SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER ALERT
Okay, so by now if you are still reading this, I have to imagine that you either are familiar with this story already, or perhaps you do not mind the spoilers. Please just don't say that you were not given advanced warning.
Let me just start by saying that I believe that this is my favorite sports-themed book. I have read some others along the way, bur Layden really takes you behind the scenes. Not only do you feel you have a much fuller understanding of how this particularly shocking sports event - the greatest upset in pro sports history - actually took place, but you get such intimate, behind-the-scenes looks that you can almost picture yourself being there. Whether it's visitors to Tyson's hotel room being shocked at what he is watching on video, or that he seems to have an ultra relaxed training regimen in the weeks and days leading up to the fight, or when Buster Douglas and his team arrive at the Columbus International Airport early on a dark winter morning, you really feel like you are there. And there is a natural build-up to the fight itself, even though the reader already knows how this will turn out.
We catch glimpses of both fighters as boys growing up. Tyson as a troubled youth from Brooklyn who had run-ins with the law and spent time at youth detention centers, but who was discovered for his natural fighting abilities and, eventually, groomed by Cus D'Amato, who took the young Tyson in and made him feel almost like family in Catskill, New York. From there, he develops his speed and skills to become the elite boxer he would eventually become.
As for James "Buster " Douglas living under the shadow and extreme discipline of his famously fierce boxing father. While it might have been (and probably was at times) a great benefit to have a seasoned boxer with a reputation for intensity and unquestioned toughness for a father, it also seemed, at times, to have been a distraction. Also, father's training regimen was incredibly strict, and sometimes could feel overbearing and overwhelming for James. He is the son of a tough as nails, accomplished boxer. Yet, the boy is less intense than his father. There is an interest in boxing, but his father at times is too intense and actually turns young James away from boxing. Yet ultimately, boxing is the career he chooses for himself, but he shows an on again/off again dedication to his sport which will in fact define his career.
Meanwhile, Tyson's personal life was spiraling out of control. There was the death of two people - Cus D'Amato and - both of whom were very close and influential in Tyson's life. And with his growing reputation (as well as fortune and fame), Tyson gained an entourage whom he would soon be famous for. However, it hardly seems arguable that a lot of these new people in the champion's life did not have his best interests in mind, particularly and most notably boxing promoter Don King. There were fights with other boxers on the streets, there was a car accident which some made to seem like a suicide attempt. And there were endless parties and fun nights with women which severely got in the way of Tyson's training and conditioning. In fact, there were suspicions that Tyson's conditioning had grown so lax too close to a fight night that this was the unofficial reason for his canceling a scheduled fight against Razor Ruddock just a few months before the Tyson-Douglas fight, which is perhaps why Douglas got his shot at Tyson to begin with.
There were warning signs of what was to come, although they were largely ignored. Tyson getting knocked down by his sparring partner was a major one. But everybody dismissed that as a fluke. Layden describes, however, how Tyson's team (minus Tyson himself) were out for a jog and saw Buster Douglas running, and seemingly effortlessly pick up his pace and speed off when he sensed them challenging him, catching up to him. He never looked back. If there was a moment when the Tyson camp probably should have had fair warning, as the member of Apollo Creed did when one guy saw Rocky hitting a solid as ice slab of meat to prepare for the fight, that should have been it. But Tyson in particular seemed not to think about Douglas at all. Seems to have become a victim of his own success, believing in the myth built around him, that nobody could stand up to him. Surely, Douglas would be dispatched with very quickly.
Layden writes of this perception of Douglas having gotten lucky, which really undermines the magnitude of what he actually did on that day. Indeed, the fight probably ended up going the way that it did for several factors. The popular mythology appears to be that it was basically a product of Douglas having plenty of motivation and Tyson perhaps believing in the mythology of his own invincibility a little too much and allowing his conditioning for the fight to slip. However, there was a lot more to it than this on both sides.
The reader will even get the story of others who we do not immediately come to mind when we think about this fight. That includes the relatively sad story of Octavio Meyran, a veteran at being a ref for boxing fights for over two decades prior to this fight. He performed a standard ten count for the eighth round knockdown as well as the tenth round knockout. Yet, he suddenly found himself embroiled in a controversy regarding what was deemed a long count, but which in fact was fairly standard. Nonetheless, it was deemed to have favored Buster Douglas, who eventually got up and went on to win the fight. Official protests made a big production of this controversy, and Meyran found himself being questioned and forced to admit that he had made a mistake. Then, however, once the press almost universally condemned Don King and the others who were trying to retain Tyson as the champion, this protest was dropped without any investigations or demands for a Tyson-Douglas rematch. Yet, the controversy has endured, even though Meyran still defends his own performance that night.
Also, we see Kevin Rooney, Tyson's trainer during the most dominant era of the boxer's career, get dismissed not long before the Douglas fight, mostly because of Don King. A lot of people were critical of this move, feeling that it limited Tyson's ability to grow as a fighter. It also really severed the last link Tyson had to the old Cus D'Amato days. Rooney watched the fight back home, and saw how Tyson seemed to have forgotten all of the old defensive lessons which he and D'Amato had instilled in the champion. He watched as Tyson seemed to just stand in the middle of the ring, absorbing one Douglas punch after another while hoping to get lucky with an opening to deliver the KO blow. There were mixed emotions for Rooney on that day.
Finally, we see both combatants on that day years later. We see the strange and unpredictable direction that the lives of both men took, with Tyson famously being convicted on rape charges and sent to jail for years, then having an erratic return to the boxing ring. Meanwhile, James Douglas almost died after gaining a ton of weight (he was estimated to weight nearly 400 pounds at one point), but then returned back to form to resurrect his boxing career. There were some successes, but he fell short of getting back to relevance. Yet, he found peace when he returned from Florida back to his hometown of Columbus, where he hoped (at the time of the writing of this book) to use his money to rejuvenate the neighborhood where he grew up, and which meant and still means so much to him.
Having read this already, I was surprised to find myself enjoying it every bit as much the second time around. It is an extremely well-researched, thorough book regarding the fight and the impact that it had on both fighters. Frankly, even people who are not into sports, or boxing, would probably still be able to enjoy this one. Yet, this is a must for sports fans. Probably the best sports-related book that I have read in recent memory.
Highly recommended.
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