Legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum was not in Japan when Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas fought at the Tokyo Dome in February 1990. When Douglas scored a 10th-round knockout in one of the most shocking upsets in boxing history – the image of Tyson sought out on the canvas as his mouthpiece has reverberated through the years – Arum watched the fight in a Las Vegas restaurant .
Like most, Arum didn’t make the trip to Japan in part because no one gave Douglas even a chance to beat Tyson and the fight wasn’t expected to be a big deal. So he watched it happen on a big TV screen instead of from ringside in Tokyo.
That day, 34 years ago, was the last time boxing took place at the famous venue. However, the sweet science returns to the Big Egg on Monday with a title fight between undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya “Monster” Inoue and challenger Luis “Pantera” Nery.
