By Richard McNamara: On Thursday the 6th of January British boxing lost a true gentleman of the ring and a great British Champion. Gary Mason was tragically killed on his bicycle when he was involved in a collision with a motor vehicle, he was just 48 years of age, some consolation is that he was killed instantly and did not suffer. That is no help to his poor family and friends and I would personally like to send my condolences to all involved.
Gary Mason was born in Jamaica in 1969 and started his professional career in 1984. He was billed as the successor to Frank Bruno his former sparring partner. Mason had a good chin, great punch (huge) and was a more talented fighter and technically better than Bruno but seemed on occasions to lack the commitment that a fighter like Frank had and possibly could of carried his career a little further.
However this does not take the fact away that he entertained us with some exciting fights and Mason captured the British heavyweight title in 1989. He suffered only one defeat in a 38 fight career, which was in a European title bout against the great Lennox Lewis in 1991 and there is no shame in that. Unfortunately Mason’s career was hampered by injury and in particular eye problems, suffering a detached retina in his fight against Everett Martin in 1990, the bout with Lennox Lewis aggravated the injury and Mason retired 3 years later.
After he quit the sport of boxing Mason went on to play Rugby League for the London Broncos. He also worked as a pundit for Sky and appeared on various primetime TV shows such as Gladiators, this was mark of a man who would simply not give up. When you’re a fighter and you career is cut short, your world seems to fall apart but Gary never let that happen and he later worked as a security guard and porter at St Heliers Hospital south London, giving something back to the community. A man has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and has been released on bail until March. I felt I just wanted to highlight that in an era when we had Frank and Lennox, we should also remember Gary.
R.I.P Gary Mason 1962 -2011.
Comments are closed.