BoxRec

Murray Sutherland vs Matthew Saad Muhammad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52nvQZepHos

Watch and discuss.

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Supplementary fight.

Murray Sutherland vs Michael Spinks II

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzg_rIb1r64

Conteh v Saad, especially the classic first fight, might be a good supplementary fight.

1st time id seen Sutherland and I thought he was excellent, I had him sweeping the 1st 5 rounds,he was outboxing Muhammad with ease,he moves well,had a great jab and with 40 KO's to his name, has a bit of a dig,Saad was always gonna be dangerous no matter what but even when he put Sutherland down in the 7th I gave Murray the 8th which showed he had plenty of heart too because they were cracking shots Matthew landed for both knockdowns, I thought the ref was a bit quick with his count at the end but again props to Sutherland for even getting up

I watched Sutherland's 1st fight with Spinks, crap quality but it was a good fight with Murray showing again he was a very capable fighter,similar to the fight with Saad where he started off excellent looking sharp and making Michael look pretty ordinary and basic,Spinks did grow into the fight though and put Sutherland down with a cracking overhand right in the 8th ,but like in the fight with Muhammad,when Sutherland was down and hurt,he came out for the next round guns blazing and looking far from spent,Spinks went on to win a 10 round decision but the cards were too wide,especially the one that only gave Sutherland a round

Murray Sutherland is always forgotten as a Brit / Scot and overlooked

boxingknockout wrote:Murray Sutherland is always forgotten as a Brit / Scot and overlooked

you're not kidding- I'd never actually heard of him

Counter-puncher wrote:

boxingknockout wrote:Murray Sutherland is always forgotten as a Brit / Scot and overlooked

you're not kidding- I'd never actually heard of him

Crazy isn't it? I think first Scottish world champ since Ken Buchanan, wore tartan shorts, fourth many of the best of his era - went distance with Spinks, Czyz, Tommy Hearns, JB Williamson and other top guys who stopped him. Beat Wilfred Scypion, Alex Ramos, jean Marie emebe.

Not saying he's a legend, but he fought everybody and was a warrior. Not sure why he doesn't get more love from Scotland

Counter-puncher wrote:

boxingknockout wrote:Murray Sutherland is always forgotten as a Brit / Scot and overlooked

you're not kidding- I'd never actually heard of him

That surprises me CP,you know your stuff ,the 1st I remember hearing of him was when watching Tyson Raw and Uncut years ago and I kept hearing a Scottish accent commentating on Mike's earlier fights and I done a bit of digging and found it to be Murray Sutherland, funnily enough my daughters uncle has the exact same name,he started off his career in Canada so maybe he emigrated before he turned pro??

I'm sure I read he was the 1st ever IBF champ at SMW but I could be wrong,I'd recommend the Muhammad fight as Sutherland was impressive that night,just not as impressive as Saad's punching power,he was great for spells in the 1st Spinks fight as well

never seen him fight, wasn't he the first supermiddle champ ?

boxingknockout wrote:Not sure why he doesn't get more love from Scotland

Probably because he fought out of Canada and USA all his career. Anyone know if he grew up in Canada?

boxingknockout wrote:Murray Sutherland is always forgotten as a Brit / Scot and overlooked

His level of completion was superb. He could really fight. One of scotlands greatest .

The Spinks rematch was similar at to the world title challenge to Saad where Sutherland started off sharp,busy and even outboxing Michael as opposed to just outworking him but down the stretch Murray just wasnt big enough to last with the real big guns at LHW it seemed,one of the reasons why I don't mind having 17 weight divisions, the SMW division may have been ideal for Sutherland

Still he's a great fighter with a great resume and I'm glad I've watched him,Spinks never really impressed me in either fight

handsofstone wrote:The Spinks rematch was similar at to the world title challenge to Saad where Sutherland started off sharp,busy and even outboxing Michael as opposed to just outworking him but down the stretch Murray just wasnt big enough to last with the real big guns at LHW it seemed,one of the reasons why I don't mind having 17 weight divisions, the SMW division may have been ideal for Sutherland

Still he's a great fighter with a great resume and I'm glad I've watched him,Spinks never really impressed me in either fight

Sutherland did win the inaugural SMW IBF title though was later in career

boxingknockout wrote:

handsofstone wrote:The Spinks rematch was similar at to the world title challenge to Saad where Sutherland started off sharp,busy and even outboxing Michael as opposed to just outworking him but down the stretch Murray just wasnt big enough to last with the real big guns at LHW it seemed,one of the reasons why I don't mind having 17 weight divisions, the SMW division may have been ideal for Sutherland

Still he's a great fighter with a great resume and I'm glad I've watched him,Spinks never really impressed me in either fight

Sutherland did win the inaugural SMW IBF title though was later in career

Yeah I remember reading that somewhere, just going off the 2 Spinks fights and the Saad fight,Id have fancied him to win a world title much sooner had there been a super middleweight division earlier

Murray Sutherland in today's sport would be an ABC champ, plentiful defences, online fans fancying him against many a big name in history.

Tuan_Jim wrote:Murray Sutherland in today's sport would be an ABC champ, plentiful defences, online fans fancying him against many a big name in history.

Exactly, his skill level, feinting and use of the head would be marvelled at. Those were the greatest light heavies of the modern era he was up against and outboxing.

Tomasino wrote:

Tuan_Jim wrote:Murray Sutherland in today's sport would be an ABC champ, plentiful defences, online fans fancying him against many a big name in history.

Exactly, his skill level, feinting and use of the head would be marvelled at. Those were the greatest light heavies of the modern era he was up against and outboxing.

Very good combination puncher too,puts his shots together nicely but also not scared to mix it up on the inside either,I thought he made Saad and Spinks look quite clumsy at times,also in the 1st fight with Spinks and the Muhammad fight he recovered well from knockdowns to win the following rounds arguably, obviously had plenty heart

Sutherland - Muhammad

1. 10 - 9
2. 10 - 9
3. 10 - 9
4. 10 - 9
5. 10 - 9
6. 9 - 10
7. 7 - 10
8. 10 - 9
9. - - - KO

76-74 Sutherland


Very good performance from Sutherland. The ref probably should have let it go on.

Saad probably would have stopped him, but it's not inconceivable that Sutherland could have gone on to win it. He recovered well from the previous knockdown.

Sutherland - Muhammad

1. 10 - 9 - Sutherland. Good opener, good movement, let his hands go and disguised some of his shots well. Muhammad never got started
2. 10 - 9 - Sutherland. Muhammad got started and it was close in the first minute, but Sutherland really backed up from the halfway point
3. 10 - 9 - Sutherland, again close with Sutherland picking up the pace, slipping shots and letting hooks go with either hand to good effect
4. 10 - 9 - Sutherland. Doing a great job of neutralizing Muhammads jab, on his toes, lateral movement, half steps back and little parries
5. 9 - 10 - Muhammad. Stayed right in Sutherlands face and looked like he started to hurt him when he let his hands go. Sutherland missing a bit more
6. 9 - 10 - Muhammad ploughing forward. Sutherland unable to keep away or keep him off, obvious difference in power and strength here and Saad finding the target much better now
7. 8 - 10 - Muhammad. One sided round and a knockdown, Muhammad looks a hurtful puncher and has his man reeling now
8. 9 - 10 - Muhammad. Sutherland did well to get back into it and make it competitive, but Muhammad landing the heavier shots and Murray hitting more gloves
9. KO

76 - 75 Saad Muhammad after 8


Early in the fight, Sutherland did a great job neutralizing the jab of Saad Muhammad. He slipped it well, parried it and stayed out of range of it, I think it deterred Muhammad from letting anything else from it. When he did throw the right hand it was a single shot as he didn't seem to have much confidence in throwing it off the jab. Sutherland put in some nice shots of his own, finding nice angles with the movement and timing the counters well when making Muhammad miss

very much a fight of two halves. Saad started walking through him. The KO record of Sutherland was deceptive as he never looked like he put a dent in Muhammad despite the early success and once Muhammad decided to turn the screw he just walked through Sutherlands work. Muhammad on the other hand looked as if he had Sutherland buzzed in every round from the 5th on. Clearly the stronger and more powerful fighter. You often watch fights like this and wonder something like.... "was Sutherlands early success a result of his good technical skills, or because Muhammad let him work, tire himself and then decided he could walk through him after the 4th round?"

Sutherland - Spinks II

1. 10 - 9
2. 10 - 9
3. 9 - 10
4. 10 - 10
5. 10 - 9
6. 10 - 10
7. 10 - 9
8. - - - KO

69-66 Sutherland


Sutherland doing very well again, but his style seems to use up too much energy.