Matthew Saad Muhammad's Title Reign

[Ambling Alp]

Saad Muhammad Light heavyweight Title Reign was very exciting. There were several great fights:

1979
-Won the title from Marvin Johnson. Great back and forth fight with a lot of action. Saad Muhammad won by TKO8.
--Defended the title with an exciting 15 round Decision over John Conteh.

1980
-Stopped Conteh in 4 rounds in a rematch
KO 5 over Louis Pergauld
-TKO 14 over Yaqui Lopez. This was all out war. One of the best toe to toe fights ever.
-KO 4 Lottie Mwale

1981
-TKO11 over Vonzell Johnson. For some reason, I don't remember much about this fight. Does anyone else?
-KO9 over Murray Sutherland. Very close fight for 8 rounds before Saad Muhammad knocked Sutherland out.
-TKO 11 over Jerry Martin. Saad Muhammad got lucky here. He seemed lethargic for much of the fight. Martin seemed to be winning after 10 rounds. Saad Muhammad landed a couple of good punches, but Martin didn't seem to be badly hurt. However, the referee jumped in and prematurely stopped it.

Lost title to Dwight Braxton (later Qawi) by TKO6.

I thought it would be fun to talk about some of these fights.

[Seamus]

It was the rematch between MSM and Qawi that ended in the 6th. Qawi, then Dwight Braxton, took the title with a one sided beating that ended in the 10th. He dropped Saad Muhammad, then pounded him on the ropes until the referee stopped the bout.

MSM is still very popular, but he was lucky as well as tough. I believe the referee was on the verge of stopping his fight with Yaqui Lopez, because he was getting beat so bad. Then he got thoroughly outboxed by Murray Sutherland for 5 rds, before he rallied to win, and then his win over Jerry Martin was just a bad stoppage. Against Qawi, you could see the big MSM come back wasen't going to happen, because there was no let up from the Camden Buzzsaw.

I wasen't a fan of MSM because I just don't care for guys without defensive skills, and Saad had none.

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

Against Qawi, you could see the big MSM come back wasen't going to happen, because there was no let up from the Camden Buzzsaw.

- Qawi elected to the HOF down to his Saad wins when Saad was clearly past his best. 7-12-1 to finish his career. Couldn't even last 3 rds against Eric Winbush 7 months later.

Yet Saad never beat a great fighter and was elected to the HOF. Big, huge fan of his in the day, very much like Iran Barkley, pretty straight forward fighter who either bombed you out or succumbed.

Just thought I'd point out further IBHOF transgressions, like not having Primo and Little Red in for starters.

[BoxBuzz]

With you on Little Red, he richly deserves recognition.

[I Feel Fine]

But Primo Carnera doesn't.

Saad is probably my favorite all time Light Heavyweight. Sort of for the same reasons why I like Erik Morales so much; he took on big names and went to war with them, win or lose. Saad was not as talented as Foster who came before him, or Spinks who came after, but he was a big part of making that era a golden era of the Light Heavyweight division by getting into brawl after brawl. I don't see how anyone could not be a fan of his. He fought hard until he had nothing left with Qawi, though to be fair Qawi may well have beaten him at his best. Qawi was indeed a great fighter.

[Collins2000]

But Primo Carnera doesn't.

Nah, Carnera wasn't thought to be much good by those who saw him from ringside so I'm not sure why he is suddenly seen as an over-looked all time great by clowns like BRR and DaveV.

BRR probably picks Carnera over Holmes and Ali. I know DaveV did.

[I Feel Fine]

I know DaveV did.

Ah.

[Expug]

Ive heard Saad was a much more defensive /boxer early in his career.
After losing a dec to Eddie Mustapha Muhamad. (Maybe Eddie Gregory at the time), Saad decided to hang in there and bang in subsequent fights.His title reign was all action thats for sure.

[My2Sense]

-TKO11 over Vonzell Johnson. For some reason, I don't remember much about this fight. Does anyone else?

Yes. Johnson came into that fight as a late sub, I believe. Tall, lanky fellow who could box. He gave a decent account of himself, but Saad had the upper hand all the way as I recall, cutting off the ring and gradually wearing him down to a KO. I believe ESPN Classic shows the fight every now and then.

[Ambling Alp]

Thanks. I don't remember seeing the Vonzell Johnson fight or heard much about it. (Haven't been watching ESPN Classic lately.) Guess, it wasn't one of Saad Muhammad's most exciting fights.

I do think he was great for the sport. He was on Network TV a lot. As I Feel Fine mentioned, that whole era between Foster and Spinks was pretty exciting in the lightheavyweight division.
There was so many good, very good and even a couple of great lightheavyweights in the late 1970's/early 1980's. It had more depth than any other division at the time. So many guys were evenly matched.
Then Michael Spinks had to come along, beat the top guys and ruin everything.

Saad Muhammad was in so many exciting fights. Lopez was my favorite to watch. I also think the fight when he won the the title against Marvin Johnson is very underrated.

[Norm]

I attended Saad's rematch against future(and first ever) cruiserweight champion Marvin Camel that took place in 1976 at Missoula Montana. Camel had lost a split decision in Stockholm CA earlier in the year and the rematch took place in Marvin's hometown. Like the first match, this was close but even Camel's hometown fans feel they saw a hometown decision and that Saad was robbed. Saad's corner immediately tried to protest the decision, only to find that the officials, all from Montana, had left the fieldhouse before the bout was over. Camel was a difficult, southpaw technician, but proved to have quite a set of whiskers when taking several of Saad's punches that echoed through the fieldhouse. Everybody groaned but Camel didn't wobble.