Buster douglas tyson12/23/2023 ![]() ![]() By the time Douglas was hospitalized for diabetes, he had ballooned to nearly 400 pounds. As far as his escalating weight, the Holyfield debacle was just the beginning. The critics were merciless, and as a result, Douglas fled into obscurity. And when Holyfield knocked him out in the third round, whatever respect Douglas had earned by beating Tyson was destroyed. ![]() Douglas was so out of shape when he fought Holyfield - his only defense of the heavyweight title he'd taken from Tyson - he checked in at 15 pounds overweight. "I felt I wasn't given the respect I felt I deserved," Douglas said. But Tyson was such an icon at the time that the overriding perception was that Douglas' victory was a referee-aided fluke. Had the Internet been a fabric in everyone's lives back then, most of us would have known that Douglas was a much better fighter than people thought. Initially, the Tyson camp accused referee Octavio Meyran of some funny business, saying he'd counted too quickly when Douglas knocked Tyson to the mat in the 10th round. He perceived a lack of appreciation for his skills, which was, and still is, a thorny issue with Douglas. You look down in your hands, and it's like, man, it's a bunch of snakes." "You think it's going to be all sunshine. "It was like achieving something you always wanted to do in your life and once you achieved it, it was nothing like you thought it was going to be," Douglas said. What he wanted, he got - and that included $24 million to fight Evander Holyfield eight months after stunning Tyson.īut here's what athletes rarely contemplate: What happens when the champagne corks stop popping? Still, in the early aftermath of the upset, things were great for Douglas. His mother, Lula Pearl, died three weeks before the Tyson bout and he and his father, a former National Gold Gloves champion who taught him to box, were in the midst of a dispute. Considering the turmoil in Douglas' personal life prior to the fight, it is amazing he performed against Tyson as well as he did. As you might imagine, Douglas was on top of the world after pummeling Tyson, who was thought to be unbeatable at the time. It turns out that beating Tyson didn't exactly put Douglas' life on an upward trajectory, either. "It's definitely been a journey."ĭouglas learned, as many athletes do, that fame comes with a lot of fine print. Since 1990, few have stopped to wonder: Whatever happened to Buster Douglas, the man who humiliated Tyson as a 42-to-1 underdog? Many have theorized that the loss to Douglas took away Tyson's mystique and it's certainly true that once he lost that fight, Tyson never regained his ferocious reputation.īut there was another story begging to be told. Throughout those years, much of the focus on the fight has been on Douglas' role as the catalyst to Tyson's downfall. It's been 20 years since Douglas crushed Tyson and became one of the most improbable heavyweight champions in boxing history. "It was me, and my emotions - they were running rampant. "I built a wall around me, and no one could get to me," Douglas said. He also was battling depression and a relentless inner torment. He was severely overweight with a blood-sugar count that looked like a very smart person's SAT score. Douglas lay in an Ohio hospital, diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. "I got to get out of this pity party."ĭouglas' epiphany came just four years after he defeated Mike Tyson in what many still recognize as the greatest upset in sports history. "I almost lost my freaking life over this silly s-," Douglas thought. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserįinally awake after a three-day diabetic coma, Buster Douglas had a raw moment of clarity. ![]()
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