![]() He was a knockout machine who didn't look like he could be stopped, and certainly not by Douglas, a decent-enough contender with a record of 29-4-1 with 19 KOs. Tyson was just 23 at the time and the most feared fighter in the world. "I remember calling my desk around the fifth round to tell them, 'Not sure how this will end, but right now Tyson is getting his ass kicked, so you may want to keep the front available,'" Borges said. "It was a stunning event - not simply the victory, but the way Tyson went down, with his mouthpiece shooting up like Mount Vesuvius," said Borges, who had an inkling of what might eventually happen midway through the fight. Borges will never forget what he witnessed. The Boston Herald's Ron Borges, a longtime boxing writer, was with the Boston Globe at the time when he was one of six American journalists who made the trip to Tokyo to cover the fight, which took place on Sunday morning in Tokyo to accommodate the live Saturday night HBO broadcast in the United States. ![]() This great sport of boxing can deliver that magic." You have fights like that, you have Tyson and Douglas. I also did 'The Rumble In The Jungle.' You had Muhammad Ali beating George Foreman in another big upset with a billion people watching. "It falls into the pantheon of the great upsets, right up there near the top. It is one of the biggest upsets in sports history. It was unbelievable, but this is something that can happen. "It always kept me humble to know this can happen. So was I," King said, sounding as though he still had a hard time believing the upset actually happened. He was as shocked as anyone, especially since he was the person who made the fight. Not only was it a great fight, but it is widely hailed as the biggest upset in boxing history and one of the greatest upsets in sports history as the little-known Douglas, a good fighter with the reputation as a quitter, stood up to the bully to become a real-life Rocky, a 42-1 underdog who slayed Godzilla in front a quiet, Japanese crowd that expected a big Tyson knockout, which had become so routine but was still so exciting.ĭon King, the high-haired promoter, handled both fighters but certainly had more interest in a Tyson victory than one by Douglas. I remember hearing over my headset and through the walls of our production unit people yelling something like, 'Oh my god!'" "For those of us who had covered Tyson for several years, this was a shock. "As producers, we're taught to stay focused and not get caught up in the moment. ![]() "I have worked more than 500 boxing telecasts in my HBO career and to this day I don't recall any moment when those of us producing a fight were for one brief second caught up in this moment of disbelief," said HBO Sports executive producer Rick Bernstein, who was in Tokyo working in the production truck as an associate director on the telecast. It's a good bet that those who watched it can tell you exactly where they were and what their reaction was when the unimaginable happened. 11, 1990 at the Tokyo Dome, it still resonates all these years later with those who remember it. ![]() 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 browserĮditor's note: This story was originally published to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Mike Tyson-James "Buster" Douglas fight.Īlthough 25 years have passed since James "Buster" Douglas' absolutely shocking, 10th-round knockout of heretofore indestructible Mike Tyson on Feb. ![]()
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