On this day 11 February 2001 (Exactly 18 years ago) Accra Hearts of Oak won the African Super Cup – the Felix Houphouet-Boigny trophy – by scoring a goal in each half to beat Zamalek of Egypt, 2-0.
The game in Ghana’s second-largest city Kumasi, pitted the continent’s two best clubs against each other to determine which one really deserves to be called the very best on the continent.
It was the Ghanaian side’s fourth trophy in succession after winning Ghana’s league and FA Cup, and the African Champions League in December 2000.
Hearts were to travel to Spain in July as the undisputed African football heavyweights for the FIFA Club World Championship, but the tournament was later cancelled.
The opening goal came in the 12th minute through Charles Taylor who pounced on a mistake by the Egyptian goalkeeper, Abdel Wahed El- Sayed.
Many Hearts of Oak fans made the 300km trip to Kumasi
The Egyptian fumbled as he was challenged for an airborne cross by Hearts striker, Ishmael Addo.
Within a minute of the second half, Ghana’s Footballer of the Year, Emmanuel Osei Kuffour, scored Hearts’ second goal, with a rather harmless-looking shot after picking up a cross by midfielder, Edmund Copson.
The hosts could have scored more goals but Hearts’ deadly trio of Kuffour, Addo and Taylor squandered many chances; to the annoyance of many of their fans.
In the 80th minute Addo curled a volley at the Zamalek goal which went just inches wide as El Sayed crashed himself into the post trying in his efforts to avoid conceding a third goal.
Hossam Hassan failed to sparkle for the Egyptians. Zamalek showed several flashes of themselves, but their efforts amounted to very little and even their top player Hossam Hassan had to be substituted in the second half.
In one memorable Egyptian miss, veteran star Khaled El Ghandour shot wide before the interval with a lot of space to draw the tie level.
Walid Abdelatif nearly pulled a goal back for Zamalek in the 59th minute, but Hearts’ Daniel Quaye intervened to clear the ball from the goal line.
The top scorer in the Egyptian league, Tarek El Sayed, was the most influential in the Zamalek team but Hearts of Oak won all the duels in midfield.
Hearts banned
Hearts played host to Zamalek in Ghana’s second-largest city Kumasi – which is not their home ground – because the club was banned for a year from playing any continental club games at the Accra Sports Stadium.
The decision was reached by Caf following the unruly behaviour of Hearts fans at the Champions League final in Accra on December 17, 2000 against Esperance of Tunisia.
Hearts of Oak Line-up : Sammy Adjei, Amankwa Mireku, Jacob Nettey, Dan Quaye, Stephen Tetteh, Edmund Copson, Adja Tetteh/Abdul Razak, Charles Allotey/Emmanuel Adjogu, Ishmael Addo, Emmanuel Osei Kuffour, Charles Taylor.
Zamalek Line Up: Abdel Wahed El-Sayed / Ibrahim Hassan / Medhat Abdel Hady / Hossam Abdel Monem / Haytham Farouk / Tarek El-Said / Ahmed Saleh (Tarek El-Sayed) / Tamer Abdel Hamid / Khaled El-Ghandour (El-Hassan Mohamed – 69′) / Hossam Hassan (Abdel Latif El-Doumany – 70′) / Walid Salah Abdel Latif
On this day 11 February 1990 (Exactly 29 years ago) James ‘Buster’ Douglas caused one of the greatest sensations in boxing history when he knocked out former undisputed, undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson on a Tokyo night.
Mike Tyson – Buster Douglas, billed as Tyson Is Back!, occurred at the Tokyo Dome . The event is historically significant, as the then-undefeated, undisputed heavyweight champion Tyson lost by knockout to the 42–1 underdog Douglas. The fight is widely considered one of the biggest upsets in sports history
Background
Going into the fight, Mike Tyson was the undefeated and undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. He held the WBC, WBA, and IBF titles. Despite the several controversies that marked Tyson’s profile at the time, such as his abusive relationship with Robin Givens; the contractual battles between longtime manager Bill Cayton and promoter Don King; and Tyson’s departure from longtime trainer Kevin Rooney; Tyson was still dominant in the ring, scoring a 93-second knockout against Carl “The Truth” Williams in his previous fight. Most considered this fight to be a warm-up bout for Tyson before meeting up with then-undefeated number 1 heavyweight contender Evander Holyfield (who was at the ringside for the fight).Tyson was viewed as such a dominant heavyweight that he was not only viewed as the world’s top heavyweight, but often as the number one fighter in the world pound-for-pound (including by Ring Magazine), a rarity for heavyweights.
Buster Douglas was ranked as the #7 heavyweight by Ring Magazine, and had met with mixed success in his professional boxing career up to that point. His previous title fight was against Tony Tucker in 1987, in which he was TKO’d in the 10th round. However, a string of six consecutive wins gave him the opportunity to fight Tyson. In the time leading up to the fight, Douglas faced a number of setbacks, including the death of his mother, Lula Pearl, 23 days before the fight. Additionally, the mother of his son was facing a severe kidney ailment, and he had contracted the flu on the day before the fight.
The Flight
From the beginning of the fight it was apparent that Douglas was not afraid. He displayed a lot of spring and life in his body movement and he wasn’t cautious in letting his punches fly whenever he saw the opportunity to attack Tyson. He used his quick and accurate jab to prevent Tyson from getting inside, where Tyson was most dangerous. When Tyson tried to get inside, Douglas tied him up, moved away, or would immediately hit Tyson with multiple punches as Tyson came within Douglas’ range. Early on Douglas was more agile than Tyson and outlanded Tyson in exchanges.
After a lackluster and ineffectual third round, Tyson cornerman Jay Bright screamed at his fighter “Don’t just stand there and look at him, you’ve gotta work!” Boxer “Sugar” Ray Leonard, at ringside doing commentary for HBO, noted Douglas’ dominance with the jab and right hand and said Tyson was having one of those occasional days in the ring where “you just don’t have it…things just don’t click in”.
In the middle rounds Tyson managed to land a few of his signature uppercuts, but Douglas was still dominating the fight. Tyson’s left eye began to swell from Douglas’ right jabs. Tyson’s cornermen were caught unprepared; they hadn’t brought an endswell or ice packs, usually standard equipment for a fight. Instead, they filled a rubber glove with ice water and held it on Tyson’s eye between rounds. At one point Aaron Snowell, Tyson’s primary cornerman caught the chain from the identification badge hanging from his neck between the iced glove and Tyson’s eye. As Snowell moved, Tyson winced in pain as the chain dragged from one side of his injured eye to the other. Confusion and panic grew in his corner as the fight went on. Despite Tyson’s inability to execute an effective fight plan, his corner continued to give him the same advice between rounds to move his head, jab his way inside and deliver a right hand. In the eighth round, a round Douglas dominated until the last few seconds, HBO’s Larry Merchant noted “Douglas is asking of Tyson, some questions he hasn’t been asked before…in the last few rounds of a fight you have to come back and win it.”
Within the last 10 seconds of the 8th round, Tyson, who had been backed onto the ropes, landed a big right uppercut that sent Douglas to the canvas. Douglas got up after a 9-second count (the validity of which Tyson promoter Don King would later argue in vain).
In the dramatic 9th round Tyson came out aggressively to end the fight and save his title, hoping that Douglas was still hurt from the 8th-round knockdown. Douglas was able to fight off Tyson’s attack. Both men traded punches before Douglas connected on a four-punch combination that staggered Tyson back to the ropes. With Tyson hurt along the ropes, Douglas closed in and unleashed a vicious attack to try to knock Tyson out. Tyson tried to fight Douglas off but it was in vain. Douglas continued to land hard punches on Tyson as the round came to a close. Tyson withstood the punishment and barely survived the 9th round.
In the tenth round Tyson pushed forward to fight, but he was still seriously hurting from the accumulation of punishment given throughout the match. As Tyson walked forward, Douglas measured him with a few jabs before landing a devastating uppercut that snapped Tyson’s head upward, stopping Tyson in his tracks. As Tyson began to reel back from the uppercut, Douglas immediately
followed with four punches to the head, knocking Tyson down for the first time in his career. In a famous scene, Tyson fumbled for his mouthpiece on the canvas before sticking one end in his mouth with the other end hanging out. The champion attempted to make it back to his feet to continue fighting but referee Octavio Meyran counted him out. Buster Douglas thus became the new undisputed heavyweight champion and the fight became one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. The official scorecards through nine rounds were 87–86 for Tyson, 86–86 and 88–83 for Douglas
During the post fight interview, Douglas broke down in tears when asked why he was able to win this fight when no one thought he could. “Because of my mother…God bless her heart” said the emotional new Heavyweight Champion.
By George ‘Alan Green’ Mahamah
