He was already pushing thirty when he ran afoul of his serious eye injury versus Martin and took a pasting from a prime Lewis, either of which factors could be prime- or career-halting on their own. The guy was good, though. Very heavy-handed, solid whiskers, stout-built & fit and decently enough sized for his era just before the dawn of the super-heavies ...and not a bad overall boxer. In his time he didn't string together many wow-you scalps, but having knocked out Biggs, Quick Tillis, Pritchard (before his bad losing skid), Ratliff and Jaco is enough to inspire a little "what-if" musing. That losing effort was nothing for him to be ashamed of. Sure, his stamina flagged at times and made him appear clumsy and ungainly slow, but keep in mind that he was pouring a deal of energy into strategic clinching of the bigger, younger man with an eye toward stalling him out until late and breaking him down with body punching (a tactic which never got the chance to pay any potential dividends as LL was too good and too strong to be contained, breaking free of the swallow-ups more easily as time bore on and letting his power carry the day, and smartly implementing his own game plan of working on that eye). Defeating him live on BBC was probably Lennox's first real 'statement' and step towards establishing his legitimacy. How does Gary fare if he steps up his competition earlier than he did? Say mid-late eighties, instead of waiting and feasting on mostly pablum? How does he do in the early 1990's without the detached retina and/or running smack into Lennox along his path? Would he be contending today?
I'm old enough to remember Gary Mason, I was very young but I remember watching a lot of his fights and also remember watching the British title fight with Lewis. Mason left boxing with a record of 38 fights 37 wins (34 KO's) and a single defeat at the hands of a young hungry Lennox Lewis. As said, not many stand out victories but definitely some solid ones. Mason had a very good chin, actually an excellent chin in my opinion, Lewis stopped him on his feet with an eye injury and from what I remember Mason was never really wobbled or what you'd call hurt in that fight although it was clear to see he was losing. Earlier in his career Mason was somewhat overshadowed by Frank Bruno in the UK, when Mason was winning the British title (1989) Bruno was about to fight the undefeated, fearsome, one man wrecking machine Mike Tyson for a bunch of world titles so the British boxing fans had eyes for only one British heavyweight at the beginning of 1989. I remember many British boxing "experts" having Mason beating Bruno if that fight ever happened. The eye injury for Mason was a real shame, I think he could have picked up the European title once Lennox had moved on but I don't think he would have gone on to win world titles, Lewis has already beaten him, Bowe was coming through and there were a few other very good heavyweights would have beaten him in my opinion. As mentioned, Mason maybe should have stepped it up a few years earlier than he did, it took Mason nearly 30 pro fights to win a British title, that seems crazy these days when young fighters are picking them up after a handful of pro bouts but it was a different era, fighters went out and tried to "learn the trade", build a following and go the traditional route of titles, British, Commonwealth, European and then World. If he was around today, on the British scene I'd have him beating the like of Chisora and fighters in that bracket, I'd probably say he could pick up the European title and then fall short at world level but with a sound chin, strength and power he'd be a handful for a lot of fighters.
I watched his fight v Biggs at the weekend. Great contest, better from both guys than most of what you see these days. Gary didnt have many household names on his record, apart from Biggs his biggest fight was in defeat to Lewis. After the Biggs win i thought they may push for a shot, but he fought 2 more journeymen, this seemed strange as he was ranked 4 , before the Biggs fight. Maybe his connections were more focused on Bruno ? Maybe Mason wouldve been better in another camp ? Anyone any idea why he never seemed to move up a level before it was almost too late ? He hurt his eye in the fight before Lewis, so they took the payday with Lennox. Had he steped up earlier, who knows ? I think he was stronger mentally than Bruno and wouldnt have froze at the top level. He wouldve been a tough nights work for anybody.
Bruno made a much better job of it against Lewis than Mason did. His clean shots had more of an affect. Bruno hurt Lewis badly, and nailed him clearly. It was a very competitive fight, until a Lewis counter in the 7th followed by the usual Bruno collapse when hurt against top fighters. I dont recall Mason hurting Lewis or being as competitive despite a lot of clean shots landed, although to be fair Gary had problems with his eye prior, that re-surfaced early in the fight, and that caused his retirement (other than 2 fight comeback a few years later)
Mason was a lot better than people think Mason's problem was he was with Mickley duff, Duff was often too protective over his boxers, then they come up against someone too good or advanced for them. This was a case for Gary he had loads of fights and was high ranked without fighting anyone of note But overall he could have done better than his career suggests and he was tough He also looked overweight and lazy sometimes but in the lewis fight he was in excellent condition looked really good and fought his heart out By all accounts too he a was a really nice person too
