The 6th of January was the anniversary of Garrys tragic passing .Any memories or thoughts about Garry or what ifs would be appreciated.RIP champ.
A pretty under appreciated heavyweight at this point in time, over shadowed by an all time great giant of the sport like Lewis and a man who an entire country loved in Frank Bruno. You don't hear much about Mason nowadays.
I really liked Garry. I wanted him to beat Lewis. Years later when Lewis turned out to have always been a genuine ATG (it took a long time for him to catch on) it is hard to look back on a guy who gave Lewis a better fight than Mason did. And mason really was good enough to give a great fighter a fight like that. It was a war!
I know it's cliched to say what a nice guy someone was when they've passed away so premature and tragically, but in the case of Gary Mason's it's undoubtedly true. I met him once briefly and regret having not spent enough time talking to him. From all accounts he had time for everyone he encountered, was the same in real life as he'd been on camera. And his interests went way beyond his boxing career which he was always very modest about. I believe he was involved in varied stuff after he retired, from promoting armwrestling as a sport to teaching drumming to youngsters in the community. etc.
Also a top rugby league player who could run like sh1t off a shovel, apparently. Excellent pundit. During the Douglas - Holyfield fight the commentator said that Douglas could always turn it round with one punch and Gary put him straight immediately, saying Douglas didn't have that power. It made me think why have a commentator if they know so little about the sport? Just let Gary run the show and pay him double. In this age of bang average footballers driving Ferraris etc it is poignant that Gary, one of the very best in the country at his craft, should have ridden a bike but hopefully that was through choice not necessity. I'm pleased to see tributes to him and glad to hear he was as nice a guy as he came across as. Top 10/10 fella. Not forgotten.
Mason had 35 fights under him while Lewis only had 15 . Mason looked like an old sick Bruno yet won 5 rounds before a early stoppage in 7 . Joshua in 18 fights struggled with Klitchko doe? Lol Mason was a top fighter and should have been with 35 fights and a good skill set but your double standards on here are atrocious. Lol
He's not going to be happy you spelled his name with two R's I can tell you that. You know something's up if you start getting weird electronically interferences.
Mason was a better more natural fighter than the robotic Bruno and was doing fairly well against Lewis before he either got thumbed or took a freak shot to the eye which proved so painful that it caused the fight to be stopped soon after. The fact that he had to retire from boxing soon afterwards when still in his prime showed what a bad injury it was.
Very sad anniversary.in 2010 i was dating a girl whose father was a homeopathic doctor .gary used to visit their clinic in wembley to get treatment such as acupuncture...they said he was about as friendly and decent a human being in this world... There's much talk of the Lewis fight but the way he was mismanaged with a career ruined and hindered by mickey duff is too much to stomach...duff had no business making this match...mason got paltry financial reward and should have been manoevered the wbo route via mercer or morrison...kept ticking over for a year or two with careful management and guys like the shot pinklon thomas...perhaps an alex stewart to keep in the top 10...maybe weaver...he would eventually have got a shot with bowe/eh....as it was lewis caused a detached retina....career over....than duff wouldnt let him break contract and fight in America...duff did it out of spite and not getting his pound of flesh...rather than any benevolence ...its all on tape