How good is Buster Mathis Sr.

kovit · Post by **kovit** » 04 Oct 2004, 16:56

I would like to know how good is former Heavyweight contender Buster Mathis Sr. who fought Chuvalo, Quarry, Wepner, Lyle, Frazier, and Ali? Please tell me are his arms long in reach, also does he ever weighs in less than 220 pounds, and does he ever weighs more than 300 pounds. I would please like to know all his weights completed on his record except that are already shown his weight.

Bladder · Post by **Bladder** » 04 Oct 2004, 17:59

Buster Mathis Sr was very good, world class even ............. at eating pies.

His arms were long in reach ....... which enabled him to carry a lot of pies.

If he ever weighed more than 300 pounds, then most of it was probably pie.

kovit · Post by **kovit** » 04 Oct 2004, 19:51

Cool thanks Bladder.

I heard Mathis have the reach of 76', is it true, if not then how long was Mathis' reach. Does he dancing around like Ali with his jabs, but he was a little bit slower doesn't he?

dempseyfire · Post by **dempseyfire** » 04 Oct 2004, 20:28

kovit wrote:I would like to know how good is former Heavyweight contender Buster Mathis Sr. who fought Chuvalo, Quarry, Wepner, Lyle, Frazier, and Ali? Please tell me are his arms long in reach, also does he ever weighs in less than 220 pounds, and does he ever weighs more than 300 pounds. I would please like to know all his weights completed on his record except that are already shown his weight.

There was a period in the 1960s when Mathis was world class. The Frazier fight is a great one if you ever get the chance to see it. If you look at his record, you can see that he only lost to the very best. In the 70s, his weight got the better of him but he was still better then a few of the fatties around nowadays . . . (see Kirk Johnson)

Sweet Scientist · Post by **Sweet Scientist** » 05 Oct 2004, 02:37

Buster wasn't half bad there in the late '60s, I always thought he could have been a little more trim, he was 'bouncy' fat...One of the worst fights in history was Buster (256) vs. Ali (227 & not in great shape, around the time Ali realized that he couldn't get his waistline to look like it did when he was in his early '20s, so he kind of gave up)...sloooooww & boring...Undefeated Buster fought a good fight against Frazier for about 10 rounds...until he ran out of gas...which was only a matter of time against young Frazier...Based on what he did against Frazier, I remember Buster picked Ali to beat Frazier in their 1st fight...he said he didn't have the stamina to last against Frazier, but that Ali would...wrong again....

kovit · Post by **kovit** » 05 Oct 2004, 22:04

Does Mathis pick Ali to beat Frazier in their 2nd and 3rd fight? This time Mathis knew Ali would win. Does Mathis have a long reach like Ali at 82' or a little shorter, please tell me?

Sweet Scientist · Post by **Sweet Scientist** » 06 Oct 2004, 02:00

kovit wrote:Does Mathis pick Ali to beat Frazier in their 2nd and 3rd fight? This time Mathis knew Ali would win. Does Mathis have a long reach like Ali at 82' or a little shorter, please tell me?

I really don't know who Mathis picked in the 2nd & 3rd fights...There wasn't as much publicity surrounding the other 2 fights...the first fight, when you had 2 undefeated champions had an unbelievable amount of publicity...even non-boxing fans knew about that fight, women who didn't like sports at all knew about that fight...The Fight of the Century...I doubt that you'll ever have that kind of media coverage for a boxing match again...although I hope I'm wrong...it would be nice to generate that kind of interest again...

Jaclem · Post by **Jaclem** » 07 Oct 2004, 02:13

...right up until the present reach was measured by the fighters "wingspan"...which could be deceptive. a very wide fighter like mathis would have his chest as part of the measurement. the current method of measuring from the armpit to the fist is more accurate.

added note..the wingspan measurement the great majority of the time is about the same as the person's height.

zojo · Post by **zojo** » 07 Oct 2004, 05:10

Remember, Mathis actually beat Frazier during the Olympic box-offs finals. However, he broke his knuckle during the fight and Joe took his place.

The rest is history...

THE DANCING MASTER · Post by **THE DANCING MASTER** » 07 Oct 2004, 20:31

From what I remember Buster Mathis could move around pretty well for a guy his size during the late 60's. Who knows what he could have done if he had been trimmer because I think there was some actual ability there.

I saw the Ali-Mathis "fight" closed circuit. (Remember those?) It was a joke. The following Saturday Howard Cossell tore into Ali for not being in shape and they showed some of the bout with music in the background. Ali later appeared on the Mike Douglas Show and defended his patty cake performance by stating that he didn't want to hurt Mathis.

How good is Buster Mathis Sr.

How good is Buster Mathis Sr.

Re: How good is Buster Mathis Sr.