKO	10 (15), 1:36	May 30, 1987	Las Vegas, NV	The vacant IBF Heavyweight title was on the line.
Win	23-3-1	Dee Collier	Unanimous decision	10	September 6, 1986	Las Vegas, NV
Win	22-3-1	David Jaco	Unanimous decision	8	April 19, 1986	Las Vegas, NV
Win	21-3-1	Greg Page	Unanimous decision	10	January 17, 1986	Atlanta, GA
Loss	20-3-1	Jesse Ferguson	Majority decision	10	May 9, 1985	Atlantic City, NJ	This was the final bout in ESPN's Young Heavyweight tournament. Scoring was 5-5, and 6-3 and 7-2 for Ferguson.
Win	20-2-1	Dion Simpson	TKO	1 (10)	March 27, 1985	Atlantic City, NJ	This was a semifinal bout in ESPN's Young Heavyweight tournament.
Win	19-2-1	Randall Cobb	Majority decision	10	November 9, 1984	Las Vegas, NV
NC	18-2-1	David Starkey	No contest	1 (10)	July 9, 1984	Columbus, OH	The fight was ruled a no contest after Douglas and Starkey wrestled to the ground and both corners entered the ring.
Loss	18-2-1	Mike White	TKO	9 (10)	December 17, 1983	Atlantic City, NJ
Win	18-1-1	Eugene Cato	TKO	1 (8)	September 28, 1983	Atlantic City, NJ
Win	17-1-1	Dave Johnson	Majority decision	10	July 5, 1983	Atlantic City, NJ
Win	16-1-1	Henry Porter	TKO	2 (8)	April 28, 1983	Atlantic City, NJ
Win	15-1-1	Jesse Clark	KO	2 (8)	April 16, 1983	Muskegon, MI
Win	14-1-1	Leroy Diggs	TKO	7 (10)	March 29, 1983	Atlantic City, NJ
Win	13-1-1	Jesse Clark	KO	2 (8)	March 9, 1983	Niles, OH
Win	12-1-1	Tim Johnson	KO	1 (8)	November 20, 1982	Columbus, OH
Draw	11-1-1	Steffen Tangstad	Draw	8	October 16, 1982	Chicago, IL	Scoring was 35-35, 38-38 and 36-36. Douglas had two points deducted during the fight.
Win	11-1	Mel Daniels	TKO	1 (6)	April 24, 1982	Johnstown, PA
Win	10-1	Rick Enis	Unanimous decision	6	April 8, 1982	Indianapolis, IN
Win	9-1	Marvin Earle	TKO	2 (6)	February 15, 1982	Kalamazoo, MI
Win	8-1	Donny Townsend	Unanimous decision	6	February 13, 1982	Erie, PA
Win	7-1	Hubert Adams	KO	1 (6)	January 23, 1982	McConnelsville, OH
Win	6-1	Don Johnson	TKO	3 (6)	December 23, 1981	Canton, OH
Loss	5-1	David Bey	TKO	2 (4)	November 6, 1981	Pittsburgh, PA
Win	5-0	Jesse Clark	KO	3 (4)	October 23, 1981	Toledo, OH
Win	4-0	Abdul Muhaymin	TKO	5 (6)	October 14, 1981	Indianapolis, IN
Win	3-0	Mike Rodgers	TKO	3 (4)	September 27, 1981	Columbus, OH
Win	2-0	Mike Lear	Unanimous decision	4	July 23, 1981	Columbus, OH
Win	1-0	Dan O'Malley	TKO	3 (4)	May 31, 1981	Columbus, OH

See also

• List of heavyweight boxing champions

• List of WBC world champions
• List of undisputed boxing champions

References

External links

• Buster's new book with co-author Tony Reynolds: Buster's Backyard Bar-B-Q, Knockout Diabetes Diet (Amazon.Com)
• Buster's Twitter ID: iambuster
• OFFICIAL BUSTER DOUGLAS WEB SITE
• Professional boxing record for James Douglas from Boxrec
• Buster Douglas' movie Pluto's Plight
• Video of the knockout of Mike Tyson