Former IBF junior middleweight champion Buster Drayton, who fought out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA and was well known to South African fight fans in the 1980s, passed away last Sunday on 20 November.
He was 70 and had been battling cancer and diabetes.
On 5 February 1983 he was outpointed over 10 rounds by the talented Bushy Bester at the Ellis Park Tennis Courts Stadium in Johannesburg and returned to the city on 28 January 1984 to stop Gregory Clark in the second round at the same venue.
Born on 2 March 1952 in Philadelphia, he made his pro debut on 9 November 1978 fighting to a draw against Charles Carey.
He met top fighters like Lindell Holmes, Sumbu Kalamby, Fred Hutchins and Mark Kaylor before winning the IBF junior middleweight belt on 4 June 1986 with a 15-round points win over Carlos Santos (33-1).
He made successful defences of the belt against Davey Moore (tko 10) and Said Skouma (tko 10) before losing the belt on points against Matthew Hilton.
Buster tried to regain the belt against Julian Jackson but was stopped in the third round.
He had another 11 fights after this, with his last fight on 10 June 1995 against Derrick Rolan for the IBF/USBA North Atlantic middleweight title, losing on points over 12 rounds, to finish with a record of 40-15-1; 28, with only three of his losses coming inside the distance.