20 years ago today-The Punch Heard Around The World

[Centreville]

Hard to believe.

[NJ Cards Fan]

Up until that fight everybody was afraid of Tyson. That fight proved that if you were not in awe of him, you could beat him. Holyfield learned that lesson well.

[phins]

That fight was literally on HBO. No pay-per-view, no nothing...I'll never forget that fight. I'll also never forget the fact that Buster Douglas was down for 12 seconds the round before, but the ref was late to start counting..

[InvincibleCakeEater]

That fight was literally on HBO. No pay-per-view, no nothing...I'll never forget that fight. I'll also never forget the fact that Buster Douglas was down for 12 seconds the round before, but the ref was late to start counting..

And he was saved by the bell IIRC. Down for 12, gets up and the bell rings.

[Spider John]

One of my favorite sports moments. I was at a nightclub that had a big screen in the back toward the bathrooms. As I passed by I saw that the fight was on, and since it was a Tyson had been so totally dominant in all of his fights I thought it wouldn't go long, so I stopped to watch. There were only a couple of people there with me when the fight started. As the fight progressed others would pass by and ask how it was going. When they were told Douglas was hanging tough the crowd begin to grow, and by the end of the fight the room was packed, and went the crowd went wild when Tyson went down. We knew we had just seen something special.

[Leroy]

Not the same fight, Spider...but a Tyson moment for me. Our bass player asked if I would mind going to North Dakota and playing a wedding dance for a cousin or something. I asked where, and he said just north of Jamestown, which is pretty much in the middle of North Dakota. Well, turned out that it was ten miles from the Canadian border (which I didn't realize until we were past Jamestown). I had jammed all night at a lake get together, went to bed at 4, got up at 6 and met the sound guy and lead guitar player at 8. We were driving the shortbus (RIP). We went about 20 miles and it started to sputter, and had to go about 40 mph all the way to the border. Anyway, the dance was good and we had fun. At breakfast the next morning, the tv was on and I heard that he had bitten Holyfields ear off.

Partially chewed eggs on table.

[RickStain]

I'm a big believer in the theory that Tyson was told to string it out for a few rounds to keep the crowd happy. They were starting to have trouble selling his fights because they were over so fast. But it turns out Tyson didn't have the stamina and Douglas was just too big a tired Tyson.