The official rule is that when a knockdown occurs, the ringside time keeper starts the count then the referee picks up the count from him. It is not always an actual ten seconds, it is when the referees count reaches ten.
As for the last part of your question, Mike was on a down hill slide before the Douglas fight, which began when he fired Kevin Rooney. Rooney was Tyson's trainer through the latter part of his amateur career and most of his pro career. He kept Mike in line for the most part and he taqught the head movement and combination punching that made Mike so lethal. Once Rooney was gone, Tyson's fighting style was not the same and he abandoned the head movement and combination punching and began walking straight in looking for a knockout punch.
Speaking of the Tyson/Douglas fight...I( was at the funeral home earlier today to see Greg Page. Greg was in Tokyo working as a sparring partner for Mike for the Douglas fight and he dropped Tyson in training before the fight and it was big news on the HBO telecast that night. On another note, Louisville's James Pritchard was also in Tokyo as a sparring partner for Buster Douglas.




Reply With Quote