‘It’s like I’m going all over again from the beginning but I’m at the end - I’m the coach now.
#Buster douglas mike tyson now full
‘I’m really enjoying working with these kids – it’s like full circle for me coming back to the place where I started and I’m having a blast.
#Buster douglas mike tyson now professional
‘I have a couple of professional fighters who I manage and I also coach amateur fighters trying to create a dynasty here. He coaches amateur and professional boxers from his gym in Columbus – including two of his sons Kevin, nine, and Artie, 21, who he hopes may follow in his footsteps. The dad-of-four, who lives with wife Bertha, has now successfully battled his demons and has found a new lease of life as a boxing coach. ‘After my coma I decided to look at the brighter side of life, how fortunate a person I am and ever since then I’ve lived a wonderful life.’ ‘I just had to get back involved in life, back involved with my family and I did. My wife was always someone I talked to and confided in but she wasn’t around then so I had to just get through it. ‘I was really down about everything but I didn’t really have anyone to talk to about it. ‘It was depression, the way everything went, my boxing career, the way everything came crashing to an end. But we just keep the faith and keep moving on it’s all we can do.’Įvander Holyfield took the title away from Douglas just months after he won it, slamming the former heavyweight champ with a right punch in the third and final round of their title fight in Las Vegasĭouglas believes it was a combination of tragedies and setbacks that drove him to drink.
‘My youngest brother was shot in 1981 and my brother who was a year younger than me he was shot in 1998. His father Bill, who was also Douglas’ trainer and manager died in 1999 after a hard cancer battle.Īnd two of his brothers were shot dead in separate incidents. ‘I woke up after being in the coma for about three days and I decided right there and then it was my time to get back on the horse and start riding again instead of sitting around moping and feeling bad about myself.’Īs well as surviving the coma, Douglas has had more than his fair share of personal tragedies to cope with. But I got a second chance and I came through. ‘I put on all that weight and I almost passed away. ‘My lowest point was when I went into the diabetic coma. ‘It was never about money I was financially secure, it’s just the way everything didn’t go as I planned after I won that title, then there was the readjustment to get over that, but I kept wallowing in self pity. ‘I was drinking and eating whatever I wanted.
Then finally in 1994, Douglas, who had always managed his diabetes well, hit rock bottom and slipped into a near fatal diabetic coma. Still struggling to deal with the death of his mother – Douglas, a diabetic, stopped training, began downing bottles of cognac and beer – and his weight doubled to nearly 450 pounds. The former champ and now coach hopes Artie and son Kevin, 9, follow in his footsteps “I fought hard that night, I was in shape and he went down.”īut Tyson was not willing to hand over his title that easily, and soon after the fight launched a campaign to strip Douglas of the title – claiming he should have been counted out in the eighth round.Īlthough Tyson ultimately lost the appeal – it spoiled what should have been a night of celebration for Douglas and embroiled him in a legal battle that lasted months.Įven now, Douglas brands Tyson a ‘sore loser’ and admits the pair barely spoke to each other when they met for the first time since the fight two years ago. “It was just great - I have great memories of that night, the preparation, just focusing, feeling good about going in there and doing something everybody thought was impossible,” he said. Champion: In the years after his historic victory, Douglas' boxing career came crashing down as the heavyweight champion fell into a pit of drinking, binge-eating and depressionĮven now, Douglas still remembers the jubilation of that night, the crowd chanting his name, as he became heavyweight champion of the world.
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