In one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, James ‘Buster’ Douglas defeated Mike Tyson at the Tokyo Dome in Japan back in February 1990. Absolutely nobody saw the outcome coming, but fueled by his promise to his late mother, Douglas did the unthinkable and knocked out Iron Mike in the 10th round at the height of his heavyweight supremacy. The loss was so big and shocking that Mike Tyson fans still talk about it to this day.

One of those die-hard fans is stand-up comedian and impressionist Aries Spears, who recently appeared in an interview with DJ Vlad on his YouTube channel. The subject of discussion — Buster Douglas’ knockdown in round 8, which seems to have started a heated debate between Spears and the host of the show to determine whether Tyson was robbed of a win that night. 

Aries Spears argues Mike Tyson won

Speaking to Aries Spears, DJ Vlad brought up the infamous fight between Tyson and Douglas, birthing a hypothetical scenario where Tyson didn’t go to prison following the fight in 1992. As he was presenting his question about a potential rematch between them without the prison stint, Spears quickly jumped the gun, stating, “Which I was so mad had never happened.”

When the host started explaining why the bout had never taken place, Spears, once again jumped in to state, “And technically Mike won that fight…” Vlad didn’t agree with this assessment from Spears at all, as he denied Spears’ take on the fight. Despite that, the comedian remained adamant, suggesting, “Yes, he did… Douglas was down for 14 seconds…” 

This was a point of contention between the duo, with Spears claiming Douglas was given extra time to recover following his eight-round knockdown while the host argued that Douglas was ready to fight. “It was a late count. When he got knocked down, the referee was telling Mike to go to his corner. He was down for at least two or 3 seconds before the count began,” Spears hit back animatedly.

However, the host wasn’t budging and vehemently argued that Douglas wasn’t given extra time. This prompted a fireball reaction from Spears, who erupted, stating, “I don’t fanboy about much, but I’m a f**king haua when it comes to Tyson, [Eddie] Murphy, and [Muhammad] Ali… I’ve done the homework.”

To solve the issue, the reporter brought up statements from both Tyson and Douglas on the long-count drama. In a prior interview, Tyson had spoken about the ten count given to Douglas in the 8th round, stating, “What I was complaining about [was] that he was knocked out, he [was] knocked down for 14 seconds and then they gave [him] a long count.”

Meanwhile, in another interview, Douglas too argued on his behalf that nothing of such sort happened. Instead, he claimed that Tyson was the one who got the longer counts because “That referee was scared to death.” To this day, the debate continues to echo in the minds of boxing fans. Was Mike Tyson robbed of a win in the eighth before he was knocked out in the tenth? It’s doubtful the referee was playing favorites—Tyson probably lost because he wasn’t on his game. It’s even clearer since he didn’t seem to take the Douglas fight seriously in the first place.

Mike Tyson’s botched training for James ‘Buster’ Douglas fight

Mike Tyson’s stunning loss to ‘Buster’ Douglas in 1990 is often chalked up to his failure to take the fight seriously. Tyson, who was 37-0 at the time and the reigning undisputed heavyweight champion, appeared distracted in the lead-up to the bout. Reports indicated that Tyson had signed a deal to fight Evander Holyfield later that year, possibly leading him to overlook Douglas. 

Not to mention, Tyson was reportedly knocked down during a sparring session with Greg Page, raising concerns about his readiness. According to Tsuyoshi Hamada, who witnessed the sparring, “It was clearly a [knock] down,” though Tyson’s camp dismissed it as “a slip or push”. Tyson’s lack of focus was further highlighted by a New York Times report that claimed he “quit after three rounds” of sparring the next day. This lackluster preparation may have contributed to one of the greatest upsets in boxing history.

While there’s no point in getting riled up over what has happened in the past, comedian Aries Spears can’t seem to handle the loss Mike Tyson suffered because of what Spears feels was a long count given to Douglas. Regardless, the question is, do you think Tyson should have won that fight?