
Anything offered above 10-to-1 would have made Douglas the biggest Heavyweight underdog of all time. The most popular bet across Vegas was for Tyson to drop Douglas and end the fight in either Round 2 or 3.Ģ. It’s like, who would offer a moneyline on Centenary vs Alabama if they’re a 65-point underdog?”

“At some point, it’s like what’s the point in offering it anymore.

“We were booking Tyson fights and, as he continued to crush people, the underdogs were going from 6-to-1 to 8-to-1,” recalled Jimmy Vaccaro, the head bookmaker at the Mirage at the time. All sportsbooks offered odds on when Tyson would knock out Douglas, but only one - the Mirage - offered bettors the chance to bet on Tyson or Douglas straight-up. Thirty years later, there’s plenty to clear up about “42-to-1” odds story.ġ. Mike Tyson, one of the biggest longshot victories ever in a head-to-head competition.īut as with all upset tales, Douglas over Tyson has taken on a life of its own after the fact. 11 marks the 32nd anniversary of Buster Douglas’ 42-to-1 upset vs.
Did buster douglas beat mike tyson how to#
Watch the video below to see an absolute masterclass by James ‘Buster’ Douglas – these tactics will always be useful on how to beat the peek-a-boo and similar styles of head movement.Editor’s note: This article was originally published in December 2018, before ESPN’s airing of the “42 to 1” documentary.įeb. He could also punch off the stiff arm with both the jab or the right hand and again the stiff arm served to disrupt the balance of Mike Tyson. The lead arm also making it difficult for Tyson to get any sort of power in his punches or being able to rattle off a combination.įrom there, Douglas could turn that it into the stiff arm and use it for the same results – jamming Tyson so he couldn’t counter if he happened to slip the shot. This prevented Tyson from closing the gap and maintaining the range Douglas wanted to fight at. What is more, Douglas could steer Tyson away and into a punch – Douglas would steer Tyson and then unload with a right hand, catching Tyson out, who was still struggling to get away from the control of Buster Douglas.Īnother trick Buster Douglas used was the lead arm after the combo, if Douglas missed his punch – such as the right hand, he would throw out his lead arm to keep Tyson off him and pushing him off balance.

When Tyson slipped the shot, Douglas would steer Tyson away, again preventing Tyson from being able to plant his feet and punch. Pushing Tyson out of the way was also something Douglas did extremely well in this fight.

If Tyson resisted, Douglas would either tie up the left hand of Tyson so he couldn’t punch or simply control Tyson’s head and push him harmlessly out of range and off balance so there was no way Tyson could follow up. This accomplished a number of things…firstly by pulling Mike Tyson’s head down, it stopped Tyson from getting any leverage for those dangerous short hooks and uppercuts on the inside. Now Tyson was very adept at slipping punches and he would often slip inside the jab and drive his left up but Douglas nullified this by pulling Tyson in whenever he slipped the jab of Douglas on the inside. Some still term the victory by Douglas as a fluke, citing a number of reasons why Tyson lost more due to his own failings and lack of discipline than to the skills of Douglas on the night but if you watch the fight from a technical standpoint, you will see that Buster Douglas just did a lot of things really well that would have troubled Mike Tyson on any given night, including Tyson at his best.
