How it unfolded
Mike Tyson was unified champion at 37-0 with 33 knockouts, and challenger Buster Douglas carried odds of 42 to 1. Having lost his mother 23 days before the fight, Douglas produced a performance nobody had predicted. He kept cutting off Tyson's advance with a long jab, held his own at close range, and, round by round, only grew sharper. Just before the eighth round ended, a Tyson uppercut dropped Douglas, but referee Octavio Meyran's count started later than the timekeeper's, and Douglas rose at the count of nine — later dubbed the controversial long count. In the ninth Douglas counterattacked and drove Tyson to the ropes, and at 1:23 of the tenth an uppercut snapped his head back before a four-punch combination followed. Tyson lay on the canvas for the first time in his professional career, fumbling for his mouthpiece, and was counted out. Promoter Don King protested the result, but the sanctioning bodies confirmed the Douglas win.
Why it still matters
Frequently cited as the biggest upset in sports history. As Tyson's myth of invincibility collapsed, the heavyweight landscape of the 1990s opened up to Holyfield, Bowe and Lewis. It also stamped home the fact that preparation and mental state can overturn raw talent, and that odds guarantee nothing.