Think about it Mathis, was a very short heavyweight with no power and he did pretty good in the division for his limitations. The pinnacle of his career was a nice payday against Tyson. He also fought Riddick Bowe. Not a bad resume. Douglas however was in another league, he would have crushed Mathis.
Both on their best nights I go for Douglas, he had more on his punches ,maybe not as quick handed but better in other areas.Dec
I think Buster Mathis Senior would do well against Douglas.Senior had size and moved well.Two amatuer wins over Joe Frazier,a win over Chuvalo as a pro,Mathis senior could beat Dougls.
Jerry Quarry easily outpointed Mathis Sr. and was outweighed 40 lbs. Buster Douglas on his best night beats Mathis Sr.
A good analysis DD, to be honest, I've grown sick of this Douglas vs. Joe Louis, Douglas vs. any number of former champs. His mom had just died, he called upon the spirits and delivered a once in a lifetime performance. What's his 2nd best performance....his 3rd? If one is a Tyson hater (or a hater of his fans) you have to love what he did that night, but the guy was, basically, an underachieving loser and deserves NO threads asking what he would do with this or that former champ. He was a ugly pimple on boxing with his post-Tyson work... My $0.02
Not sure if we're comparing Douglas to Buster Mathis senior or Buster Junior. In either case, I think a motivated Douglas would have beaten both, most likely by a decision. Bus' senior had some decent size, while Junior had slightly better than average boxing skill. But neither were very powerful or effective in my honest opinion. James Douglas was no all time great, nor even close. He was however a class fighter on some nights when he wanted to be and a nice all around package of size, reach, power and boxing ability - a combination that neither of the Mathis men had.....