Mac Foster Vs Buster Mathis

**SageBrush** · 04-02-2012, 01:25 PM

Big Mac Foster Vs even bigger Buster Mathis, Two heavyweight contenders who both contributed plenty of interesting ink to the very colourful late 60's early 70's Heavyweight landscape, and it is perhaps a wonder that their scripts didnt encompass each other at some point,

Both despatched Sonny Moore as might be expected, also both lost to Jerry Quarry, with Buster going the full route, both lost to a roadshow Ali over the full route,with Ali patently allowing Buster that privilege, Buster also notched a couple of points wins against Bob Stallings which Mac could not replicate further down the road, After the Pension boosting Jackpot of the Ali fights, both Mac and Buster put on weight (yes, buster got bigger ) and drifted down the "Mellow Trick Road" to their respective career end games, Buster, having crushed any harboured delusions of that Butterbean forerunner Claude Humphrey McBride, had any of his own delusions crushed quicktime by the emerging Ron Lyle..

Foster ambled through his last four fights being losses on points to Clark Bugner Stallings and
Ward, it might be that even the prime Mac would of struggled to stop any of these experienced stayers,

Should historians perhaps be a little kinder to these two ?
Buster beat Amos Lincoln (of Course as did Persol ) and beat Chuvalo by near shutout, and did have some decent results against the middle tier, The Lyle last fight aside Buster was only stopped by Frazier, and it took Joe 10 rounds plus of incessant Hacking to produce that Timber Moment, Bursting Busters Bubble might not be as easy as first thought ?

Foster, who never won on points, must of been an intimidating sight for his usual fare of arthritic Tigers and Blunted Lions, like a fit young Burglar in an old peoples home, he usually had little to fear, but on the two occasions he tried to raid the gym Lockeroom (Quarry/Ali)
he was apprehended pretty quickly, that said, he never stopped trying against Ali for the full 15 rounds, and in the big and beefy stakes he did pummel out a stoppage over Big Bepi Ros
Could he do likewise against the more Adroit Mathis ?

So Can Foster Bust Buster ? or can Buster survive the Mac Attack and go on to win ?
Is this Another Big Mac Buster can Devour ? or would Buster Find this Big Mac too hot to Handle ?

**hagler04** · 04-02-2012, 06:06 PM

I consider Mathis, who had true world-class boxing skills and in his prime good stamina, a full class above Foster, who was simply a puncher with fair athleticism and a solid beard.

**Kyoodle** · 04-03-2012, 06:33 PM

Didn't Mathis go through trainers like most people go through socks? I don't think Buster had the head or the desire for the sport, at least to be successful at the elite level. Neither did Big Mac. Even a fantasy match between these two is snooze-inducing, IMO.

**Overhand_Right** · 04-05-2012, 03:04 PM

I think Mathis stayed with Cus D'Amato/Joey Farriello right the way through didn't he? I think Mathis had the skills and moves to avoid the bombs and UD Mac Foster.

**Kyoodle** · 04-06-2012, 10:10 PM

No, he didn't. In fact, if I look hard enough in my archives (AKA: pile of junk) I think I can find the original paperwork on the lawsuit that Mathis filed in dropping Cus and the management group he was with, in order to sign on with another group headed by Sonny Werblin, IIRC.

Buster was a flighty head-case....nice man from all accounts, and a decent fighter, but a head-case nonetheless.

**Overhand_Right** · 04-07-2012, 04:31 AM

Interesting - never knew that! Buster was decades before my time and he died very young so there's not a great deal of information on him. He was interviewed a couple of times in the magazines around the Bowe/Mathis Jnr fight in the and he sounded a warm, lovely man. I think the thing that I remembered the most was that he said he tended to sit up alone at night after his wife had gone to bed and relive the Joe Frazier fight in his mind, and what he should have done. He said he'd live the last 27 years or so with his wife and Joe Frazier. A haunted man.

Interesting guy, I would like to know more about him.

**mrbig1** · 04-07-2012, 09:44 AM

Originally Posted by Overhand_Right

Interesting - never knew that! Buster was decades before my time and he died very young so there's not a great deal of information on him. He was interviewed a couple of times in the magazines around the Bowe/Mathis Jnr fight in the and he sounded a warm, lovely man. I think the thing that I remembered the most was that he said he tended to sit up alone at night after his wife had gone to bed and relive the Joe Frazier fight in his mind, and what he should have done. He said he'd live the last 27 years or so with his wife and Joe Frazier. A haunted man.

Interesting guy, I would like to know more about him.

There was nothing he could have done vs Fraizer. Joe was just the better fighter. By the time these two met Mathis has fought nobodies. Frazier on the other hand fought and beat some very good fighters. I was 13 at the time and didn't give Mathis a snowball chance in hell of beating Frazier. Mathis heart was never into boxing IMO.

**Dino1** · 04-11-2012, 04:55 PM

Quarry beat both of them and I am trying to compare those fights in my mind. I think Mathis would have outboxed Foster and won a decision. Neither was top notch, neither was bad, just not good enough to hang with the big boys.

**Overhand_Right** · 04-17-2012, 03:44 PM

I think they'd beat virtually everyone who has held one of the multiple world titles since Lennox Lewis retired. Mathis Snr might well outbox all of them.

**Dino1** · 04-19-2012, 08:24 AM

About twelve years ago, a British reporter visiting California said to Foster something like "In your day, the training modalities were quite crude, Mr. Foster. No weight training, no supplements, etc. yet you managed to stay in remarkable shape for your fights. What was your secret training modality?". Foster replied "I sparred with Liston"

**Overhand_Right** · 04-19-2012, 04:43 PM

And look at the crap weight training and supplements have created. Big fat guys with huge biceps who can't fight.

**don1234** · 05-12-2012, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by mrbig1

There was nothing he could have done vs Fraizer. Joe was just the better fighter. By the time these two met Mathis has fought nobodies. Frazier on the other hand fought and beat some very good fighters. I was 13 at the time and didn't give Mathis a snowball chance in hell of beating Frazier. Mathis heart was never into boxing IMO.

Frazier cited the Mathis fight his toughest for some time following the bout. Buster was never quite the same fighter after Joe.

**Kyoodle** · 05-13-2012, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by Overhand_Right

I think they'd beat virtually everyone who has held one of the multiple world titles since Lennox Lewis retired. Mathis Snr might well outbox all of them.

Given the present state of the HW's, it's not far-fetched to think that "Dynamite" Douglas, with a little help from the good folks at "Weight-On", could have been a force in the division today.