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25 Years On, Douglas Should’ve Given Tyson A Rematch

It was Saturday night, February 10, 1990 in the United States, or if you were in Tokyo Japan, it was the 11th. And Mike Tyson 37-0 (33) was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, and was in Japan for the second time in two years to defend his heavyweight title. His opponent was Ohio native James “Buster” Douglas 29-4-1 (19). After the fight Douglas would say that he drew strength from his mother Lula Pearl’s passing 23 days prior to climbing into the ring to challenge Tyson for what was then the biggest prize in professional sports.
At the time, Tyson was viewed as a human wrecking machine and at 23, was thought to be in his prime. Douglas, 29, was a fighter of considerable talent, who defeated three fighters (Trevor Berbick, Greg Page and Oliver McCall) who won a piece of the title at some point during their careers. However, the knock on Douglas was that he seen as a fighter who lacked dedication and drive. This of course changed, at least for one bout, the night he touched gloves with Tyson.
On the night of the fight, the 5-10, 220 1/2 Tyson was a ridiculous 42-1 favorite over the 6-4, 231 1/2 Douglas. And by the middle of the first round it was apparent that the odds-makers tremendously overrated Tyson and dramatically underrated Douglas. Douglas, showing no signs of being intimidated by Tyson, came right out and started jolting Mike with hard jabs and right crosses that landed flush on his chin as he tried to get inside. On this night Douglas was beautiful and couldn’t have fought more purposefully and efficiently. So much so that Tyson was hit more cleanly by Douglas through the first seven rounds of the fight than he had been in his previous 37 bouts combined. Other than for a momentary defensive lapse in the eighth round when Tyson dropped him for an eight count with a right uppercut, Douglas dominated the bout. As the fight progressed, Douglas began drilling Tyson with right uppercuts as he tried to forge his way inside, and in the 10th round it was a right uppercut that for all intents and purposes knocked Tyson out and relieved him of his title.
Douglas’ upset of Tyson was monumental and left the boxing world in shock. Immediately after the fight the excuses for Douglas winning and Tyson losing were falling out of the sky. These ranged from Douglas losing his mother actually became an advantage, something that wasn’t hinted at before the fight and that Tyson was partying too much with Japanese women and wasn’t up for the fight. Yet Tyson endured a beating and still was strong enough to drop Douglas with a single uppercut deep into the fight, thus exposing the myth he was completely out of shape.
Once the shock of seeing Tyson lose lessened, everybody wanted to see a rematch to find out if it really was a fluke or whether Douglas just had the right size and style to handle Tyson. But Douglas wanted to break his ties with promoter Don King and eventually bought out his contract and made his first defense against the mandatory challenger Evander Holyfield, 28, 24-0 (20). Holyfield had been slated to fight Tyson in a mega showdown between career rivals after Tyson presumably beat Douglas, but Douglas killed the chance of that happening, at least in 1990, with his knockout of Tyson. So instead of fighting Tyson in a rematch, Douglas agreed to meet Holyfield on October 25, 1990 in Las Vegas. At that time Holyfield had only fought six times as a heavyweight after relinquishing his cruiserweight title. The thought by Team Douglas and an overwhelming majority of the boxing public was, if Douglas can beat Tyson, then the former cruiserweight champ shouldn’t be much of a problem for him.
Oh, how wrong they were…
As fighters, Tyson and Holyfield couldn’t be more different. When Douglas took the title from Tyson, he used his long reach to hit and punish Mike on the way in. And since Tyson came in crouching, he was right there to be hit with a right uppercut – he practicality moved right into its path trajectory. The right uppercut was pivotal in Douglas hurting and slowing Tyson down…..the only problem with that was, Holyfield fought more straight up and was usually too far out of range for the uppercut that Douglas was looking to land. What worked against Tyson for Douglas, winning the fight at long range and finishing it with the uppercut, wasn’t there versus Holyfield. Holyfield had faster hands than Douglas and nullified his left jab. Once Douglas couldn’t land the jab, his offense was stymied and he began reaching and over-committing, which left him wide open to the head.
Well, the uppercut that put Tyson’s head on a swivel missed against Holyfield in the third round. Evander smartly took a half step back as the uppercut was short, then drilled Douglas with a straight right hand to the chin — and Douglas’ title tenure ended eight months after it started.
After the fight some said Douglas was too cocky and blew the fight at the weigh-in when he scaled 246, 15 pounds more than when he fought Tyson. But Douglas being 246 didn’t determine the fight. Sure, perhaps Douglas may have put up a better effort had he been fighting at 231, but that wasn’t what lost it for him.
The reason Douglas lost to Holyfield was because a) Holyfield was beyond a doubt the greater fighter and b) he had the perfect style to foil Douglas. Buster’s weight would’ve never overcome Holyfield’s strategic advantage.
I said in 1990, and feel even stronger in my conviction today that Douglas should’ve given Tyson a rematch. Douglas-Tyson II would’ve been huge, just as Holyfield-Tyson II was after Evander became the second fighter to beat Mike in 1996. Had they fought a rematch, Douglas would’ve entered it with all the confidence in the world and Tyson would’ve been the one second guessing himself once Douglas started raking him in the face again with hard jabs as Tyson tried to press the action. Also, regardless of how hard Tyson trained for the rematch, he couldn’t change his stripes and fight a different style. Douglas had the style to trouble and beat Tyson. The only problem Douglas might have encountered in the rematch was, a more focused and determined Tyson may have overcome the style disadvantage with his career riding on him winning the fight.
”I’m not going to make excuses,” said Tyson. “The new champion won the title. The only thing I ask for is a rematch. Once I get a rematch, I’ll take care of everything.”
”The name of the game,” said King, ”is money. Buster Douglas is not going to fight anybody else in the world and make as much money as he will fighting Mike Tyson.”
Based on what both Tyson and Don King said a few days after Tyson lost to Douglas, you can see that Tyson would’ve been highly motivated and focused the second time around, and King was right pertaining to the money. Fighting Tyson again would’ve equaled the $25 million Douglas earned fighting Holyfield, and if he lost the rematch against Tyson, as long as he made a good showing, the boxing world couldn’t line up fast enough to pay twice the amount of money to see the rubber match between them.
After losing to Holyfield, Douglas didn’t fight for six years. He returned to the ring in 1996, but was nowhere near the fighter he was the night he scored the biggest upset in boxing history. He went 8-1 versus a string of journeymen and never fought again after February 19th, 1999, almost nine years to the day after winning the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world.
Looking back 25 years, Douglas would’ve been better off fighting Tyson in a rematch than fighting Holyfield. He could’ve parlayed the signature fight of his career into two more big fights and paydays instead of only one. And think of how big he’d be historically had he beaten Tyson in the rematch? And based on their first fight, that isn’t even a mild reach to ponder.
Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com
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History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era

History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era
This reporter was rummaging around the internet last week when he stumbled on a story in the May 1950 issue of Ebony under the byline of Mike Jacobs. Boxing was then in the doldrums (isn’t it always?) and Jacobs, the most powerful promoter in boxing during the era of Joe Louis, was lassoed by the editors of the magazine to address the question of whether the over-representation of black boxers was killing the sport at the box office.
This hoary premise had been kicking around even before the heyday of Jack Johnson, bubbling forth whenever an important black-on-black fight played to a sea of empty seats as had happened the previous year when Chicago’s Comiskey Park hosted the world heavyweight title fight between Ezzard Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott.
Jacobs ridiculed the hypothesis – as one could have expected considering the publication in which the story ran – and singled out three “colored” boxers as the best of the current crop of active pugilists: Sugar Ray Robinson, Ike Williams, and Freddie Dawson.
Sugar Ray Robinson? A no-brainer. Skill-wise the greatest of the great. Even those that didn’t follow boxing, would have recognized his name. Ike Williams? Nowhere near as well-known as Robinson, but he was then the reigning lightweight champion, a man destined to go into the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1990.
And Freddie Dawson? If the name doesn’t ring a bell, dear reader, you are not alone. I confess that I too drew a blank. And that triggered a search to learn more about him.
Freddie Dawson had four fights with Ike Williams. All four were staged on Ike’s turf in Philadelphia. Were this not the case, the history books would likely show the series knotted 2-2. Late in his career, Dawson became greatly admired in Australia. But we are jumping ahead of ourselves.
Dawson was born in 1924 in Thomasville, Arkansas, an unincorporated town in the Arkansas Delta. Likely a descendent of slaves who worked in the cotton plantations, he grew up in the so-called Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, the heart of Chicago’s Black Belt.
The first mention of him in the newspapers came in 1941 when he won Chicago’s Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) featherweight title. In those days, amateur boxing was big in the Windy City, the birthplace of the Golden Gloves. The Catholic Archdiocese, which ran gyms in every parish, and the Chicago Parks Department, were the major incubators.
In his amateur days, he was known as simply Fred Dawson. As a pro, his name often appeared as Freddy Dawson, although Freddie gradually became the more common spelling.
Dawson, who stood five-foot-six and was often described as stocky, made his pro debut on Feb. 1, 1943, at Marigold Gardens. Before the year was out, he had 16 fights under his belt, all in Chicago and all but two at Marigold. (Currently the site of an interdenominational Christian church, Marigold Gardens, on the city’s north side, was Chicago’s most active boxing and wrestling arena from the mid-1930s through the early-1950s. Joe Louis had three of his early fights there and Tony Zale was a fixture there as he climbed the ladder to the world middleweight title.)
The last of these 16 fights was fatal for Dawson’s opponent who collapsed heading back to his corner after the fight was stopped in the 10th round and died that night at a local hospital from the effects of a brain injury.
Dawson left town after this incident and spent most of the next year in New Orleans where energetic promoter Louis Messina ran twice-weekly shows (Mondays for whites and Fridays for blacks) at the Coliseum, a major stop on boxing’s so-called Chitlin’ Circuit.
That same year, on Sept. 19, 1944, Dawson had his first encounter with Ike Williams. He was winning the fight when Ike knocked him out with a body punch in the fourth round.
The first and last meetings between Dawson and Ike Williams were spaced five years apart. In the interim, Freddie scored his two best wins, stopping Vic Patrick in the twelfth round at Sydney, NSW, and Bernard Docusen in the sixth round in Chicago.
The long-reigning lightweight champion of Australia, Patrick (49-3, 43 KOs) gave the crowd a thrill when he knocked Dawson down for a count of “six” in the penultimate 11th round, but Dawson returned the favor twice in the final stanza, ending the contest with a punch so harsh that the poor Aussie needed five minutes before he was fit to leave the ring and would spend the night in the hospital as a precaution.
Dawson fought Bernard Docusen before 10,000-plus at Chicago Stadium on Feb. 4, 1949. An 8/5 favorite, Docusen lacked a hard punch, but the New Orleans cutie had suffered only three losses in 66 fights, had never been stopped, and had extended Sugar Ray Robinson the 15-round distance the previous year.
Dawson dismantled him. Docusen managed to get back on his feet after Dawson knocked him down in the sixth, but he was in no condition to continue and the referee waived the fight off. Dawson was then vacillating between the lightweight and welterweight divisions and reporters wondered whether it would be Robinson or Ike Williams when Dawson finally got his well-earned title shot.
Sugar Ray wasn’t in his future. Here are the results of his other matches with Ike Williams:
Dawson-Williams II (Jan. 28, 1946) – The consensus on press row was 7-2-1 or 7-3 for Dawson, but the match was ruled a draw. “[The judges and referee] evidently saw [Williams] land punches that nobody else did,” said the ringside reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Dawson-Williams III (Jan. 26, 1948) – Dawson lost a majority decision. The scores were 6-4, 5-4-1, and 4-4-2. The decision was booed. Ike Williams then held the lightweight title, but this was a non-title fight. (It was tough for an outsider to get a fair shake in Philadelphia, home to Ike Williams’ co-manager Frank “Blinky” Palermo who would go to prison for his duplicitous dealings as a fight facilitator.)
Dawson-Williams IV (Dec. 5, 1949) – This would be Freddie Dawson’s only crack at a world title and he came up short. Ike Williams retained the belt, winning a unanimous decision. The fight was close – 8-7, 8-7, 9-6 – but there was no controversy.
Dawson made three more trips to Australia before his career was finished. On the first of these trips, he knocked out Jack Hassen, successor to Vic Patrick as the lightweight champion of Australia. A 1953 article in the Sydney Sunday Herald bore witness to the esteem in which Dawson was held by boxing fans in Australia: “None of our boxers could withstand his devastating attacks which not only knocked them out but also knocked years off their careers,” said the author. “It is doubtful whether any Australian boxer in any division could have beaten Dawson.”
Dawson had his final fights in the Land Down Under, finishing his career with a record of 103-14-4 while answering the bell for 962 rounds. Following what became his final fight, he had an eye operation in Sydney that was reportedly so intricate that it required a two-week hospital stay. He injured the eye again in Manila while sparring in preparation for a match with the welterweight champion of the Philippines, a match that had to be aborted because of the injury. Dawson then disappeared, by which we mean that he disappeared from the pages of the newspaper archives that allow us to construct these kinds of stories.
What about Freddie Dawson the man? A 1944 story about him said he was an outstanding all-around athlete, “a champion in all athletic undertakings – basketball, baseball, track and even jitterbugging.” A story in a Sydney paper as he was preparing to meet Vic Patrick informs us that he had two young children, ages 2 and 1, owned his own home in Chicago, and drove a two-year-old Cadillac. But beyond these flimsy snippets, Dawson the man remains elusive.
What we learned, however, is that he was one of the most underrated boxers to come down the pike in any era, a borderline Hall of Famer who ought not have fallen through the cracks. Inside the ring, this guy was one tough hombre.
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Ringside at the Fontainebleau where Mikaela Mayer Won her Rematch with Sandy Ryan

LAS VEGAS, NV — The first meeting between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan last September at Madison Square Garden was punctuated with drama before the first punch was thrown. When the smoke cleared, Mayer had become a world-title-holder in a second weight class, taking away Ryan’s WBO welterweight belt via a majority decision in a fan-friendly fight.
The rematch tonight at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas was another fan-friendly fight. There were furious exchanges in several rounds and the crowd awarded both gladiators a standing ovation at the finish.
Mayer dominated the first half of the fight and held on to win by a unanimous decision. But Sandy Ryan came on strong beginning in round seven, and although Mayer was the deserving winner, the scores favoring her (98-92 and 97-93 twice) fail to reflect the competitiveness of the match-up. This is the best rivalry in women’s boxing aside from Taylor-Serrano.
Mayer, 34, improved to 21-2 (5). Up next, she hopes, in a unification fight with Lauren Price who outclassed Natasha Jonas earlier this month and currently holds the other meaningful pieces of the 147-pound puzzle. Sandy Ryan, 31, the pride of Derby, England, falls to 7-3-1.
Co-Feature
In his first defense of his WBO world welterweight title (acquired with a brutal knockout of Giovani Santillan after the title was vacated by Terence Crawford), Atlanta’s Brian Norman Jr knocked out Puerto Rico’s Derrieck Cuevas in the third round. A three-punch combination climaxed by a short left hook sent Cuevas staggering into a corner post. He got to his feet before referee Thomas Taylor started the count, but Taylor looked in Cuevas’s eyes and didn’t like what he saw and brought the bout to a halt.
The stoppage, which struck some as premature, came with one second remaining in the third stanza.
A second-generation prizefighter (his father was a fringe contender at super middleweight), the 24-year-old Norman (27-0, 21 KOs) is currently boxing’s youngest male title-holder. It was only the second pro loss for Cuevas (27-2-1) whose lone previous defeat had come early in his career in a 6-rounder he lost by split decision.
Other Bouts
In a career-best performance, 27-year-old Brooklyn featherweight Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (15-0, 9 KOs) blasted out Jose Enrique Vivas (23-4) in the third round.
Carrington, who was named the Most Outstanding Boxer at the 2019 U.S. Olympic Trials despite being the lowest-seeded boxer in his weight class, decked Vivas with a right-left combination near the end of the second round. Vivas barely survived the round and was on a short leash when the third stanza began. After 53 seconds of round three, referee Raul Caiz Jr had seen enough and waived it off. Vivas hadn’t previously been stopped.
Cleveland welterweight Tiger Johnson, a Tokyo Olympian, scored a fifth-round stoppage over San Antonio’s Kendo Castaneda. Johnson assumed control in the fourth round and sent Castaneda to his knees twice with body punches in the next frame. The second knockdown terminated the match. The official time was 2:00 of round five.
Johnson advanced to 15-0 (7 KOs). Castenada declined to 21-9.
Las Vegas junior welterweight Emiliano Vargas (13-0, 11 KOs) blasted out Stockton, California’s Giovanni Gonzalez in the second round. Vargas brought the bout to a sudden conclusion with a sweeping left hook that knocked Gonzalez out cold. The end came at the 2:00 minute mark of round two.
Gonzalez brought a 20-7-2 record which was misleading as 18 of his fights were in Tijuana where fights are frequently prearranged. However, he wasn’t afraid to trade with Vargas and paid the price.
Emiliano Vargas, with his matinee idol good looks and his boxing pedigree – he is the son of former U.S. Olympian and two-weight world title-holder “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas – is highly marketable and has the potential to be a cross-over star.
Eighteen-year-old Newark bantamweight Emmanuel “Manny” Chance, one of Top Rank’s newest signees, won his pro debut with a four-round decision over So Cal’s Miguel Guzman. Chance won all four rounds on all three cards, but this was no runaway. He left a lot of room for improvement.
There was a long intermission before the co-main and again before the main event, but the tedium was assuaged by a moving video tribute to George Foreman.
Photos credit: Al Applerose
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William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0

William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0
No surprise, once again William Zepeda eked out a win over the clever and resilient Tevin Farmer to remain undefeated and retain a regional lightweight title on Saturday.
There were no knockdowns in this rematch.
The Mexican punching machine Zepeda (33-0, 17 KOs) once more sought to overwhelm Farmer (33-8-1, 9 KOs) with a deluge of blows. This rematch by Golden Boy Promotions took place in the famous beach resort area of Cancun, Mexico.
It was a mere four months ago that both first clashed in Saudi Arabia with their vastly difference styles. This time the tropical setting served as the background which suited Zepeda and his lawnmower assaults. The Mexican fans were pleased.
Nothing changed in their second meeting.
Zepeda revved up the body assault and Farmer moved around casually to his right while fending off the Mexican fighter’s attacks. By the fourth round Zepeda was able to cut off Farmer’s escape routes and targeted the body with punishing shots.
The blows came in bunches.
In the fifth round Zepeda blasted away at Farmer who looked frantic for an escape. The body assault continued with the Mexican fighter pouring it on and Farmer seeming to look ready to quit. When the round ended, he waved off his corner’s appeals to stop.
Zepeda continued to dominate the next few rounds and then Farmer began rallying. At first, he cleverly smothered Zepeda’s body attacks and then began moving and hitting sporadically. It forced the Mexican fighter to pause and figure out the strategy.
Farmer, a Philadelphia fighter, showed resiliency especially when it was revealed he had suffered a hand injury.
During the last three rounds Farmer dug down deep and found ways to score and not get hit. It was Boxing 101 and the Philly fighter made it work.
But too many rounds had been put in the bank by Zepeda. Despite the late rally by Farmer one judge saw it 114-114, but two others scored it 116-112 and 115-113 for Zepeda who retains his interim lightweight title and place at the top of the WBC rankings.
“I knew he was a difficult fighter. This time he was even more difficult,” said Zepeda.
Farmer was downtrodden about another loss but realistic about the outcome and starting slow.
“But I dominated the last rounds,” said Farmer.
Zepeda shrugged at the similar outcome as their first encounter.
“I’m glad we both put on a great show,” said Zepeda.
Female Flyweight Battle
Costa Rica’s Yokasta Valle edged past Texas fighter Marlen Esparza to win their showdown at flyweight by split decision after 10 rounds.
Valle moved up two weight divisions to meet Esparza who was slightly above the weight limit. Both showed off their contrasting styles and world class talent.
Esparza, a former unified flyweight world titlist, stayed in the pocket and was largely successful with well-placed jabs and left hooks. She repeatedly caught Valle in-between her flurries.
The current minimumweight world titlist changed tactics and found more success in the second half of the fight. She forced Esparza to make the first moves and that forced changes that benefited her style.
Neither fighter could take over the fight.
After 10 rounds one judge saw Esparza the winner 96-94, but two others saw Valle the winner 97-93 twice.
Will Valle move up and challenge the current undisputed flyweight world champion Gabriela Fundora? That’s the question.
Valle currently holds the WBC minimumweight world title.
Puerto Rico vs Mexico
Oscar Collazo (12-0, 9 KOs), the WBO, WBA minimumweight titlist, knocked out Mexico’s Edwin Cano (13-3-1, 4 KOs) with a flurry of body shots at 1:12 of the fifth round.
Collazo dominated with a relentless body attack the Mexican fighter could not defend. It was the Puerto Rican fighter’s fifth consecutive title defense.
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