champion of the world after knocking out the unbeaten and apparently unbeatable Tyson in the 10th round. It was, everyone agreed, the shock of the century.

But it was a result that could not be allowed to happen. Six hours after Tyson and Douglas climbed into the ring, the men who control boxing returned to the Dome to forbid it. In the eighth round, Douglas had been knocked down and should have been counted out. Added to everything, we had a reprise of boxing’s greatest controversy: the “long count” from the Dempsey-Tunney fight of 1927.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tyson before the seventh round. Photograph: Michael Brennan/Getty Images

The referee, Octavio Meyran from Mexico, publicly recanted while the rulers of the sport looked on. There was Jose Sulaiman of the World BoxingCouncil, there was Gilberto Mendoza of the World Boxing Association and, most important of all, there was the promoter, Don King. Sulaiman said he no longer recognised any champion; Mendoza evaded the question but implied he felt the same. Both organisations will meet the WBC on 20 February, to try to sort out the chaos. Fat chance. The International Boxing Federation, which was not represented in Tokyo, said Douglas was now their champion. So the heavyweight division is back in the confusion from which Tyson rescued it.

Tyson was also on the platform. In one sense, he was the day’s undisputed loser. Douglas was such a no-hoper, Las Vegas refused to take bets. The only arguments were about where exactly Tyson ranked alongside Joe Louis, Marciano and Ali. Now