Buster Mathis, Jr.

Buster Mathis Jr., (actually Buster DAmato Mathis- not a Jr.) (born March 25, 1970 in East Grand Rapids, Michigan), is an American former professional boxer in the heavyweight division.

Early life

The son of Buster Mathis, a heavyweight boxer from the 1960s, who left his son a great legacy, being invited to the Olympics, and was a contender with boxing champions such as Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Mathis Jr. was a heavy man and took up boxing because he was bullied as a child until the age of 14, and also for the benefit of losing extra weight.

Professional career

Mathis Jr. turned pro in 1991 and quickly put together 12 wins. A busy, crowding fighter, Mathis was small for a heavyweight at around 220 lbs but skilled enough to beat fairly respected fighters like Levi Billups, Justin Fortune and Mike Dixon very early in his career. Buster Mathis encouraged his son to fewer higher paying fights, using the Mathis name to his advantage. He was considered a weak puncher (3 KO's in those 12 fights) but his opposition was above average.

Buster Mathis

Buster Mathis (June 11, 1943 – September 6, 1995) was a boxer who had a very successful career as an amateur heavyweight boxer. He qualified for a spot in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. However, he was injured and was unable to compete there. Instead of him, the fighter Mathis beat in the Olympic Trials went to the Olympics. This fighter was the legendary Joe Frazier, who went on to win the gold medal.

Mathis was an impressive hulking figure who often fought at around 245lbs. He was surprisingly agile, with good boxing skill and respected power. His combination punches were fast and accurate too.

Professional career

Mathis turned professional in June 1965 with a second round knockout victory over Bob Maynard. Buster Mathis went on to win his next 22 contests as well and qualified for a shot at the New York State Athletic Commission World Heavyweight Title, which had become vacant after Muhammad Ali was stripped of the title for refusing to be drafted into the United States army.

The Title fight was to be held March 4, 1968 in New York's Madison Square Garden against 'smoking' Joe Frazier, his old rival. Both boxers were unbeaten as professionals, so tension was high. Ring magazine noted that Mathis had built up useful experience on a range of mostly competent but non ranked opponents, whilst Frazier had been thrown in the deep end early and by now had battled several top names. This may have had a telling outcome in the contest.

Mike Tyson

Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson (/ˈtaɪsən/; born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer. He held the undisputed world heavyweight championship and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight titles at 20 years, 4 months, and 22 days old. Tyson won his first 19 professional bouts by knockout, 12 of them in the first round. He won the WBC title in 1986 after defeating Trevor Berbick by a TKO in the second round. In 1987, Tyson added the WBA and IBF titles after defeating James Smith and Tony Tucker. This made him the first heavyweight boxer to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC and IBF titles, and the only heavyweight to successively unify them.

In 1988, Tyson became the lineal champion when he knocked out Michael Spinks in 91 seconds. Tyson successfully defended the world heavyweight championship nine times, including victories over Larry Holmes and Frank Bruno. In 1990, he lost his titles to underdog James "Buster" Douglas, by knockout in round 10. Attempting to regain the titles, he defeated Donovan Ruddock twice in 1991, but pulled out of a fight with undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield due to injury. In 1992, Tyson was convicted of raping Desiree Washington and sentenced to six years in prison but was released after serving three years. After his release, he engaged in a series of comeback fights. In 1996, he won the WBC and WBA titles after defeating Frank Bruno and Bruce Seldon by knockout. With his defeat of Bruno, Tyson joined Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali, Tim Witherspoon, Evander Holyfield, and George Foreman as the only men in boxing history to that point to have regained a heavyweight championship after having lost it. After being stripped of the WBC title, Tyson lost his WBA crown to Evander Holyfield in November 1996 by an eleventh-round TKO. Their 1997 rematch ended when Tyson was disqualified for biting part of Holyfield's ear off.

Buster

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Riddick Bowe

Riddick Lamont Bowe (born August 10, 1967) is an American former professional boxer.

As an amateur he won a silver medal in the super heavyweight division at the 1988 Olympic Games. After turning professional, Bowe became a two-time world heavyweight champion, having first won the WBA, WBC and IBF titles in 1992 to become the undisputed heavyweight champion. His second reign as heavyweight champion was in 1995, when he won the WBO title. Bowe retired from boxing in 1996, but made a return in 2004. He has been inactive since 2008, when he won his last professional bout in Germany.

Bowe became the first fighter to knock down and defeat Evander Holyfield when he claimed the undisputed world heavyweight title in 1992. Holyfield won their rematch in 1993, handing Bowe his first and only professional loss. Bowe later became the first fighter to stop Holyfield, when he won their third match via TKO in 1995.

In a 2010 article by BoxingScene, Bowe was ranked the 21st greatest heavyweight of all time. In 2015, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.