Muhammmad Ali vs Buster Mathis 'The Battle of the Fat Bastards'

[Senor Pepe']

November 17, 1971

Houston Astrodome

Muhammad Ali, 1-fight removed from the 'Fight of the Century' just
8-months earlier, lumbers into Texas, with added girth (227 lbs.)
to take on Buster Mathis.

Muhammad Ali, 29 years-old (and 2-months away from the age of 30),
brought his 32-1-0 (25 KO's) record, and #1 Heavyweight ranking
into Houston, claiming that he was now a better puncher with the
added weight.

Buster Mathis, 'A Fat Bastard' himelf at 256 lbs., had not fought in
32-months, since losing to Jerry Quarry in March 1969.

The 28 year-old, 6' 3" 256 lb. 'Behemoth', had retired in 1969 with a
fine record of 29-2-0 (20 KO's), and at one time in 1967 was being
mentioned as a future opponent for then Champion - Cassius Clay.

Buster was renamed 'The Mountain'.

The New York Newspapers labeled this fight "The Battle of the Bellies"

Though the Houston Promoters called it 'The Mountain Comes to Muhammad'

[Nightcrawler]

muhammad won, lopsided. as he usually did

[Senor Pepe']

Originally Posted by Nightcrawler

muhammad won, lopsided. as he usually did

ABC-TV 'Wide World of Sports'

Who bought the rights to the tape-delay broadcast, had to apologize to
it's viewers for broadcasting a 'piece of trash' as Howard Cosell called it.

New York TV Sportscasters on the Late-Night News called it,
'The Battle for Meatball Mountain'

[Unforgiven]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ05jb_JnJk[/ame]


^ They call today's heavyweight boring and they call this 'the golden age'.

[Senor Pepe']

Mr. Un,

'The Dancing Bears at the Circus'.

Thanks for posting.

And what a 'tremendous' undercard

George Chuvalo vs. Cleveland Williams

34 year-old George Chuvalo, at a bloated 227 lbs., who had retired 6-months earlier
after losing to Jimmy Ellis.

38 year-old Cleveland Williams, at 230 lbs. Loser of 6 of his last ''11 bouts', including
losing to Jack O'Halloran in his previous bout.

[Unforgiven]

Many thanks to '2112wildcat' who uploaded it to youtube.

Definitely another circus act fight.

Next up was Jurgen Blin in Switzerland. And then we had the 15 round extravaganza with Mac Foster in Tokyo.

[johnmaff36]

Originally Posted by Senor Pepe'

November 17, 1971

Houston Astrodome

Muhammad Ali, 1-fight removed from the 'Fight of the Century' just
8-months earlier, lumbers into Texas, with added girth (227 lbs.)
to take on Buster Mathis.

Muhammad Ali, 29 years-old (and 2-months away from the age of 30),
brought his 32-1-0 (25 KO's) record, and #1 Heavyweight ranking
into Houston, claiming that he was now a better puncher with the
added weight.

Buster Mathis, 'A Fat Bastard' himelf at 256 lbs., had not fought in
32-months, since losing to Jerry Quarry in March 1969.

The 28 year-old, 6' 3" 256 lb. 'Behemoth', had retired in 1969 with a
fine record of 29-2-0 (20 KO's), and at one time in 1967 was being
mentioned as a future opponent for then Champion - Cassius Clay.

Buster was renamed 'The Mountain'.

The New York Newspapers labeled this fight "The Battle of the Bellies"

Though the Houston Promoters called it 'The Mountain Comes to Muhammad'

WOW 16st 4lb !!!!!


How can a man let himself go like that????

I mean,its not as if any guy over that weight could EVER become a heavyweight champ

[Senor Pepe']

Even the undercard preliminary was a 'shockingly' non-exciting bout.

21 year-old British Heavyweight - Joe Bugner (33-3-1), who had lost
his last bout to 'Oh My God' - Jack Bodell

Against, Mike Boswell (13-5-0), who had lost his last '5' bouts in a row.

Everybody was coming into this extravaganza - either out-of-shape, old,
semi-retired, or with a 'loss'.

JESUS CHRIST

[johnmaff36]

Originally Posted by Senor Pepe'

Even the undercard preliminary was a 'shockingly' non-exciting bout.

21 year-old British Heavyweight - Joe Bugner (33-3-1), who had lost
his last bout to 'Oh My God' - Jack Bodell

Against, Mike Boswell (13-5-0), who had lost his last '5' bouts in a row.

Everybody was coming into this extravaganza - either out-of-shape, old,
semi-retired, or with a 'loss'.

JESUS CHRIST

Agreed. Sounds like a shit bill. Seriously

[Senor Pepe']

And what Texas Fight Promotion would be complete without

Roy 'Cookie' Wallace

Yes, Houston's - 'Cookie' Wallace with a record of 10-15-2, and yes a 'loser' in his previous
bout, versus -

Mr. John Balla, with a record of 11-5-1, and a loser in '5' of his previous '7' bouts, and
yes, a 'loss' in his previous bout.

What A Wonderful Fight Card

[Nightcrawler]

ok agreed. it was a shit card. but ali wasn't the promoter (as far as i know) and this thread is once again a flimsy excuse to hate the greatest heavy of all time

the information presented is interesting but BURIED in your obvious bias. you present facts that otherwise may be valuable to some posters but slop on your gravy of ali hatred and ruin the fucking meal

[Senor Pepe']

You have to agree though Mr. Nightcrawler,,,,,

The atmosphere circling around Muhammad Ali was certainly 'circus like'.

[Nightcrawler]

Originally Posted by Senor Pepe'

You have to agree though Mr. Nightcrawler,,,,,

The atmosphere circling around Muhammad Ali was certainly 'circus like'.

it was and meeting in the middle, his legacy and achivements have to be taken in the context of his personality and fame. he was THE most famous man on the planet for a time and probably the most loved athlete for a decade. if i decry dempsey for benefitting from the golden age of sports, then perhaps ali's flaws in the ring are overshadowed by his larger than life persona. having said that you routinely attack the man with tangental argument as well as superfulous and often fabricated information. you gotta give the man credit for what he did IN THE RING

btw: he don't look fat in that picture

[doug.ie]

reminds me to do one of those fantasy match up threads....mathis sr vs mathis jr.
be hard telling them apart too.

[Senor Pepe']

Originally Posted by Nightcrawler

it was and meeting in the middle, his legacy and achivements have to be taken in the context of his personality and fame. he was THE most famous man on the planet for a time and probably the most loved athlete for a decade. if i decry dempsey for benefitting from the golden age of sports, then perhaps ali's flaws in the ring are overshadowed by his larger than life persona. having said that you routinely attack the man with tangental argument as well as superfulous and often fabricated information. you gotta give the man credit for what he did IN THE RING

btw: he don't look fat in that picture

I think he just looks thin, because of the size of Buster Mathis.

The Most Famous Man on The Planet, there are many people that can
fit into that category.

For God's Sake,,,,,,,,,,Ronald McDonald was famous too.