Tyson Mystique Took a Beating From Douglas

It has been called the greatest sports upset of the 20th century, and it happened nine years ago in a domed baseball stadium in Tokyo.

“Tyson Era Goes Buster,” read The Times’ headline on Feb. 11, after 43-1 shot James “Buster” Douglas jumped all over an ill-trained, overconfident Mike Tyson and knocked him out in the 10th round. (The fight was held on Feb. 11 in Tokyo, which was Feb. 10 in L.A.)

It was the first defeat of Tyson’s 37-fight pro career, one he still hasn’t righted.

Hours after the shocking finish, reporters were invited to Douglas’ hotel room. He was in bed, wearing his heavyweight championship belt.

One writer tried to apologize for writing that Douglas was hopelessly overmatched.

“I don’t blame you guys a bit,” Douglas said, “because until today, no one had ever seen the real Buster Douglas.”

Douglas, everyone had believed, had tools sufficient to be a heavyweight champion. But in every important bout of his career, he had come up short, seemingly unable to summon the will to win big fights. Once, against Tony Tucker, he simply quit.

But not on this day.

His jabs were thunderbolts, and in the third round he triple-jabbed Tyson into the ropes, after which ringsiders noticed Tyson’s knees were trembling, reflecting his poor training.

Douglas was winning on points when Tyson, summoning his last remaining strength, flattened Douglas with a right uppercut in the eighth round.

Douglas got up, and Tyson’s people would later claim referee Octavio Meyrom gave him a long count (he didn’t). But Tyson had nothing left when Douglas drove him to the canvas in the 10th.

Also on this date: In 1962 at the Sports Arena, diminutive Jim Beatty ran the world’s first indoor sub-four-minute mile, in 3:58.9. . . . In 1949 at Santa Anita, a life-size bronze statue of jockey George Woolf was dedicated. Woolf, a leading jockey of his era, was killed at the track in 1946 when thrown from a horse.