COVER VS. COVER

Thirty-four years before former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk became the undisputed king at heavyweight, there was Evander Holyfield.

Holyfield won bronze as a light heavyweight at the 1984 Olympics; dominated his way to a full collection of belts at cruiserweight, which had a weight limit of 190 pounds at the time (unfortunately, The Ring had ceased to recognize the legitimacy of the division during this time — read “The Lost Champions” in our Nov/Dec 2022 issue); and then, in 1988, the 6-foot-2½ Alabamian made the some-said-crazy decision to take on the largest men in the sport. Over the next two years, he went 6-0 with six knockouts.

Still, some said Holyfield was too small for the man who had just accomplished the upset of the century. James “Buster” Douglas had fought all 36 of his previous bouts as a heavyweight. He’d lost four of them, but that didn’t matter at all, because on February 11, 1990, he’d knocked out Mike Tyson in Japan. Eight months later, he was making the first defense of his titles against Holyfield in Las Vegas.

Although Douglas didn’t tower over his foe the way Tyson Fury did over Usyk, Holyfield was outweighed by nearly 40 pounds on the scale. And just like Usyk, he was too fast and too skilled. After two rounds plus one minute of outboxing a man who’d perhaps celebrated his place in history a bit too much, Holyfield knocked Douglas out with a single right counter and became the third undisputed heavyweight champion of the three-belt era.

Here they are at a pre-fight press event on October 1, 1990:

James “Buster” Douglas

Evander Holyfield