Way to a Knockout Became Perfectly Clear : Boxing: Douglas says the secret to defeating Tyson emerged from a moving experience.

James (Buster) Douglas, heavyweight champion of the world for the previous three hours, lay on a bed in his hotel room Sunday night, serenely enjoying the scene swirling around him.

Douglas, 29, whose career until Sunday afternoon in Tokyo was a symphony in mediocrity, seemed to have no difficulty grasping what had happened. He had scored the greatest upset in the history of the heavyweight division, a 10th-round knockout of Mike Tyson.

But as he savored these moments, boxing officials were still meeting at the scene of battle, the Tokyo Dome, where it was decided to at least temporarily withhold certification of Douglas’ stunning triumph.

In the eighth round, Douglas had been decked by a Tyson uppercut and Team Tyson argued afterward that Douglas had been down for more than 10 seconds, that referee Octavio Meyran had started his count two or three seconds late.

But for now, Douglas enjoyed the triumph.

“He didn’t show me any respect, like he didn’t think I had a punch,” Douglas said.

For the first time in 38 fights, it was Mike Tyson, not a fading, fearful opponent, who was first hurt and then, finally, on his back.

“I was showing him movement in the early rounds, but after a while I realized I could see his shots coming, clearly,” Douglas said.

“So I stopped moving. See, Mike Tyson is vulnerable when he moves in on you, winging (punches). If you stay focused, you can see them (punches) coming.

“I hit him with good shots all night, but he’s so strong it took time to wear him down. My dad (Billy Douglas, a 1950s and ‘60s middleweight/light heavyweight) always told me that with a big tree, you keep right on chopping, because eventually it’ll come down.”

Some wondered afterward if this was vintage Tyson, if he was properly fit, if all those one-round knockouts had diminished his intensity. From the fifth round on, Tyson’s knees trembled and his legs were unsteady.

One of Tyson’s sparring partners, who asked not to be identified, said Tyson was over-trained. But J.D. McCauley, Douglas’ uncle and trainer, said his fighter, not fatigue, put the shakes to Tyson’s legs.

“You’re missing (the point),” he told a reporter. “Your legs would be shaking, too, if you’d taken those shots for five or six rounds. See, Buster’s got awful quick hands and Mike didn’t know that. Buster is basically a big middleweight.

“I’ve told people for 2 1/2 years that Buster would beat Tyson, long before we ever got the fight. He matches up perfectly with Mike. You know how Tommy Hearns canceled out almost everything Sugar Ray Leonard tried to do with him? That’s what happened tonight.

“And there’s other guys out there who can beat Tyson, too. Razor Ruddock and Greg Page can beat him. Those guys are quick, too, with good movement, and they’re almost as strong as Mike. And Buster will beat him again, too. That was not Buster’s best fight tonight.”

McCauley said he knew Douglas would win the fight after two rounds.

“He was making Mike eat that big jab with no trouble at all and at that point I knew he had him whipped.”

It was almost a perfect performance, as Team Douglas saw it, with one frightening lapse.

“We told Buster over and over in training, whatever you do, don’t lean in on the guy when you’re close to him,” McCauley said. “He got lazy in the eighth round and did it, and Mike caught him with that shot.”

Douglas’ manager, one-time Ohio State assistant football coach John Johnson, who calls himself “a disciple of Jesus Christ and Woody Hayes,” was making veiled threats in the event that the WBA and WBC withhold recognition of Douglas as champion.

“If they take away from James what he earned tonight, then there’s a strong possibility that Mike Tyson will never get another fight with James Douglas,” he said. “If the referee made a mistake, we can’t help that.”

Johnson also derided two Japanese judges, Ken Morita and Masakazu Uchida. After nine rounds, Morita had Tyson ahead, 87-86, and Uchida had the fight even, 86-86. Judge Larry Rozadilla of Los Angeles had Douglas ahead, 88-82.

“Those two (the Japanese judges) should never be allowed to work another fight,” Johnson said. “Those scorers were a disgrace. I told Buster at one point that he’d won every round.”

Douglas said he never felt certain he would win.

“No, not with this guy,” he said. “I knew I was in there with a champion, and I expected him to pick up the pace when things got tough for him, and he did, in the sixth and seventh. It was like he was saying, ‘OK, that’s enough of this bleep.’ At that point, I knew I had to keep the hammers on him.”

In the summer of 1987, Douglas had the International Boxing Federation’s championship in his grasp, against Tony Tucker. He was ahead on points when he ran out of steam in the 10th round.

Last July, on the undercard of Tyson’s 93-second knockout of Carl Williams, Douglas looked dreadful in going 10 rounds with an unknown, Oliver McCall.

Douglas said all week here that he had converted personal losses in his life into motivating factors. His wife left him last summer and his mother died three weeks ago.

“I wasn’t afraid of Mike Tyson, I’m only afraid of God,” he said.

And it was experience, he said, that enabled him to recover quickly from the knockdown in the eighth round and turn in a smashing ninth round that softened up the champion for the 10th-round knockout.

“My experience took over, knowing how to handle being hurt,” he said.

“Mike had never been in that situation before, and he couldn’t handle it.”

DOUGLAS-TYSON: PREVIOUS OPPONENTS JAMES DOUGLAS

Date Opponent Site Out. 1981 May 31 Dan Banks Columbus O. KO 3 Jul. 23 Michael Lear Columbus, O. W 4 Sep. 27 Mike Rodgers Columbus, O. KO 3 Oct. 14 T. Stevenson Indianapolis KO 3 Oct. 23 Johnny Clark Toledo, O. KO 3 Nov. 6 David Bey Pittsburgh L 2 Dec. 23 Donny Johnson Canton, O. KO 3 1982 Jan. 23 Hubert Adams McConnelsville, O. KO 1 Feb. 14 D. Townsend Erie, Pa. W 6 Feb. 15 Marvin Earle Kalamazoo, Mich. KO 2 Mar. 25 Ric Enis Indianapolis W 6 Apr. 26 Mel Daniels Johnstown, Pa. KO 1 Oct. 13 Stefan Tangstadt Chicago D 8 Nov. 20 Tim Johnson Columbus, O. KO 1 1983 Mar. 9 Jesse Clark Niles, O. KO 2 Mar. 29 Leroy Diggs Atlantic City KO 7 Apr. 16 Jesse Clark Grand Rapids KO 2 Apr. 29 Henry Porter Atlantic City KO 2 Jul. 5 Dave Johnson Atlantic City W 10 Sep. 28 Eugene Kato Atlantic City KO 1 Dec. 17 Mike White Atlantic City L 9 1984 Jul. 9 Dave Starkey Columbus, O. NC 1 Nov. 9 Randall Cobb Las Vegas W 10 1985 Mar. 27 Dion Simpson Atlantic City KO 1 May 9 Jesse Ferguson Atlantic City L 10 1986 Jan. 17 Greg Page Atlanta W 10 Apr. 19 David Jaco Las Vegas W 10 Sep. 6 Dee Collier Las Vegas W 10 1987 May 30 Tony Tucker Las Vegas L 10 Nov. 20 Donny Long Columbus, O. KO 2 1988 Feb. 24 Pernell Davis Duluth, Minn. TKO10 Apr. 16 Jerry Halstead Las Vegas TKO 9 Jun. 27 Michael Williams Atlantic City TKO 7 1989 Feb. 25 Trevor Berbick Las Vegas W 10 Jul. 21 Oliver McCall Atlantic City W 10

Record Before Fight With Mike Tyson WINS: 29 LOSSES: 4 DRAWS: 1 NO CONTEST: 1 KNOCKOUTS: 19 MIKE TYSON

Date Opponent Site Out. 1985 Mar. 6 Hector Mercedes Albany, N.Y. KO 1 Apr. 10 Trent Singleton Albany, N.Y. KO 1 May 23 Donald Halpin Atlantic City KO 4 jun. 20 Rick Spain Atlantic City KO 1 Jul. 11 John Anderson Atlantic City KO 1 Jul. 19 Larry Sims Poughkeepsie KO 3 Aug. 15 Lorenzo Canady Atlantic City KO 1 Sep. 5 Michael Johnson Atlantic City KO 1 Oct. 9 Donnie Long Atlantic City KO 1 Oct. 25 Robert Colay Atlantic City KO 1 Nov. 1 S. Benjamin Latham, N.Y. KO 1 Nov. 13 Ed Richardson Houston KO 1 Nov. 22 Conroy Nelson Albany, N.Y. KO 2 Dec. 6 Sam Scaff New York KO 1 Dec. 27 Mark Young Colonie, N.Y. KO 1 1986 Jan. 11 David Jaco Albany, N.Y. KO 1 Jan. 24 Mike Jameson Atlantic City KO 5 Feb. 16 Jesse Ferguson Troy, N.Y. KO 6 Mar. 10 Steve Zouski Uniondale, N.Y. KO 3 May 3 James Tillis Glen Falls, N.Y. W 10 May 20 Mitchell Green New York W 10 Jun. 13 Reggie Gross New York KO 1 Jun. 28 William Mosea Troy, N.Y. KO 1 Jul. 11 Lorenzo Boyd Swan Lake, N.Y. KO 2 Jul. 26 Marvis Frazier Glen Falls, N.Y. KO 1 Aug. 17 Jose Ribalta Atlantic City KO 10 Sep. 6 Alfonso Ratliff Las Vegas KO 2 Nov. 22 Trevor Berbick Las Vegas KO 2 1987 Mar. 3 James Smith Las Vegas W 12 May 30 Pinklon Thomas Las Vegas KO 6 Aug. 1 Tony Tucker Las Vegas W 12 Oct. 16 Tyrell Biggs Atlantic City KO 7 1988 Jan. 22 Larry Holmes Atlantic City KO 4 Mar. 20 Tony Tubbs Tokyo KO 2 Jun. 27 Michael Spinks Atlantic City KO 1 1989 Feb. 25 Frank Bruno Las Vegas KO 5 Jul. 21 Carl Williams Atlantic City KO 1

Record Before Fight With James Douglas WINS: 37 LOSSES: 0 KNOCKOUTS: 33