At their best, Tubbs probably edges it with his better Ring-generalship to gain the close decision. Tubbs WM15 (8-7)
Would this fight be the fat version of Larry Holmes vs Carl Williams? I'll pick Tubbs, but I really haven't watched enough of Mathis for that to be a completely fair choice.
One can never accurately predict the flow of a fight, but this is not shaping up to be a crowd pleaser. Tubbs and Buster sr., were two heavyweights who had a long history of showing up deconditioned, and were usually not very exciting to watch. Additionally, neither had much of a punch, and nor did they like mixing it up. Lastly, If we were to combine the very best wins these two men had, we still wouldn't have much of a list. Tubbs' biggest scalp was arguably Greg Page, while Mathis had a win over a declining Chuvalo and some unknown guys with decent looking records on the surface ( Humphrey McBride, 25-0 and Ron Marsh, 22-1. )