This weekend (26/08/2023), see’s Britain’s Daniel ‘DDD’ Dubois challenge the undefeated, unified heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk. It will come as no surprise to boxing fans that the Ukrainian champion will start the fight a heavy favourite with the bookmakers, in fact, at the time of writing this article, odds of Usyk claiming victory stand at 1/14 (Paddy Power / Betfair). For those less familiar with the fractional betting odds, this means staking £14 on a Usyk victory would potentially return a profit of just £1!
On the flip side, the Brits odds of victory can be found as wide as 15/2, meaning if you were to stake the £14 on Dubois instead of Usyk, the potential profit would be a staggering £105!
The task for Dubois is gargantuan, a fact that is echoing around social media with very few, non-affiliated fight fans and experts predicting the Ukrainian wizard to defeat the young, inexperienced challenger. However, a win for the underdog wouldn’t be unprecedented, in fact boxing has a habit of fighters causing upsets.
James ‘Buster’ Douglas KO10 ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson
This is perhaps the most high-profile example of ‘upsetting the odds’, if not in the whole of sport certainly in boxing and serves as a point to exemplify the fact you should never write a fighter off!
11th February 1990, James ‘Buster’ Douglas challenged the then undefeated, ‘invincible’ ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson at The Tokyo Dome in Japan. This would be Tyson’s second fight at the venue having previously dispatched of Tony Tubbs in devastating fashion there almost two years prior.
Douglas entered the ring a massive 37/1 underdog meaning that, the same £14 we bet on Dubois earlier? This would return a mind-boggling £518 profit, though, such was the belief that Douglas stood no chance, I don’t think you’d find many punters staking their hard earned cash on Tyson losing his crown here. In fact, such was the confidence in a Tyson victory, it was rumoured the clash with Evander Holyfield was already a done deal before the opening bell.
Mike was arguably at the peak of his powers in 1990, at just 23 years old he’d already stood atop of boxings marquee division for over three years after snatching the highly regarded WBC championship from the durable, capable Trevor Berbick in just two cataclysmic rounds.
Meanwhile, Douglas had developed a respectable, yet far from outstanding record of 28 wins, 4 defeats and 1 draw. With defeats to the debuting David Bey, journeyman Mike White, an unproven though undefeated Jesse Ferguson and a TKO loss to Tony Tucker in a fight for the vacant IBF title, it’s no surprise that anyone with half an ounce of interest in boxing couldn’t, in their wildest dreams, envisage ‘Buster’ upsetting the odds and beating Tyson.
However, Douglas had recently hit some form. In the two fights leading up to facing Tyson, James had defeated future world champion, Oliver McCall (McCall would have his own underdog come good story in 1994 knocking out the then WBC Heavyweight Champion Lennox Lewis in 2 rounds). He had also outscored former Tyson victim Trevor Berbick over 10 rounds.
Despite this, fans and bookmakers alike heavily favoured Tyson.
The fight didn’t play out the way fans and experts had predicted. Douglas didn’t only rip up the script, he’d clearly refused to read it. Instead of the ‘rollover’ many expected from the challenger, we got a cool, calm, confident fighter who wasn’t afraid to mix it with the ‘baddest man on the planet’.
Don’t get me wrong, the peek-a-boo style of Tyson was there, the ferocious power was evident with every shot he threw, the cold look of destruction still projecting from his eyes,but his relentless pressure didn’t have the same effect on Douglas that it had on his previous 37 opponents. It was clear the ‘hopeless challenger’ had done his homework and hadn’t just turned up for the estimated $1.5 million pay cheque. ‘Buster’ wanted more.
Mike’s poor first round could have been attributed to a slow start. His inability to find range could have been blamed on his failure to take Douglas seriously, instead of, which was actually the case, James’ ram-rod jab and newly found footwork which not only caused Tyson to have to constantly reset, it also made his wild lunges look desperate.
The second round continued in the same trend as the first, Tyson trying to walk Douglas down, get inside and unleash his trademark hooks, whilst ‘Buster’ kept Mike at range with a solid jab and followed it up with some huge right hands. Whenever Tyson did close the range, Douglas was clever enough to tie up the champion, completely nullifying his attacks.
The pattern of the fight would continue in similar vein through 7 rounds with the challenger adopting to implement a solid jab as his primary weapon, following up with some useful power shots on occasion and Tyson continuing to walk forward, absorbing punishment but hell-bent on landing one of his trademark hooks. Unfortunately for the champion he could only muster up single shots and more often than not they failed to find their target.
However, the belief was, whilst Tyson was still on his feet, he could score a knockout at any moment, such was his reputation. There were also rumours Douglas had suffered a respiratory illness severe enough to require antibiotics, just days before the fight.
The 8th round almost saw the rampant challenger suffer the same fate as those that faced Tyson before him. With 8 seconds left in Douglas’ most dominant round, a round that saw him pick apart the desperate champion, Tyson’s eye closing shut with swelling, disaster struck for ‘Buster’. A perfectly timed trademark uppercut from Tyson underneath the jab of Douglas landed squarely on the chin of the challenger and robbed him, momentarily, of his senses. With James flat on his back, the referee beginning the count, it seemed Tyson had ended the gutsy challenge from Douglas, perhaps he should have.
What followed will go down in boxing history and has remained a topic of debate to this day. Douglas is down, the referee is gesturing the count with his hands, ‘Five, Six’ James is still on the floor, there seems to be an attempt at finding his feet, at beating the count to keep his title hopes alive. However, it looked like his bid would be in vain, it seemed his body would fail him and the fight would be over.
‘Seven, Eight’ the referee signals Tyson over to his corner, meanwhile Douglas has mustered up the energy to lift himself onto his knees, a truly valiant effort but one seemingly certain to end in failure.
‘Nine’ Now the controversy, with Douglas scrambling to find his feet, it appears the referee’s count slows just enough to allow for the challenger to stand upright, albeit on unsteady legs. Some fans will tell you the fight should have ended there, that Douglas was given too much time and Tyson was robbed of his 38th victory. Others may point to the fact that the referee’s count isn’t in perfect seconds, that the count is only over once he reaches 10, a debate that will live as long as boxing itself.
Despite ‘the long count’ it seemed only a matter of time before Tyson finished the job, a belief only strengthened when viewers witnessed Douglas clambering back to his corner on unsteady legs. Will the one minute interval between rounds be enough for James to regain his senses, or will he return in the 9th dangerously unsteady on his legs, like a lamb to the slaughter?
Douglas’ corner worked frantically on their charge, soaking their charge in ice cold water in a frantic attempt to bring him round. The bell for the start of the ninth round echoes through the Tokyo Dome and the expected Tyson onslaught begins. Huge haymakers follow huge haymakers and while the majority miss, some land. Surely it wouldn’t take much to drop the injured challenger?
James not only survives the champion’s relentless attack, moments later he’s unloading shots of his own, forcing Tyson onto the back foot a sure sign that his senses have somehow, miraculously, returned.
With the very real possibility that the championship belts will soon be snatched from him, Tyson continues to unload big shots, but to no avail. The champion starts to look tired, like every shot he throws is taking more from him than it is Douglas, that his engine is failing him when he needs it most. James remains disciplined, timing Tyson on the way in with solid straight shots and opting to clinch once Mike had found a way inside. With a minute left in the ninth Douglas lands a three punch combination that stiffens the legs of the champion, forcing him to back to the ropes and for the first time in his career Tyson looked vulnerable.
Douglas, sensing Mike was hurt, began his educated attack. Instead of charging forward and potentially stifling his work, he opted to stand off Tyson and his long reach to pepper the injured champion with shot after shot. Mike survived the round, but like Douglas in the previous interval, he returned to his corner on unsteady legs.
Tyson came out in the tenth and threw a solid jab followed up with a stunning right hand but it had little effect on Douglas. The power had been all but sapped from the champion and his shots didn’t have the same pop, the same effect as before. James stayed true to his plan, movement and a constant jab, a puzzle that Tyson had struggled to solve from the opening bell. Then, with two minutes left of the round, Douglas catches Tyson with a vicious uppercut which lands firmly on the champions chin sending him staggering back towards the blue corner. Douglas pounces and lands a three hook combination sending Tyson crashing to the canvas.
The count begins, Tyson manages to roll onto his side and picks himself up onto his knees. The confused, concussed champion is frantically searching for his gumshield. Time is quickly running out, Tyson returns the gumshield to his mouth and attempts to stand up. His legs have gone, he stumbles towards the rope, the referee holds him up and waves his hand in the air signalling the fight is over. The 37/1 long shot had shocked the world, this is possibly the biggest upset in sports history.
Whilst these events are uncommon Dubois can be encouraged by the fact that they do happen, Ali over Liston, McCall over Lewis, Sanders over Wlad, history proves that.
Sometimes, all it takes is one punch, one shot to flip the script and if Dubois has anything, he has a punch.
David Corner Twitter:@undisputed_talk