Is James Buster Douglas the heavyweight champion boxing biggest disappointment ?

Remember reading Oliver McCall rated James Buster Douglas as the best HW he'd ever faced and with dedication he'd have beaten Lewis and Tyson (as he did) no problem. So was Douglas a one night wonder and if so what lead to this?
In the case of Douglas I really can't identify anything.

His performences before the fight did not suggest him to be either particularly consistent or a fighter who coped with adversity well. Tyson was seemingly the more reliable quantity in these respects on top of the apparent quality gap.

There were no particular indications that he was a master strategist who might come up with a Max Schmeling type masterplan. Not many people know this but Douglas had a chest infection the day before the fight.

The only thing to suggest that this was even going to be a fight was the fact that Douglas had some natural talent that he had never really been able to capitalise on.

We might be tempted to lay it all at the door of Mike Tyson and say that he simply brought himself down to Douglas's level. But what level was this was Douglas super talented , there is no doubt that Douglas had considerable self confidence going into the fight and turned up with every intention of taking home the title.

Makes me wonder why Douglas didn't capitalise on his performance and is he to you the world biggest disappointment as HW champion, as his performance against Holyfield was shameful.

Cheers
Rodders

Hadn't Douglas' mother died the week before the Tyson fight? Tremendous, though tragic, motivator.

Rodders, the book The Last Big Fight about Tyson Douglas goes into this and think Douglas just got a bit ground down by all the politics once he had vanquished Tyson, first he had to deal with King’s shameless attempts to screw himself out of the title with his long count BS and then he found himself at the middle of a promotional tug of war between King and Steve Wynn who was trying to establish himself as a player in the sport. Buster already had a difficult relationship with his father, the philly fighter Dynamite Bill Douglas and once King started exploiting and exacerbating the cracks in their relationship think Buster just lost interest.

In the book Buster comes across as a genuinely nice guy who wants to be liked and wanted the quiet family life, think the politics, hangers on, litigations and general Bs that went along with being heavyweight champion and an overnight superstar was just too much for him, you only have to watch the Holyfield fight to see a guy who looks to welcome the anonymity that defeat will bring him.

Damned shame though as he had the ability to be anything he wanted in the game. Good thread by the way mate, a subject I find consistently fascinating.

Yeah that is true Lionel, could've went either way I guess but James used it as motivation to his credit.

Thanks Jeff, never read the book mate, something I'd like to get my hands on. Interesting stuff, yeah you're right in terms on Douglas welcoming anonymity his weight was a disgrace as well. I don't necessarily buy Tyson was made to order for James that night, yeah not denying underlying circumstances helped James as Mike perhaps wasn't 100percdnt focused, however Mike would've had to been at his best to defeat Buster that night and that's not a given.
If the only thing you knew about Douglas was from having watched that fight you would probably assume that he was the top heavyweight of that era, he was that good. As a sidenote one of my favourite fights of all time.

Cheers Rodders

Sometimes people who realise their ambitions, reach the pinnacle, are satisfied at first.... and then the dust settles, they are underwhelmed and disillusioned with the reality of it all; and their motivation wanes. In other cases, these achievers who realise their aspirations are just plain satisfied and lack the imagination to establish new targets; their motivation wanes.

Buster Douglas was immense. He had the potential to be one of the greatest heavyweights that ever lived. However, sometimes those blessed with skills and power have a propensity to take it their "God Given Talent" for granted. Boxing is natural for them and they slack in training or lack focus. This was the case with Buster. Taking on the legend, that was Tyson, forced him to knuckle down in training and take the sport seriously, perhaps for the first time. We all witnessed the heights at which Douglas arrived when he did this.
After he achieved his goal he reverted to type: lazy, unfocused and inconsistant.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIIYHwF6a9E

Im my lifetime I would say it was pretty close between himself and Bowe. When you think had these guys from the 1990s had stronger mentalities/focus you could have had Tyson, Douglas, Bowe, Holyfield and Lewis operating together in a much stronger capacity.

I agree TMM, good post. You only have to watch him against Tucker he is doing fine then suddenly he gets the look, "Ugh, this is too much goin' on here" and switches out of being competitive. He could've had big pay days, as we all know a real talented guy.

Cheers Rodders

Good article, Rodders. Like Jeff, I've read 'The Last Big Fight' and it's a really interesting read.

I'd agree with Manos insofar as I'd consider Douglas and Bowe to be the biggest Heavyweight wastes of talent in the division. Regardless of whether Tyson was a little sub-par that night or not, you simply can't box the way Douglas did in that fight unless you've got talent to burn. 6'4", long reach, quick hands etc - with his head screwed on he was a handful for anyone.

He outjabbed Tucker for long periods - no mean feat - but again, his heart seemed to let him down, as it did in every key moment of his career, the Tyson fight aside.

Definitely a big waste. The nineties should have been a golden era for the Heavyweights, one to match or perhaps even surpass the seventies. But alas, boxing politics and a couple of the combatants loving their KFC too much prevented it.

What really impressed me about Douglas in the Tyson fight was his spiteful side, there are a couple of occasions where he hits Mike on the break or a fraction after the bell, realise these are illegal but in with a guy who holds such an air of intimidation they were absolutely justified actions on Buster’s part and let Mike know in no uncertain terms Buster was not there to make the numbers up.

David Haye was worse I think.

Promised to clean up the Heavyweight Division.

He got his strap and then went on the biggest joke of defenses in Ruiz and Harrison before getting his title taken off him by Wladimer like candy from a baby.

Douglas at least beat the "closest to his prime" depending on who you are arguing with, Mike Tyson.

There are far worse disappointments than Douglas as no one really expected much from him in the first place.

Clev, Calzaghe and Froch were the ones that stick out to me if we're talking boxers. Been lucky enough to meet dozens of boxers and many, many dozens sports men and women from the UK, and some international due to work.

I suppose the contrast might be more disappointing relative to what might have been. Hayes heavyweight campaign was definately a disappointment, but with hindsight it seemed unlikely that either Haye was all that talented a heavyweight (at least in comparison to Douglas/Bowe) or that he was all that likely to beat Wlad. Audley Harrison may well rank as one of the biggest disappointments I would say going off initial expectations. I dont think you could look back now and ever think Haye or Harrison could have been great heavyweights, although there are some I guess that still feel Audley had all the tools. Put the two together in "the best of enemies" and you might have one of the biggest let downs in recent memory given how much hype and coverage it got.

It is the biggest heavyweight "champion" though Manos. Audley would be number one if the champion part was excluded. But my basis is the talk and the hype that surrounded both.

But the fact Haye actually got a title, it seemed like he was maybe going to back up the talk.........that is until he fought garbage and got a lesson. Seemed like a massive let down. For me, it was just great to see a heavyweight in proper shape for a chance, thought it could have been a new dawn, but hey (or Haye!!) it just wasn't to be, very disappointed.

I see where your coming from, although Haye never really had that 5 star performance at heavyweight that made one think he could have been special. The feeling I got at the time was more that alot of people saw Wlad as a much weaker and slightly fraudulent champion that Haye would come along and expose.

Yea agreed, I think Haye thought he had a better shot of knocking Wlad out due to the supposed "weak chin" theory. Haye and his fans just assumed all Haye had to do was land one punch and it would be over. But even had he won that fight, he was claiming he was going to retire so either way it was still going to be a disappointment.

to be fair to haye he only had one bad performance, granted the most important fight of his career, and has suffered greatly ever since. he has come back with a fantastic performance over chisora and if he can secure the vitali fight (and put in a credible performance) i think popular opinion will sway in his favour again.