Matthew Saad Muhammad vs. Billy Douglas

Matthew Saad Muhammad 175 lbs beat Billy Douglas 175 lbs by TKO at 2:44 in round 6 of 12

• Date: 1977-09-17
• Location: Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Referee: Hank Cisco

• NABF light heavyweight title (1st defense by Saad Muhammad)

Notes

• There was a crowd of 7,910.
• In the main event, Roberto Duran defeated Edwin Viruet by a 15-round unanimous decision to retain the WBA lightweight championship.
• The following is from an article about Douglas written by promoter Russell Peltz for ESPN.com:

"When he fought Muhammad (then Matthew Franklin) for me at The Spectrum in 1977, it had to be the fight of the year, certainly better than the main event which featured Roberto Duran vs. Edwin Viruet for the WBA lightweight title. Anyway, Douglas was in the twilight of his career and Saad Muhammad was just emerging as a future world light heavyweight champion. The first three rounds went according to script. I was feeling sorry for Douglas. He was bleeding from the nose and mouth. Early in round five, Douglas drilled Saad Muhammad with a right cross and Saad was on the floor. Saad got up at three, then spent nearly a minute and a half absorbing left hooks and right crosses to his face. The ref could have stopped it, but didn't. In the sixth, Saad Muhammad hurt Douglas and, after just a few seconds, the ref jumped in and stooped it. The fans responded with a barrage of boos that lasted through the official decision that the fight had been stopped. Back in the dressing room, I went wild, accusing the referee -- who, incidentally, was a close friend of Saad Muhammad's manager -- of blatant hometown favoritism. These were remarks I later apologized for in order to stem off a lawsuit against me." [1]