BoxRec

John Conteh vs Matthew Saad Muhammad I.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95UJnDZgeW8

Watch and discuss.

Recent weeks' fights:

Week 2 - Alan Minter vs Vito Antuofermo I: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=208220
Week 1 - Alan Rudkin vs Fighting Harada: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=207977
Week 52 - Lennox Lewis vs Evander Holyfield I: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=207714
Week 51 - Howard Winstone vs Vicente Saldivar II: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=207609

Week 50 - Howard Eastman vs Bernard Hopkins: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=207356
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Week 47 - Herol Graham vs Charles Brewer: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=206601
Week 46 - Chris Eubank vs Ray Close I: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=206336

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World boxing history challenge thread: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=208051

Supplementary fights.

John Conteh vs Matthew Saad Muhammad II.

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


John Conteh vs Tom Bogs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10AoKxJavTM

Conteh shows signs here of his excellence, the footwork is superb for a big man, but you can see his hand problems, he's almost totally left-handed. It's an interesting thought as to how he would have done when at his physical prime, because his boxing skills definitely show up Saads relative crudeness for some stretches.

Conteh v Muhmmad

1. 10 - 9 - Conteh. Nice upper body movement, poking and probing and keeping busy. Really stiff solid look to Muhammad's punches
2. 10 - 9 - Conteh. Making Muhammad miss with the jab making him reluctant to let punches go. Couple nice counters from Conteh
3. 10 - 10 Even Not a lot thrown by Conteh, not a lot landed my MSM.
4. 9 - 10 Muhammad, starting to get through a little more often
5. 9 - 10 Muhammad. Conteh still elusive but each round more getting through. He needs to increase his output or the trend only looks like continuing
6. 10 - 9 - Conteh much better round, right on cue Conteh ups his output, slipping and countering with sharper punching,
7. 10 - 9 - Conteh showing more ambition again and landing some good shots. Jab worked well here
8. 10 - 9 - Conteh showing fast hands even late in his career. But Muhammad getting through at times with those stiff long jabs
9. 9 - 10 Muhammad lots of success with that long piston like jab, get's good extension on it
10. 10 - 9 - Conteh scoring well with double jab but he did look like he was hurt at one point
11. 10 - 10 Would like to see more variety from Conteh
12. 9 - 10 Muhammad, close round with success for both, MSM edged it
13. 9 - 10 Muhammad. The last 3 have been really tight and you're tempted to even it up, but MSM just doing more again
14. 7 - 10 Muhammad 2 good knockdowns and Conteh is struggling here. Some turnaround
15. 9 - 10 Muhammad. Good last round and a real last gasp effort from Conteh but he hadn't recovered

141-144 Matthew Saad Muhammad.
I had Conteh leading into the excellent 14th rounds.

I suspect Conteh may have been slightly on the slide here, his output wasn't enough at times and needed to let more than the left jab go.

Both men had mixed success throughout. As with the Sutherland bout we saw, a real solidity to MSM's punching, good extension on the jab and punched through the target, good stiff punches without loading up. He did miss quite often due to Contehs excellent slick movement.
Conteh on the other hand was really nice to watch, good smooth movement and nice boxing skill but I think a reluctance to let the punches go. He had success with the right hand when he threw it and also the left hook or uppercut on the odd occasion he threw them. A bit more variety might have won that. I suspect Conteh might have taken it a couple years earlier.

Ultimately, the 14th round won it and it was hard to argue. Two nice knockdowns and there was no coming back from that


That commetator was awful.

Counter-puncher wrote:Conteh shows signs here of his excellence, the footwork is superb for a big man, but you can see his hand problems, he's almost totally left-handed. It's an interesting thought as to how he would have done when at his physical prime, because his boxing skills definitely show up Saads relative crudeness for some stretches.

Just spotted this, explains a lot

Watched the second Muhammad fight and there wasn't much point in scoring it, Conteh lost every round comfortably. MSM came out more fired up and other than a few spurts of success from Conteh he did little well other than avoid a few punches.

A tactic of not getting started for the first 4 rounds is sometimes a sound one over 15 rounds...... Unless you get pummelled and knocked over 4 times in the 4th

Conteh v Bogs.

Good solid performance from Conteh, a younger fresher version than we saw vs Muhammad against a perennial fringe level contender on the slide

He got the job done but something about this left me a little flat. He had him hurt every round from the 2nd and never killed it off, lacked that instinct.
Conteh was a stylist without perhaps being super-skillful and lacked a bang to his shots and he showed a vulnerability by being leveled by a b-level opponent in the first, much as he did at points in the Muhammad fight.

How does everyone else rate Conteh? Particularly those that remember him (he was a bit before my time).
I held him in high regard, based largely on the accounts I'd read and heard from those that followed him at the time but having watched him a few times and looking at his record, I suspect I need to relegate him from the very highest echelons of British boxing history.

Perhaps this thread hasn't chosen the best fights to display his greatness and show him in the best light, I was far more impressed in the Ahumada fight we'd watched last year.

I think Conteh was one of our super talents who had problems outside the ring and basicslly he was a good, not great, fighter in the interval between the Bob Foster and Saad, Spinks, Qawi super era. Good fights with Finnegan I, Anumada the very tough Argie being his two peak showings and an accomplished and brave stand against the super masochist, Saad, first time out.

Good thing about Conteh, athletic and correct technically. Very good combination.

Autobarn wrote:brave stand against the super masochist, Saad, first time out.

???

Allowed people to brutalise him, before staging heroic rallies rescuing the fight at the last minute