Matthew Saad Muhammad: An Appreciation

Published

11 years ago

May 27, 2014

Imagine if there was a boxer around today who could box if he chose to, could take his opponents’ consciousness away with either hand, possessed the most remarkable recuperative powers you ever saw, owned a cast-iron chin and fought every top contender in the division one after another when it was stacked with hall of fame fighters – how huge of a star would that fighter be today in 2014?

Well boxing fans, I present Matthew Saad Muhammad aka Matt Franklin.

For the last five or six years fans, have flocked to see Floyd Mayweather’s publicized sparring sessions that would be better suited airing on TMZ against opponents chosen for business reasons above all else. After Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao is the next biggest draw in boxing. Other than his 12th round stoppage of Miguel Cotto five years ago, the most exciting fight he’s been a participant of ended with him being counted out face first on the canvas versus his career rival.

When it comes to giving fans action-packed fights with sustained action, there hasn’t been a more fan-friendly fighter in the ring than Matthew Saad Muhammad in over half a century.

And if you took Saad circa 1976-1981 and dropped him into the light heavyweight division of today, it’s very plausible that he would be the biggest and brightest star in boxing. His back story of abandonment to world boxing champion would repeated on HBO and Showtime every time he fought. On top of that there isn’t one light heavyweight in the world today who would’ve gone the distance with him, let alone beat him. Yes, that includes Bernard Hopkins, Sergey Kovalov and Adonis Stevenson. Saad was a real Adonis physically and he was Evander Holyfield before Evander was even thinking about becoming a world champion while he was winning swimming meets in Atlanta. I mean no disrespect to Evander, but the comeback he made during the 10th round of his first fight with Riddick Bowe was routine for Saad two or three weekends a year during his title tenure 1979 through 1981.

Saad passed away this week at age 59 from Lou Gehring’s disease. If you were around and following boxing during the middle 1970’s through the early 1980’s you are very saddened by the news. The words “champion” and “warrior” are thrown around and passed on to fighters and athletes too often today. However, in the case of Matthew Saad Muhammad the words are fitting and probably under-used.

Saad participated in five of the most exciting fights anyone has ever seen, against Marvin Johnson (twice), Richie Kates and Yaqui Lopez (twice). He went 5-0 in those bouts and won them by stoppage.

Everyone talks about his title winning effort against Marvin Johnson in their second bout and what a great fight it was, but their first fight for the NABF title at the Spectrum in South Philly was even better and I was lucky to have attended it.

I remember as an amateur training at Joe Frazier’s gym in North Philly watching Marvin Johnson, who was undefeated at the time, train for his upcoming fight with Saad, who was Matt Franklin then, a week prior to the bout. Johnson looked really sharp and aggressive during his rounds of sparring, almost too aggressive for hall of fame trainer George Benton, who was observing Marvin while he sparred. On his last day of training Benton cornered Johnson as he came out of the ring and said in almost these exact words — “Johnson, don’t trade with this MF’er, he’s too F’n strong. He’s a sitting duck for your southpaw uppercut, just don’t try and knock him out or wake him up if you get him in trouble because that’s when he’s so dangerous. Box him and you’ll be okay, go to war with him and you’re asking for trouble.”

Johnson respectfully took in what Georgie said, but he was a fighter who only knew how to attack and as fate would have it, everything Benton spoke of played out three days later when they fought. Johnson repeatedly nailed Saad with uppercuts that should’ve sent his head up into the rafters of the Spectrum. He dazed Saad and hurt him but stood right there in front of him and was hurt in return with Saad’s counters. Saad also owned a terrific uppercut and left hook that was followed by a big right hand as a finishing shot. And Johnson was slowly worn down by those bombs as the bout progressed. Johnson’s heart and determination kept him pressing the fight but in the end it was Saad’s abundance of toughness and strength that were too much for Johnson. After 11 rounds the bout was up for grabs. Saad came out in the 12th round and unloaded on Johnson, hurting him beyond the point of return. Marvin tried to hold on to survive the round but he was too weak and tired to hold the charging Saad off. Finally, he collapsed against the ropes and was flat on his back and the fight was stopped with a little more than a minute remaining in the last round.

When Saad fought Richie Kates seven months later, Richie was a year and a half removed from losing two close controversial title fights versus a beast of a champion named Victor Galindez. I was also lucky to be at the Spectrum that night. With seconds left in the fourth round, Kates hit Saad with a right hand that dropped him and he went down face first. Saad looked so out of it and gone that Kates and his cornermen started celebrating thinking that the fight was over. Somehow Saad beat the count but was on the shakiest legs you ever saw and barely made it back to his corner. Had there been thirty seconds left in the round and Kates could hit him once more clean, the fight would’ve been over.

Kates came out in the fifth round and took it to an exhausted Saad to the head and body. Towards the end of the round Saad began to shrug his shoulders and waved Kates to come and get him. With 10 seconds left in the round Saad dropped Kates face first with a beautiful right hand, and like Saad in the round before, Richie was saved by the bell.

In the sixth round Saad came out and unloaded on Kates with right hands and left hooks and the bout was stopped with Kates out on his feet.

After beating Kates, Saad defended his NABF title against perennial contender Yaqui Lopez, who lost three previous title shots to John Conteh and Victor Galindez twice, all three by decision.

Saad and Lopez put on a spectacular fight at the Spectrum and in the early going Lopez had the slightly better of it. And like Secretariat at the 1973 Kentucky Derby, Saad stormed back and stopped Lopez with one second remaining in the 11th round.

As fate would have it, Marvin Johnson got a title shot before Saad and won it when he stopped WBC light heavyweight champ Mate Parlov in the 10th round. To show you the kind of a man and fighter that Marvin Johnson was, instead of making a few easy defenses of the title, he defended it against Saad in his first defense four months later. Saad and Johnson staged another instant classic in Johnson’s hometown of Indianapolis and Saad emerged with the title after a great give and take war that ended in the eighth round.

Saad made eight successful defenses of the title. winning all but one by knockout. During his tenure as champ he turned back the challenges of John Conteh, twice, Yaqui Lopez, Vonzell Johnson, Murray Sutherland and Jerry “The Bull” Martin. By the time he defended the title against another future hall of famer and monster Dwight Muhammad Qawi (aka Dwight Braxton) the tough fights and wars had taken their toll on Saad physically. Even before he won the title Saad fought tough guys and future champs like Billy “Dynamite” Douglas, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Mate Parlov and Marvin Camel (2xs).

I also trained with Dwight, who is a hall of famer, but in fairness, by the time he fought Saad, MSM’s better days were behind him and he was on the decline. Dwight stopped him in 10 rounds to win the title and then beat him again in six rounds when they met in a rematch eight months later.

After that it was pretty much over for Saad. Like many other past greats he hung on too long as the money evaporated and the loses to fighters he would’ve destroyed in his prime mounted. He finally retired with a career record of 49-16-3 (35).

However, if you want a true indication of who Matthew Saad Muhammad was as a fighter, just look at his first 38 fights.

Look at the names of the guys who he fought during that time who went on to become champs and enter the hall of fame. Saad was light heavyweight champ when the likes of Michael Spinks, Dwight Muhammad Qawi, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Marvin Johnson, Victor Galindez, Yaqui Lopez, Mike Rossman, John Conteh, Richie Kates, James Scott and Jerry “The Bull” Martin were out there.

Matthew Saad Muhammad was a true warrior in the ring. When he wanted to use it, he had a great jab and was an underrated boxer. However, after losing a disputed decision to Eddie Mustafa Muhammad early in his career, a fight in which he had Eddie down and everyone who was there and saw it thought he won, he decided to become more of a slugger and fighter. He had the two handed power to thrive in that style and the concrete chin and immense physical strength to be successful. With media access via cable TV, the Internet, Facebook and Twitter, Saad would be a huge star today because he never disappointed and always delivered against the best of the best the light heavyweight division had to offer.

In closing here’s two quick Saad stories:

It was July of 1978 at the Passyunk gym in South Philly. I was there training as an amateur and both Saad and Mike Rossman were also there training. Rossman, who was stopped by Yaqui Lopez in his last fight was starting to get ready for his upcoming title shot against WBA champ Victor Galindez, a fight Mike would go onto win. Saad was preparing to defend his NABF title against Lopez and hoping to meet the Galindez-Rossman winner. I’ll never forget after sparring two rounds with Saad, he pointed to Rossman shadow boxing on the floor and said to me, “He just got knocked out by Lopez who I’m going to knock out – and he’s getting a title shot before me…” then he shook his head and got ready to spar the next guy up. Years later, I ran into him in Atlantic City during a cable TV sports show that I was a guest on. He just found out that he was going to be inducted into the IBHOF and was saying how he hadn’t seen any of his fights in years. Being a fight collector I offered to make him a VHS tape of his bouts vs. Kates, Johnson and Lopez. A week later we met and I gave him the tape. He was happy to get it and when I ran into him after that he continued to thank me for the tape.You couldn’t meet a nicer or tougher man than Matthew Saad Muhammad. Everyone who came in contact with him liked him and his demeanor never changed. I’m glad I got to know Saad and train with him a little bit when he was the main man in the light heavyweight division. It’s a shame that because of all the great boxers around at that time like Muhammad Ali, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Alexis Arguello, Salvador Sanchez and others, Saad got a little lost in the crowd. But that doesn’t diminish what a thrilling and great fighter he was.

And to those of us who were around for his prime, we’ll never forget the great fights and memories that he gave us and we all respect him for the way he handled himself outside of the ring as well.

Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GloevedFist@Gmail.com

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Frank Lotierzo

Avila Perspective Chap 320: Boots Ennis and Stanionis

Published

8 hours ago

April 11, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-320:-Boots-Ennis-and-Stanionis.jpg

Jaron “Boots Ennis and Eimantis Stanionus are in the wrong era.

If they had fought in the late 70s and early 80s the boxing world would have seen them regularly on televised fight cards.

Instead, with the world’s attention span diluted by thousands of available programming, this richly talented pair of undefeated welterweights Ennis (33-0, 29 Kos) and Stanionis (15-0, 9 Kos) will battle in the smaller confines of Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday April 12.

Thankfully, DAZN will stream the WBA and IBF welterweight world title fight on the Matchroom Boxing card.

If not for DAZN these two elite fighters and the sport of pro boxing might be completely invisible to the sports entertainment world.

These welterweights are special.

Ennis, a lean whip-quick fighter out of Philadelphia, stylistically reminds me of a Tommy Hearns but not as tall or long-armed as the Detroit fighter of the past.

“Win on Saturday and I’m the WBA, IBF and Ring Magazine champion, and then we’ll see what’s next. But I am zoned in on Stanionis,” said Ennis the IBF titlist.

Lithuania’s Stanionis and his pressure style liken to a Marvelous Marvin Hagler who would walk through fire to reach striking distance of a foes chin or abdomen.

“Ennis is slick, explosive, and they say he’s the future of the division. That’s why I signed the contract. I don’t duck anyone—I run toward the fire,” Stanionis said.

When Hagler and Hearns met in Las Vegas on April 1985, their reputations had been built on television with millions watching against common foes like Roberto Duran and Juan Roldan. Both had different styles just like Stanionis and Ennis and both could punch.

One difference was their ability to take a punch.

Hagler had a chin of steel, Hearns did not.

When Ennis and Stanionis meet in the boxing ring this Saturday, each is facing the most dangerous fighter of his career. Whose chin will hold up is the true question?

“This isn’t gonna be a chess match. This is going to be a war,” said Stanionis who holds the WBA title. “I’m stepping into that ring to test him, break him, and beat him. Let’s see how he handles real pressure.”

Ennis just wants to win.

“I’m at the point right now where I don’t care what people say,” said Ennis. “I’m here to do one thing and that’s put hands on you, that’s it.”

Golden Boy in Oceanside, CA

Next week budding star Charles Conway (21-0, 16 Kos) meets Mexico’s Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 Kos) in the semi-main event at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California on Saturday April 19.

The two super welterweights are both ranked in the top 10 and the winner moves up to the elite level of the very stacked super welterweight division.

Conwell, who trains in Cleveland, Ohio, has been one of boxing’s best kept secrets and someone few champions and contenders want to face. Take my word for it, this kid can fight.

On the main event is undisputed female flyweight world champion Gabriela Fundora (15-0, 7 Kos) defending all her titles against Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1, 3 Kos).

Fundora is quickly becoming the most feared champion in boxing.

360 Promotions

Super welter prospect Sadridden Akhmedov (15-0, 13 Kos) meets Elias Espadas (23-6, 16 Kos) in the main event on Saturday April 19, at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif. The 360 Promotions event will be streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

Also, Roxy Verduzco (3-0) meets Jessica Radtke (1-1-1) in a six rounds featherweight battle.

Fights to Watch

Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Jarron Ennis (33-0) vs Eamantis Stanionis (15-0).

Photo credit: Mark Robinson

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Dzmitry Asanau Flummoxes Francesco Patera on a Ho-Hum Card in Montreal

Published

1 day ago

April 10, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Dzmitry-Asanau-Flummoxes-Franesco-Patera-on-a-Ho-Hum-Card-in-Montreal

Dzmitry Asanau Flummoxes Francesco Patera on a Ho-Hum Card in Montreal

Camille Estephan’s Eye of the Tiger Promotions was at its regular pop stand at the Montreal Casino tonight. Upsets on Estephan’s cards are as rare as snow on the Sahara Desert and tonight was no exception.

The main event was a 10-round lightweight contest between Dzmitry “The Wasp” Asanau and Francesco Patera.

A second-generation prizefighter – his father was reportedly an amateur champion in Russia – Asanau, 28, had a wealth of international amateur experience and represented Belarus in the Tokyo Olympics. His punches didn’t sting like a wasp, but he had too much class for Belgium’s Patera whose claim to fame was that he went 10 rounds with current WBO lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis.

Two of the judges scored every round for the Wasp (10-0, 4 KOs) with the other seeing it 98-92. Patera falls to 30-6.

Co-Feature

Fast-rising Mexican-Canadian welterweight Christopher Guerrero was credited with three knockdowns en route to a one-sided 10-round decision over Oliver Quintana. A two-time Canadian amateur champion, Guererro improved to 14-0 (8).

The fight wasn’t quite as lopsided as what the scorecards read (99-88 and 98-89 twice). None of the knockdowns were particularly harsh and the middle one was a dubious call by the referee.

It was a quick turnaround for Guerrero who scored the best win of his career 8 weeks ago in this ring. The spunky but out-gunned Quintana, whose ledger declined to 22-4, was making his first start outside Mexico.

After his victory, Guerrero was congratulated by ringsider Terence “Bud” Crawford who has a date with Canelo Alvarez in September, purportedly in Las Vegas at the home of the NFL’s Raiders. Canelo has an intervening fight with William Scull on May 4 (May 3 in the U.S.) in Saudi Arabia.

Other Bouts of Note

In a fight without an indelible moment, Mary Spencer improved to 10-2 (6) with a lopsided decision over Ogleidis Suarez (31-6-1). The scores were 99-91 and 100-90 twice. Spencer was making the first defense of her WBA super welterweight title. (She was bumped up from an interim champion to a full champion when Terri Harper vacated the belt.)

A decorated amateur, the 40-year-old Spencer has likely reached her ceiling as a pro. A well-known sports personality in Venezuela, Suarez, 37, returned to the ring in January after a 26-month hiatus. An 18-year pro, she began her career as a junior featherweight.

In a monotonously one-sided fight, Jhon Orobio, a 21-year-old Montreal-based Colombian, advanced to 13-0 (11) with an 8-round shutout over Argentine campaigner Sebastian Aguirre (19-7). Orobio threw the kitchen sink at his rugged Argentine opponent who was never off his feet.

Wyatt Sanford

The pro debut of Nova Scotia’s Wyatt Sanford, a bronze medalist at the Paris Olympics, fell out when Sanford’s opponent was unable to make weight. The opponent, 37-year-old slug Shawn Archer, was reportedly so dehydrated that he had to be hospitalized.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Remembering Hall of Fame Boxing Trainer Kenny Adams

Published

2 days ago

April 9, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Remembering-Hall--Fame-Boxing-Trainer-Kenny-Adams

The flags at the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York, are flying at half-staff in honor of boxing trainer Kenny Adams who passed away Monday (April 7) at age 84 at a hospice in Las Vegas. Adams was formally inducted into the Hall in June of last year but was too ill to attend the ceremony.

A native of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Adams was a retired Army master sergeant who was part of an elite squadron that conducted many harrowing missions behind enemy lines during the Vietnam War. A two-time All-Service boxing champion, his name became more generally known in 1984 when he served as the assistant coach of the U.S. Olympic boxing team that won 11 medals, eight gold, at the Los Angeles Summer Games. In 1988, he was the head coach of the squad that won eight medals, three gold, at the Olympiad in Seoul.

Adams’ work caught the eye of Top Rank honcho Bob Arum who induced Adams to move to Las Vegas and coach a team of fledgling pros that he had recently signed. Bantamweight Eddie Cook and junior featherweight Kennedy McKinney, Adams’ first two champions, bubbled out of that pod. Both represented the U.S. Army as amateurs. McKinney was an Olympic gold medalist. Adams would eventually play an instrumental role in the development of more than two dozen world title-holders including such notables as Diego Corrales, Edwin Valero, Freddie Norwood, and Terence Crawford.

When Eddie Cook won his title from Venezuela’s 36-1 Israel Contreras, it was a big upset. Adams, the subject of a 2023 profile in these pages, was subsequently on the winning side of two upsets of far greater magnitude. He prepared French journeyman Rene Jacquot for Jacquot’s date with Donald Curry on Feb. 11 1989 and prepared Vincent Phillips for his engagement with Kostya Tszyu on May 31, 1997.

Jacquot won a unanimous decision over Curry. Phillips stopped Tszyu in the 10^th frame. Both fights were named Upset of the Year by The Ring magazine.

Adams’ home-away-from-home in his final years as a boxing coach was the DLX boxing gym which opened in the summer of 2020 in a former dry cleaning establishment on the west-central side of the city. It was fortuitous to the gym’s owner Trudy Nevins that Adams happened to live a few short blocks away.

“He helped me get the place up and running,” notes Nevins who endowed a chair, as it were, in honor of her esteemed helpmate.

No one in the Las Vegas boxing community was closer to Kenny Adams than Brandon Woods. “He was a mentor to me in boxing and in life in general, a father figure,” says Woods, who currently trains Trevor McCumby and Rocky Hernandez, among others.

Akin to Adams, Woods is a Missourian. His connection to Adams comes through his amateur coach Frank Flores, a former teammate of Adams on an all-Service boxing team and an assistant under Adams with the 1988 U.S. Olympic squad.

Woods was working with Nonito Donaire when he learned that he had cancer (now in remission). He cajoled Kenny Adams out of retirement to assist with the training of the Las Vegas-based Filipino and they were subsequently in the corner of Woods’ fighter DeeJay Kriel when the South African challenged IBF 105-pound title-holder Carlos Licona at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Feb. 16, 2019.

This would be the last time they worked together in the corner and it proved to be a joyous occasion.

After 11 rounds, the heavily favored Licona, a local fighter trained by Robert Garcia, had a seemingly insurmountable lead. He was ahead by seven points on two of the scorecards. In the final round, Kriel knocked him down three times and won by TKO.

“I will always remember the pep talk that Kenny gave DeeJay before that final round,” says Woods. “He said ‘You mean to tell me that you came all the way from across the pond to get to this point and not win a title?’ but in language more colorful than that; I’m paraphrasing.”

“After the fight, Kenny said to me, ‘In all my years of training guys, I never saw that.’”

The fight attracted little attention before or after (it wasn’t the main event), but it would enter the history books. Boxing writer Eric Raskin, citing research by Steve Farhood, notes that there have been only 16 instances of a boxer winning a world title fight by way of a last-round stoppage of a bout he was losing. The most famous example is the first fight between Julio Cesar Chavez and Meldrick Taylor. Kriel vs. Licona now appears on the same list.

Brandon Woods notes that the Veterans Administration moved Adams around quite a bit in his final months, shuffling him to hospitals in North Las Vegas, Kingman, Arizona, and then Boulder City (NV) before he was placed in a hospice.

When Woods visited Adams last week, Adams could not speak. “If you can hear me, I would say to him, please blink your eyes. He blinked.

“There are a couple of people in my life I thought would never leave us and Kenny is one,” said Woods with a lump in his throat.

Photo credit: Supreme Boxing

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!