Gary Mason (15 December 1962 – 6 January 2011) was a British

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who was based in Chatham, Kent, England. He was born in Jamaica. Mason fought at the heavyweight level and became the British heavyweight champion in 1989. Mason was a top ten contender, his main strengths being his punching power and physical strength. Mason died on 6 January 2011 in a cycling accident in South London.

Pro boxing career

Mason fought 38 times as a professional in a career that spanned 10 years from 1984 to 1994, with 37 wins (34 by knockout) and only one loss, that being to Lennox Lewis when he challenged for the European title in 1991. Mason gave Lewis his hardest fight up to that point in his career. Mason defeated a number of well known heavyweights, including

Tyrell Biggs Tyrell Biggs (born December 22, 1960) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 1998, and challenged once for the undisputed heavyweight title in 1987. As an amateur he won a gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics, havi ...

James Tillis James Tillis (born July 5, 1957) is a retired American professional boxer and actor. Known as "Quick", he was known for his fast hand speed, quite astonishing for a man of his size and build. A natural southpaw, Tillis turned around to orthodo ...

, Alfonzo Ratliff,

Ricky Parkey Ricky Parkey (born November 7, 1956) is a retired American boxer, the former IBF Cruiserweight Champion of the World, hailing from Morristown, Tennessee. Professional career Parkey turned professional in 1981 and won the IBF cruiserweight title ...

, James Pritchard,

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, Hughroy Currie and

David Jaco David Lee Jaco (born January 24, 1954Steven Ponall (June 22, 2003). "The Fights of His Life". '' The Bradenton Herald'' (Database: NewsBank Retrieved January 26, 2014).) is a retired heavyweight boxer. He spent his career as a journeyman, fighting ...

. Mason sparred with the former WBA World cruiserweight number one and avoided British heavyweight champion David Pearce. Pearce helped him with sparring in preparation for Mason's title fights during his exile from the sport. Mason praised Pearce and said he was instrumental in his helping his career. He suffered a detached retina in a bout with Everett Martin in 1990. After a short retirement he staged a comeback, which ended with a TKO defeat by Lennox Lewis, which aggravated Mason's eye injury. He came back once again, but after winning two fights in the US he retired for good.

Professional boxing record

Rugby career

Mason played three

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

matches for the London Crusaders (now London Broncos), scoring a try in his first game. Mason also played in occasional soccer matches as part of an 'Arsenal Celebrities' team at the old 'Highbury' football ground in North London.

Television appearances

Mason appeared in a special celebrity show of ''

Gladiators A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

'' that raised money for charity in 1993 which

John Fashanu John Fashanu (, born 18 September 1962) is an English television presenter and former professional footballer. In his former career, he was a centre-forward from 1978 until 1995, most notably in an eight-year spell at Wimbledon in which he w ...

won. Mason also appeared on the panel of the ITV show ''

You Bet! ''You Bet!'' is a British game show that aired on ITV between 20 February 1988 and 12 April 1997, initially hosted by Bruce Forsyth from 1988 to 1990, then by Matthew Kelly from 1991 to 1995 and finally by Darren Day from 1996 to 1997. Forma ...

'', and the second episode of the first series of '' GamesMaster'' in 1992 playing

Sonic Blast Man is a video game franchise by Taito starring the titular superhero, Sonic Blastman. The game originally started as an arcade video game in 1990, but eventually made its way to the SNES in 1992, with much different gameplay. Both versions received ...

arcade. Mason's home was also one of those featured on the panel show ''

Through the Keyhole ''Through the Keyhole'' is a British comedy panel game show created by the TV producer Kevin Sim and originally presented by Sir David Frost in the studio and Loyd Grossman on location. The location presenter goes around celebrities' houses and ...

''.

Death

On the morning of 6 January 2011 Mason died after being hit by a van in Sandy Lane South, Wallington, South London whilst cycling. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Sutton Guardian
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Gary 1962 births 2011 deaths Cycling road incident deaths English male boxers English rugby league players Heavyweight boxers Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom London Broncos players Road incident deaths in London