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Matthew Saad
Muhammad
Matthew Saad Muhammad
(born Matthew Franklin,1955) is a former boxer who was the
world's Light-Heavyweight champion. Much like Arturo Gatti nowadays,
Saad Muhammad was very popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s among
boxing fans because of his particularly action orientated style. Saad
Muhammad was known for his ability to take punishment and mount
comebacks, and because of this, he was nicknamed Miracle Matthew.
Saad Muhammad was also part of a group of world Light-Heavyweight
champions who became Muslims and changed their names during his era as a
Light-Heavyweight, the others being Eddie Mustafa Muhammad (Eddie
Gregory), and Dwight Muhammad Qawi (Dwight Braxton).
Saad Muhammad began to box professionally in 1974, with a two round
knockout win against Billy Early. He posted seven more wins that year,
before suffering his first loss, at the hands of Wayne McGee by a
decision in six.
In 1975, he had two wins and then he and McGee fought again, that time
around, resulting in a six round draw.
In 1976, Saad Muhammad had a major step up in opponent quality: He faced
future world champions Marvin Camel and Mate Parlov, both of them twice.
His first fight with Parlov, in
Milan,
was also his first fight abroad. He beat Parlov by an eight round
decision. He then beat Camel by a ten round decision, but lost to him by
a ten round decision in a rematch. After returning to Italy for a
rematch with Parlov, he and Parlov struggled to a ten round draw.
He began 1977 by losing to Mustafa Muhammad (then Gregory), but he
quickly turned things around by facing the future three time world
champion Marvin Johnson, for the United States Light-Heavyweight title.
In his first national television exposure, Saad Muhammad ended up
winning that brawl by a knockout in round 12, obtaining the regional
championship.
In 1978, the wins kept on coming: He won all four of his bouts that year
and defended the
United
States
title against former world title challenger Richie Kates and against
four time world title challenger Alvaro Yaqui Lopez. The Lopez
fight, their first of two, was considered a classic by boxing experts,
and Saad Muhammad survived a relentless attack by Lopez to retain the
belt with an 11th. round knockout.
By 1979, Johnson had become world champion by defeating Parlov, and Saad
Muhammad felt he deserved a chance at the world title. So, on April 22,
they met for a second time, this time in Johnson's hometown of
Indianapolis. This fight was also considered by many experts as a
Saad Muhammad classic, and has been shown on ESPN Classic's
Classic Fights show. Saad Muhammad won the WBC's world Light
Heavyweight crown with an eight round knockout of Johnson, after
staggering him with a right hand towards the end of the seventh round.
For his first defense, he met former world champion John Conteh in
Atlantic City. He retained the world title with a 15 round decision. The
decision, however, was unpopular and an immediate rematch was ordered,
so they met again, this time Saad Muhammad retaining the crown with a
knockout in round four. After beating Louis Pergaud, he and Lopez met
again, this time, with the world title on the line. Their rematch has
also been shown by ESPN's classic network several times, and it
was the fight of the year for 1980, according to Ring Magazine.
Saad Muhammad was hit with 20 unanswered blows in round eight,
but he recovered and dropped Lopez five times in route to a 14th round
knockout win. It was around this time that he formally changed his name
from Matthew Franklin to Matthew Saad Muhammad.
He then went on to defeat Lotte Mwale, Vonzell Vampire Johnson,
future world Super-Middleweight champion Murray Sutherland and Jerry
Martin, all in defense of his world title, before facing Muhammad Qawi
(then Braxton) in December of 1981. In yet another fight that would
later by shown on ESPN's classic network, Saad Muhammad lost his title
when Qawi knocked him out in 10 rounds.
Saad Muhammad entered 1982 with a rematch against Qawi within his
sights, and he defeated Pete McIntyre by a knockout in round two. The
rematch between Saad Muhammad and Qawi came off in August, at Saad
Muhammad's hometown of Philadelphia. The second time around, Qawi won by
a knockout in round six.
From there on until 1992, Saad Muhammad fought sporadically and with
limited success. He had been confronting eyesight problems, and in 1986,
he declared himself in bankruptcy. He did, however, fight in many
countries around the world between the moment he lost the rematch to
Qawi and the moment he retired for good. Among those countries were
Australia, Spain, The Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago.
Saad Muhammad retired with a record of 39 wins, 16 losses and 3 draws,
with 29 wins by knockout.
In 2001, he became a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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