British Heavyweights of the last 40 years - who wins and a top 10.

[polecateddy]

I suspect had mason fought more guys on Lewis’ embryonic level or guys that chisora had faced his chin wouldn’t look as good.

It was common knowledge at the time Mason fought that he had a very good chin. And that was totally evidenced by the fact Lewis’ big punches could not shift him. He’s a bit of a forgotten character now. But if you do go back and watch what’s available on You Tube, against Pritchard (decent journeyman/dangerman) and others, you’ll see a naturally very strong, well conditioned fighter actually with decent reflexes. Not someone stopping every shot with his chin Henry Wharton style! Lol I think the fact he was a good all rounder would show up your Williams, Whytes and Chisoras in 12 round fights.

[orbtastic]

I am old enough to have watched him on TV. He was a big old lump but let’s not try and make out he was something he wasn’t.

[polecateddy]

I am old enough to have watched him on TV. He was a big old lump but let’s not try and make out he was something he wasn’t.

I just don’t think he’s any worse than Chisora and Whyte. In fact if Mason was afforded more opportunities and given something of the scientific doping regiment that a lot of world class fighters are on these days, it goes without saying he would have been even better.

…also, if you go back and review what he was actually like you may be surprised to see he wasn’t really ‘a lump.’ He looked and moved better than a lot of current heavyweights.

[orbtastic]

I’m not denigrating him in the slightest.

Lump is not a slur. He was a huge bloke and had a massive head and shoulders. I think someone on here said they met him on the tube and said his head was like a breeze block.

He could probably beat Danny Williams or chisora. Who knows. I don’t particularly care.

I’m just saying what others are saying. He wasn’t really operating in rarified air so it’s difficult to judge. He would probably be a difficult night’s work for most on the list. He would be herbie hide’s worst nightmare, the breeze from one of his right hands would have him over

[polecateddy]

I’m not denigrating him in the slightest.

Lump is not a slur. He was a huge bloke and had a massive head and shoulders. I think someone on here said they met him on the tube and said his head was like a breeze block.

He could probably beat Danny Williams or chisora. Who knows. I don’t particularly care.

I’m just saying what others are saying. He wasn’t really operating in rarified air so it’s difficult to judge. He would probably be a difficult night’s work for most on the list. He would be herbie hide’s worst nightmare, the breeze from one of his right hands would have him over

Probably only in the heavyweight division, but if you have that excellent chin, heavy hands and keep going 12 rounds can feel like a long long time for the opponent. Even just with a chin and work rate we recently saw Wallin make Fury happy to get to that finish line!

I know Hide is a bit vulnerable, but what great speed and power. It’s interesting to compare Mason and Hide’s performances against Pritchard on YouTube. Hide is a nightmare to face when he’s in form.

[dr_devious]

From memory Gary Mason was moving around pretty well with a young Lennox Lewis before his eye went.

[polecateddy]

From memory Gary Mason was moving around pretty well with a young Lennox Lewis before his eye went.

He was defiantly chasing and unlike say Bruno/Lewis wasn’t gassing out after 7 rounds. If the eye hadn’t gone it would have been as hard a fight as Lewis/Mercer probably.

[margaret thatcher]

he lost just about every round and got stopped, nowhere near lewis-mercer

big frank gave young len a much better go. mason was a poor man's bruno and fought crap for the most part tbh. why did he have so many utterly meaningless fights? who was managing him?

didnt even have a go at the euro title until the obvious mismatch vs len

[polecateddy]

he lost just about every round and got stopped, nowhere near lewis-mercer

big frank gave young len a much better go. mason was a poor man's bruno and fought crap for the most part tbh. why did he have so many utterly meaningless fights? who was managing him?

didnt even have a go at the euro title until the obvious mismatch vs len

Lewis was warm-ish favourite but plenty bet on Mason. I think the answer to the question regarding why did he not get put into more meaningful fights was the detached retina - surgery to repair and then re-injured by Lewis.

[margaret thatcher]

i hope they didnt lose too much

[polecateddy]

i hope they didnt lose too much

Think I must have been 15 or 16, and lost the bet to my friend who picked Lewis. I kind of knew I was getting the short end of the stick with that. But goes to show that it must have been a hyped event. Big in newspapers and on terrestrial tv.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I’m not denigrating him in the slightest.

Lump is not a slur. He was a huge bloke and had a massive head and shoulders. I think someone on here said they met him on the tube and said his head was like a breeze block.

He could probably beat Danny Williams or chisora. Who knows. I don’t particularly care.

I’m just saying what others are saying. He wasn’t really operating in rarified air so it’s difficult to judge. He would probably be a difficult night’s work for most on the list. He would be herbie hide’s worst nightmare, the breeze from one of his right hands would have him over

It was me I think, and I think the words I used were 'butchers block.'

The other fighter I met who had a similarly huge head, was Glenn McCrory; it was like the front of a giant's Toby Jug.

[Wee Tommy]

From memory Gary Mason was moving around pretty well with a young Lennox Lewis before his eye went.

He was defiantly chasing and unlike say Bruno/Lewis wasn’t gassing out after 7 rounds. If the eye hadn’t gone it would have been as hard a fight as Lewis/Mercer probably.

Are you the same guy who said Carl Thompson would beat Marciano? Was a while back so I might be wrong….

[Twinkle Toes]

Lewis was the young buck going into the fight with Mason, who himself was very close to a title shot. Lewis fought well, his jab was on point. He was happy to walk through a lot of what Mason threw at him which I guess says a lot.

Mason was tough as old boots though and was swinging right until the ref stopped the fight. Something you never saw Bruno do. The eye damage was bad and it ultimately cost him his career. It's debatable he should have even carried on after the retina surgery which was before the Lewis fight. Lewis made a point of targeting that eye.

Mason was ponderous, but definitely a case of a career that was never fulfilled.

[polecateddy]

From memory Gary Mason was moving around pretty well with a young Lennox Lewis before his eye went.

He was defiantly chasing and unlike say Bruno/Lewis wasn’t gassing out after 7 rounds. If the eye hadn’t gone it would have been as hard a fight as Lewis/Mercer probably.

Are you the same guy who said Carl Thompson would beat Marciano? Was a while back so I might be wrong….

Why not? Marciano only weighed 184 pounds. 5’10’’ tall. I’m not that interested in rehashing this though. Think I had a letter in to Boxing News many a decade ago. Think I suggested Johnny Nelson then. Either or! Lol

[Wee Tommy]

He was defiantly chasing and unlike say Bruno/Lewis wasn’t gassing out after 7 rounds. If the eye hadn’t gone it would have been as hard a fight as Lewis/Mercer probably.

Are you the same guy who said Carl Thompson would beat Marciano? Was a while back so I might be wrong….

Why not? Marciano only weighed 184 pounds. 5’10’’ tall. I’m not that interested in rehashing this though. Think I had a letter in to Boxing News many a decade ago. Think I suggested Johnny Nelson then. Either or! Lol

Enough said!

[polecateddy]

Are you the same guy who said Carl Thompson would beat Marciano? Was a while back so I might be wrong….

Why not? Marciano only weighed 184 pounds. 5’10’’ tall. I’m not that interested in rehashing this though. Think I had a letter in to Boxing News many a decade ago. Think I suggested Johnny Nelson then. Either or! Lol

Enough said!

I kind of suspect some of the vitriolic haters of the idea back in the early 2000’s have probably died off a bit, making way for the ‘okay, that’s not totally unreasonable’ modern crowd. Lol

[Wee Tommy]

Why not? Marciano only weighed 184 pounds. 5’10’’ tall. I’m not that interested in rehashing this though. Think I had a letter in to Boxing News many a decade ago. Think I suggested Johnny Nelson then. Either or! Lol

Enough said!

I kind of suspect some of the vitriolic haters of the idea back in the early 2000’s have probably died off a bit, making way for the ‘okay, that’s not totally unreasonable’ modern crowd. Lol

I thought you didn’t want to rehash that nonsense?

[JamesPhilips]

I have Steve Robinson beating them all. Too big. Too strong. Too blonde.

[cfang]

he lost just about every round and got stopped, nowhere near lewis-mercer

big frank gave young len a much better go. mason was a poor man's bruno and fought crap for the most part tbh. why did he have so many utterly meaningless fights? who was managing him?

didnt even have a go at the euro title until the obvious mismatch vs len

This is what i remembered seeing the fight when it happened and just rewatched and lewis had no trouble at all with mason, in fact mason caught lewis with a few big shots and lewis didn't even blink. Mason was british level and beat nobody. He was a level below many of the top uk heavys since, Brave guy though and tried hard.

[margaret thatcher]

he lost just about every round and got stopped, nowhere near lewis-mercer

big frank gave young len a much better go. mason was a poor man's bruno and fought crap for the most part tbh. why did he have so many utterly meaningless fights? who was managing him?

didnt even have a go at the euro title until the obvious mismatch vs len

This is what i remembered seeing the fight when it happened and just rewatched and lewis had no trouble at all with mason, in fact mason caught lewis with a few big shots and lewis didn't even blink. Mason was british level and beat nobody. He was a level below many of the top uk heavys since, Brave guy though and tried hard.

yep, totally agree

[polecateddy]

he lost just about every round and got stopped, nowhere near lewis-mercer

big frank gave young len a much better go. mason was a poor man's bruno and fought crap for the most part tbh. why did he have so many utterly meaningless fights? who was managing him?

didnt even have a go at the euro title until the obvious mismatch vs len

This is what i remembered seeing the fight when it happened and just rewatched and lewis had no trouble at all with mason, in fact mason caught lewis with a few big shots and lewis didn't even blink. Mason was british level and beat nobody. He was a level below many of the top uk heavys since, Brave guy though and tried hard.

yep, totally agree

Probably a bit harsh as he performed well enough against Tyrell Biggs, similar to how Francesco Damiani did in fact. The first WBO heavyweight champ and a European Champion.

[margaret thatcher]

id have to rewatch the fights as it's been a while, but i recall thinking mason was getting outboxed and losing to biggs before stopping him in the 7th, with biggs even playing around with him and getting cocky. whereas damiani won every round before stopping him in 5

that was probably mason's best win in his career, pretty disappointing if he was really as good as you think

[polecateddy]

id have to rewatch the fights as it's been a while, but i recall thinking mason was getting outboxed and losing to biggs before stopping him in the 7th, with biggs even playing around with him and getting cocky. whereas damiani won every round before stopping him in 5

that was probably mason's best win in his career, pretty disappointing if he was really as good as you think

Damiani won on a cut.

[margaret thatcher]

ya, won every round and then stopped him, easy work