A resurrected Tyson pursued the knockout at the start of the ninth but after just missing with a dangerous short hook, Douglas successfully tied him up and bought a few more seconds of recuperation. Tyson added a left to the body and two hooks but 25 seconds into the round, Douglas proved he had fully recovered as he jolted Tyson with a right lead followed by a fusillade of blows that forced Tyson to retreat and the crowd to roar in astonishment. Tyson then rocked Douglas with a compact right to the chin that raised the hopes of his faithful. However, that mini-rally was snuffed out by Douglas’ octopus-like arms as well as Tyson’s own weariness.

By reasserting his credentials as a power puncher, the suspense that hung over the arena now was two-pronged: Would Douglas complete the enormous upset or would Tyson prove himself an even greater champion by conquering the ultimate adversity? With both men’s batteries running low, the race to the finish line was desperate.

With a little more than a minute left in the ninth, Douglas summoned a four-punch volley highlighted by a power jab to the ear that had Tyson teetering sideways. He retreated to the ropes near his corner for much-needed support and Douglas blasted away with strafing blows that had the champion’s head snapping like a speed bag. Following a brief respite, Douglas fired another hurtful flurry that had Tyson at a virtual standstill. Then finally, the bell ended the most dramatic round yet.

The heart that many said failed Douglas against Tucker was on ferocious display in round nine. On this night, Douglas not only brought all the physical skills needed to tame the monster to life, he also embodied the intangibles that were equally necessary to overcome a great champion’s gifts. By rising from the knockdown and rallying so strongly, Douglas cleared one of the final hurdles between himself and his ultimate, seemingly impossible dream.

After a round that saw Douglas out-land Tyson 37-12 and connect on 64% of his total punches, one had to wonder what Buster could do for an encore. That answer would come soon enough.

With a minute gone in the 10th, Douglas poked out a series of range-finding jabs that set up a murderous right uppercut that grotesquely snapped Tyson’s 19-inch neck upward. A final right/left to the face sent Tyson crashing to the canvas directly in front of the challenger’s corner. Tyson desperately tried to find the gumshield that flew out of his mouth when his back hit the floor. Once he did, he stuffed it in halfheartedly and rockily hauled himself up just after Meyran tolled nine. But unlike Douglas, who was erect and in control of his faculties at nine, Tyson’s condition was badly compromised, a state that moved Meyran to wave his arms overhead and stop the fight.

“This makes Cinderella look like a sad story,” Merchant declared as Douglas and his corner erupted in wild celebration. A still unsteady Tyson needed to be told, “You were counted out…K-O.”

The CompuBox stats revealed the high-impact nature of the contest. Douglas out-landed Tyson 230-101 overall, 128-23 in jabs and 102-78 in power shots and connected on 52% of his total punches, 53% of his jabs and 52% of his hooks, crosses and uppercuts. Though badly out-gunned in terms of volume, Tyson showed that when he punched, he landed. He connected on 47% of his total punches, 30% of his jabs and an impressive 57% of his power shots but because he mustered only 22.6 punches per round to Douglas’ 46.7, he was, for the first time, on the losing end of the equation.

As stunning as those statistics were, the judges’ scorecards revealed that Tyson was still in the fight mathematically. While Larry Rozadilla saw Douglas a rightful 88-82 leader, Masakazu Uchida scored the fight even at 86-86, while Ken Morita astonishingly had Tyson ahead 87-86. Thankfully for Douglas, the challenger’s fists removed Uchida and Morita from the equation.

“I told you in the [interview] room that it was time for James ‘Buster’ Douglas to come out of the closet,” the new champ told Merchant. “I told you that I also had times where I had great fights and come back with two or three fights where I was mediocre and I would leave a lot of doubt. I don’t blame you guys [the media]; you guys go by what you see. But I know and my people know what the real James Douglas was all about.”

On the knockdown, Douglas credited Tyson for landing a good shot but blamed himself for his carelessness.

“A man over 200 pounds has a good shot,” he said. “I was just starting to get real relaxed. I got hit and I came back and sucked it up. But I knew I had him also. Every time he tried to get off, I would come back and offset him by beating him to his punch. And another thing: I was very relaxed. I wasn’t afraid of him and I fear no man because I believe in God. That’s the only man I fear.”

As the WBC belt was strapped around his waist, Douglas couldn’t help but be wistful about the moment.

“I watched you on HBO thousands of times putting belts on guys and interviewing guys and I said, ‘One day, it’s going to be me,'” he said. “And thank God it was me today. Like my dad said, you hit him with shots; let him take it and I go, ‘Oh, OK, you want to take a shot, yeah, be a tough guy.’ Just keep chopping on him, keep chopping on him and eventually he’s going to go. And that’s what happened. As you seen over there, he was flat on his ass!”

With his meal ticket suddenly title-less, Tyson’s promoter, Don King pulled out an unexpected trump card that almost forced the boxing world to un-see what they just saw. At a hastily arranged news conference seven hours after the fight, it was announced that Team Tyson, led by King, lodged a protest with the WBA, WBC and IBF to contend that Douglas did not get up within the required 10 seconds at the end of round eight and that the first “knockout” should nullify the second knockout.

In terms of real-time, King had a point because 14 seconds had elapsed between the time Douglas hit the floor and when he arose. The videotape clearly showed Meyran’s count lagging behind that of the official timekeeper. But in practical terms, King had no case. Once a referee establishes his count – fast or slow – all a fighter needs to do to satisfy all requirements is to arise before the referee’s count of 10. Douglas did just that as he steadied himself by Meyran’s count of nine. Also, Meyran’s count over Tyson was equally slow; it also took 14 seconds of real time to reach his count of nine, after which he waved off the fight based on Tyson’s woeful condition. While the referee is obligated to look toward the timekeeper to establish where in the count he must start and to try his best to stay synched throughout, most times, an official’s count slows down as he goes about the task of assessing the fighter’s condition.

While the IBF immediately recognized Douglas as its champion, the WBA and WBC initially withheld recognition. A firestorm of protest by fans and media prompted King and the other sanctioning bodies to officially award Douglas his rightful victory.

The enormity of Douglas’ feat cannot be understated. Some declared it the biggest upset in heavyweight championship annals while others labeled it the most seismic surprise boxing has ever known. To me, however, the Douglas-Tyson shocker exceeds team sport stunners such as the 1969 Mets that won the World Series, the New York Jets that won Super Bowl III, North Carolina State’s magical run to the 1983 NCAA championship and the U.S. team’s “Miracle on Ice” in the 1980 Winter Olympics. The weight of Douglas’ deed was made even more clear six-and-a-half months later when, in his first defense, a far different Douglas in terms of motivation, conditioning, durability and tenacity lost by a one-punch, third-round knockout to a man in Evander Holyfield who scaled 38 pounds lighter than the champion.

That said, Douglas’ disgrace of October will forever pale to his brilliance in February. For one amazing night a quarter century ago, James “Buster” Douglas was everything he could possibly be – and much more. For that, he will enjoy a place in boxing lore that will last until the last clock stops ticking.

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Lee Groves is a boxing writer and historian based in Friendly, W.Va. He is a full member of the BWAA, from which he has won 12 writing awards, including nine in the last four years and two first-place awards since 2011. He has been an elector for the International Boxing Hall of Fame since 2001 and is also a writer, researcher and punch-counter for CompuBox, Inc. He is the author of “Tales from the Vault: A Celebration of 100 Boxing Closet Classics. To order, please visit Amazon.com or email the author at [email protected] to arrange for autographed copies.