Buster Mathis in 1979 (he gained a little weight since his fighting days)

Dayum.

 

That's B-Math?

 

Jesus christ, no wonder he died so young.

 

Poor Buster. He was such a gentle soul. Even Frazier said in his autobiography that Buster hd no killer instinct in the ring. He did not thro punches with bad intentions. Excellent boxer though. Ali said he was a fine fighter.

 

in the 1970's film A.K.A. Cassius Clay the narrator mentions that Buster Mathis used to weigh around 300 lbs. when Cus D'Amato first met him and began to train him, but I don't know the veracity of the statement.

 

to imagine that this guy easily boxed circles around joe frazier twice.

 

Very Scary picture.

 

Yeah. I think he probably did weigh 300, because he fought at 235-250. (I think AKA is a brilliant film, by the way)

In this picture he's gotta be more like 500 though.

 

Buster Mathis had a condition/genetic type that allowed him to put on weight really easy. Buster Douglas was similar, he went up to 400 pounds after his first retirement.

 

At first that picture was funny, but now it's just freaking me out. I feel bad knowing he died because he was that big.

 

Oh come on, it looks like he dropped 50lbs from his peak

 

Man. You can tell this man didn't know what a gym looked like at this point.

 

modern nutrition ko1 chewing steaks and spitting them out and brandy mixed with orange juice

 

He was certainly on fire against Chuvalo. BoxWRECK says he got down to 220 for Big Train Lincoln. What's the point of being a well conditioned competitive athlete if it doesn't extend to a longer and better quality of life? He was younger when he died than Holmes was when Larry won his last fight. Biographies indicate he topped out at 550 or more. Buster Douglas was fortunate to be able to pull himself back from the same precipice.