36 Facts About Buster Douglas

Buster Douglas reigned as undisputed world heavyweight champion in 1990 after knocking out Mike Tyson to win the title.

Buster Douglas reigned as the world heavyweight champion for eight months until he was defeated by Evander Holyfield in his only title defense.

Buster Douglas's father ran a gym at the Blackburn Recreation Center near Downtown Columbus and subsequently introduced young James to boxing.

Buster Douglas is in the Coffeyville Community College Men's Basketball Hall of Fame.

Buster Douglas played basketball at Sinclair Community College from 1979 to 1980 in Dayton, Ohio, before attending Mercyhurst University on a basketball scholarship.

Buster Douglas moved back to Columbus to focus on boxing.

Buster Douglas made his debut on May 31,1981, and defeated Dan O'Malley in a four-round bout.

Buster Douglas was penalized two points during the course of the fight which proved to be the difference.

Buster Douglas fought him a total of three times and knocked him out all three times.

Buster Douglas defeated the former heavyweight contender by winning a majority decision.

In 1986, Buster Douglas fought only three times, defeating former champion Greg Page and fringe contender David Jaco in two of the fights.

Buster Douglas started well against Tony Tucker and was ahead on points, but he ran out of gas and was stopped in the tenth round.

Buster Douglas followed that up with a unanimous decision victory over future heavyweight champion Oliver McCall, and earned a shot at the undisputed heavyweight championship held by Mike Tyson, who became the universally recognized champion after knocking out Spinks in one round in 1988.

Buster Douglas was given so little chance of lasting against Tyson, let alone beating him, that nearly every betting parlor in Las Vegas refused to hold odds for the fight.

Buster Douglas, who had trained hard, surprised the world by dominating the fight from the beginning, using his 12-inch reach advantage to perfection.

Buster Douglas seemingly hit Tyson at will with jabs and right hands and danced out of range of Tyson's own punches.

The champion had not taken Buster Douglas seriously, expecting another quick and easy knockout victory.

Buster Douglas was slow, refusing to move his head and slip his way in but rather setting his feet and throwing big, lunging hooks, repeatedly trying to beat Douglas with single punches.

The referee's count created controversy as Buster Douglas was on his feet when the referee reached nine, although the official knockdown timekeeper was two seconds ahead.

Tyson came out aggressively in the dramatic ninth round and continued his attempts to end the fight with one big punch hoping that Buster Douglas was still hurt from the eighth round knockdown.

Buster Douglas followed with a rapid four-punch combination to the head, and knocked Tyson down for the first time in his career.

Buster Douglas awkwardly attempted to place it back into his mouth.

Buster Douglas was unable to beat the referee's count, and Douglas was the new world heavyweight champion.

However, Tyson withdrew his protest four days later amid worldwide public outcry and demands from boxing commissions around the world, and Buster Douglas was officially recognized as undisputed heavyweight champion.

The defeated Tyson clamored for a rematch and Buster Douglas was offered more money than he had ever made for a fight.

Buster Douglas went into the October 25,1990 fight at 246 pounds, 15 pounds heavier than he was for the Tyson match and the heaviest he had weighed in for a fight since a 1985 bout with Dion Simpson, in which he tipped the scale at just over 247 pounds.

Buster Douglas came out rather sluggish, and was thoroughly dominated by Holyfield during the first two rounds.

Buster Douglas merely lay flat on his back, motionless and disoriented, as referee Mills Lane stopped the fight.

Buster Douglas vs Holyfield was a reported $24.6 million payday for Buster Douglas.

Buster Douglas went back into training and made a comeback.

Buster Douglas was successful at first, winning six straight fights, but his comeback almost came to a halt in a 1997 disqualification win over journeyman Louis Monaco.

Buster Douglas was unable to continue after a five-minute rest period and was consequently awarded the win by disqualification.

In 1998, Buster Douglas was knocked out in the first round of a fight with heavyweight contender Lou Savarese.

Buster Douglas made a guest appearance in the 1990s cop show Street Justice.

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

On February 23,1990, Buster Douglas made a special appearance as a guest referee on WWF's The Main Event III in a match-up between Hulk Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage.