Douglas Still Looks Like a One-Timer

Giving deep and enduring thought to James (Buster) Douglas, heavyweight champion of the universe, you can allow, in a first judgment, that Buster has burgeoned as a formidable fighting machine.

But in a second judgment, you see Buster as one of those horses that ascends Olympus on Derby Day and vanishes as quickly as he rose.

We are talking about an Unbridled, a Spend a Buck, a Dust Commander, a Proud Clarion, a Kauai King--Buster Douglases all on the first Saturday in May, but leaving no legacy worth remembering.

In Tokyo last February, Buster was offered as a canape for Mike Tyson, who, in condition that was suspect, seemed to be looking for an easy yen.

His case was strengthened by the fact that Don King, his business associate, confrere and spiritual adviser, dipped a mitt into the promotion, working with a Japanese entrepreneur.

In this environment, two of the officials appointed to work the match were local, a third imported from America. Buster knocked out Tyson in the 10th round.

It is then revealed, at fight’s end, that the American official has Douglas six points in front, but one of the local officials has Tyson in front and the other has judged it even. The horrifying thought occurs that unless Buster knocks out Tyson, he probably was going to lose. Little wonder, bucking what was happening there, Buster comes into the fight a 42-1 underdog, and he pulls off this caper, an undeserving blow to the distinguished patriot, King. Douglas hasn’t fought since. He has romped about the country, partaking generously of foodstuff. He has carried on socially, reveling in his new power.

But whatever comical course he has followed, one cannot conclude unalterably that Douglas has forgotten how to fight.

We will have a better line on that Thursday night when he engages Evander Holyfield at the house of chance in Las Vegas called the Mirage.

Holyfield appears to be a worthy challenger. So much so, in fact, that he is a substantial favorite over Douglas, who is hard-pressed to live with such indignity.

Essentially, Holyfield is a cruiserweight, compared to Douglas, who is dreadnaughtweight. Evander also yields a lot of reach to Buster and hits with less impact.

So, why would Holyfield be the favorite? Well, the suspicion seems to be that Evander is better conditioned and generally steadier. He is seen chopping up Buster methodically.

It is tasteless to introduce a commercial note to an occurrence of such refinement as a prizefight, but in Las Vegas, you could be seeing the last massive-money match for a long spell.

The economy is growing anything but conducive to such undertakings. Most big fights have been bankrolled by gambling casinos, which are beginning to feel the financial bite and will feel it even greater in 1991.

If the group posting maybe as much as $40 million to stage the Douglas-Holyfield thing suffers inadvertent losses because of (a) lean ticket sales, (b) lean pay-per-view sales and (c) appearance on the scene of fewer crapshooters than expected, it is going to have a sobering impact on money volunteered for fights down the line.

Hard times or not, seats will be listed at $200 to $1,000 at the match Thursday when the strong possibility exists that Holyfield will fight Douglas smarter than Tyson did. If Tyson had a plan, it wasn’t evident to anyone who watched.

And the prediction in Las Vegas? It is Holyfield.

Like Apple Annie, Buster is seen here as royalty only for a day.