This earned him a shot at the International Boxing Federation championship that Michael Spinks was stripped of for refusing to defend it. In 1986, Douglas fought only three times, defeating former champion Greg Page and fringe contender David Jaco in two of the fights. The next year, he fought up-and-coming contender Jesse Ferguson. Douglas defeated the former heavyweight contender by winning a majority decision. Berbick pulled out of the bout three days before it was scheduled and Randall "Tex" Cobb elected to take the fight in Berbick's place. On November 9, Douglas was scheduled to fight heavyweight contender Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas. In his last fight of 1983, Douglas was dominating opponent Mike White, but White knocked him out in the ninth round. Douglas fought him a total of three times and knocked him out all three times. Two of his wins were against Jesse Clark. He was penalized two points during the course of the fight which proved to be the difference.Īfter the draw Douglas beat largely journeyman fighters over the next fourteen months. After six more fights, all wins, Douglas fought Steffen Tangstad to a draw on October 16, 1982. Bey knocked Douglas out in the second round to hand him his first defeat. He was managed by John Johnson (former Ohio State assistant football coach.) He won his first five fights before coming into a fight with David Bey twenty pounds heavier than he usually did in his early fights. Professional careerĭouglas made his debut on May 31, 1981, and defeated Dan O'Malley in a four-round bout. He moved back to Columbus to focus on boxing. He also played basketball at Sinclair Community College from 1979 to 1980 in Dayton, Ohio, before attending Mercyhurst University on a basketball scholarship. He is in the Coffeyville Community College Men's Basketball Hall of Fame. After high school, Douglas played basketball for the Coffeyville Community College Red Ravens in Coffeyville, Kansas, from 1977 to 1978 the 17-year-old was a 6'0" power forward. He attended Linden McKinley High School, where he played football and basketball, leading Linden to a Class AAA state basketball championship in 1977. It was his father, who ran a gym at the Blackburn Recreation Center near Downtown Columbus, and subsequently introduced young James to boxing (in the same way James would later bring his son Lamar to the same gym). The son of professional boxer William "Dynamite" Douglas, Douglas grew up in Columbus, Ohio, in the predominantly black Linden neighborhood of Windsor Terrace. Retiring shortly after the loss, Douglas returned to boxing between 19 until he retired a second and final time. He reigned as the world heavyweight champion for eight months until he was defeated by Evander Holyfield in his only title defense. Defying expectations, Douglas knocked out Tyson in the 10th round to claim the WBC, WBA, and IBF titles. His win over Tyson is regarded as one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.ĭouglas was a 42-to-1 underdog going into his 1990 fight against Tyson, who was undefeated and considered to be the best boxer in the world for his domination of the division over the previous three years. He reigned as undisputed world heavyweight champion in 1990 after knocking out Mike Tyson to win the title. James " Buster" Douglas (born April 7, 1960) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 19.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |