Matthew Saad Muhammad

Matthew Saad Muhammad (born Maxwell Antonio Loach; June 16, 1954 – May 25, 2014) was an American professional boxer who won the WBC light heavyweight title.

Background

Saad Muhammad's mother died when he was an infant,^[1] and he and his elder brother were sent to live with an aunt. When he was five, his aunt could not afford to look after both of them and she instructed Saad Muhammad's brother to get rid of him. His brother took him to Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway and then ran away. Saad Muhammad was taken in by Catholic Social Services. The nuns gave him the name Matthew Franklin (after the saint and the parkway where he was found). Matthew lived in foster care until a couple from Philadelphia adopted him, raised him, and took care of him like he was their own.^[2]

Saad Muhammad was very popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s among boxing fans because of his particularly action-oriented 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 (born as Eddie Gregory), and Dwight Muhammad Qawi (born as Dwight Braxton). Saad Muhammad confirmed this in interviews following his boxing career, stating that he was inspired to convert by Muhammad Ali's conversion.^[3]

Amateur career

Saad Muhammad had a relatively short amateur career, consisting of only 20 amateur bouts. He won the Trenton (NJ) Golden Gloves in 1973 and turned pro the following year.^[4]

Professional boxing career

Saad Muhammad began to box professionally in 1974, with a second-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 by a knockout in round 12, obtaining the regional championship. Shortly after becoming champion, he converted to Islam and changed his name to Matthew Saad Muhammad.

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 Yaqui López. The Lopez fight, their first of two, was considered a classic by boxing experts, and Saad Muhammad survived a relentless attack by López 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 voided and a rematch ordered because Muhammad's cornermen used an illegal substance to stop the bleeding from a cut.^[5] Muhammad retained the crown with a knockout in round four in the second bout.^[6] After beating Louis Pergaud, he and López met again, this time, with the world title on the line. Their rematch has also been shown by ESPN's classic network several times, it was the fight of the year for 1980, according to Ring Magazine, and is still written about by boxing afficianados.^[7] Saad Muhammad was hit with 20 unanswered blows in round eight, but he recovered and dropped López five times en route to a 14th-round knockout win. “This was my toughest fight,” said Saad Muhammad of the fight, which some consider the closest López ever came to a world title.^[8]

He then went on to defeat Lottie Mwale, Vonzell 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 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 vision 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.

MMA career

Saad Muhammad also took a turn in the forerunner of mixed martial arts in Japan, participating in the first UWF International (UWFi) event in 1991. Matched against Kiyoshi Tamura, Saad Muhammad talked a great deal at a lead-in press conference. He declined to say in which round he would knock Tamura out, but guaranteed a victory. Tamura submitted Saad Muhammad 34 seconds into the first round.

Retirement from boxing

Saad Muhammad retired from professional boxing with a record of 49 wins, 16 losses and 3 draws, with 35 wins by knockout.

In 1998, he became a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Boxing trainer

Muhammad trained up and coming fighters out of Atlantic City, New Jersey and worked closely with former Indian Olympic boxing team heavyweight Gurcharan "The Guru" Singh. Singh was scheduled to fight in Slough's Montem Lesiure Centre, England in October 2006 and was accompanied by Saad Muhammad, however due to injury to Singh's knee he was unable to fight.

Retirement and death

In July 2010, Muhammad was found homeless and living in a shelter in Philadelphia.^[1] After that point, he became involved in charity work in the Philadelphia area, some of which focused on raising money for the homeless.^[3] He died at a hospital in Philadelphia on May 25, 2014 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).^[9]

Muhammad was listed as number 24 on Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.

Professional boxing record

49 Wins (35 knockouts, 14 decisions), 16 Losses (8 knockouts, 8 decisions), 3 Draws
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	11-3-1	Jason Waller	KO	2	21/03/1992	Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States
Loss	17-1	"Boxing" Andrew Maynard	TKO	3	29/10/1991	Washington, District of Columbia, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 0:20 of the third round.
Loss	2-1	Michael "Gang" Green	PTS	8	05/10/1991	Woodbridge, Virginia, United States
Win	9-1-1	Govoner Chavers	KO	1	15/08/1991	Marbella, Andalucia, Spain
Loss	6-0	Anton Josipovic	PTS	8	09/05/1991	Novi Sad, Serbia, Yugoslavia
Loss	10-1-1	Ed Mack	UD	8	26/02/1991	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States	75-77, 75-78, 74-77.
Loss	4-0	Markus Bott	TKO	3	16/02/1990	Wandsbek, Hamburg, Germany
Draw	24-13-3	Kevin Wagstaff	PTS	8	24/10/1989	Boondall, Queensland, Australia
Loss	14-2	Frankie "Tennessee Stud" Swindell	TKO	1	21/10/1988	Newark, New Jersey, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 2:33 of the first round.
Win	0-1	Lee "The Poll" Harris	TKO	1	08/04/1988	Mechanicsville, Virginia, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 0:30 of the first round.
Win	13-13	Bobby Thomas	UD	10	04/12/1987	Weirton, West Virginia, United States
Win	4-0	James "Killer" Coakley	KO	3	26/06/1987	Nassau, Bahamas
Loss	23-5	Pat Strachan	UD	10	30/01/1987	Nassau, Bahamas	96-97, 96-97, 97-98.
Win	15-6-1	Tomas Polo Ruiz	UD	10	16/11/1986	Mucurapo, Trinidad and Tobago
Loss	7-2	Uriah Grant	UD	10	21/02/1986	Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
Win	13-15	Chris "Deep" Wells	TKO	6	10/01/1986	Hollywood, Florida, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 0:40 of the sixth round.
Loss	17-1	Willie "Sandman" Edwards	TKO	11	11/02/1984	Detroit, Michigan, United States	NABF Light Heavyweight Title.
Win	11-25-1	Larry "Tumbler" Davis	TKO	10	09/09/1983	New York City, United States
Loss	11-6	Eric Winbush	TKO	3	23/03/1983	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:53 of the third round.
Loss	17-1-1	"Camden Buzzsaw" Dwight Muhammad Qawi	TKO	6	07/08/1982	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States	WBC World Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 1:23 of the sixth round.
Win	17-11-1	Pete McIntyre	TKO	2	17/04/1982	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 2:28 of the second round.
Loss	15-1-1	"Camden Buzzsaw" Dwight Muhammad Qawi	TKO	10	19/12/1981	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	WBC World Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 2:54 of the tenth round.
Win	22-2	Jerry "Bull" Martin	TKO	11	26/09/1981	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	WBC World Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 0:28 of the 11th round.
Win	28-5	Murray Sutherland	KO	9	25/04/1981	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	WBC World Light Heavyweight Title. Sutherland knocked out at 1:16 of the ninth round.
Win	22-1	Vonzell Johnson	TKO	11	28/02/1981	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	WBC World Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 2:23 of the 11th round.
Win	21-0	Lottie Mwale	KO	4	28/11/1980	San Diego, California, United States	WBC World Light Heavyweight Title. Mwale knocked out at 2:25 of the fourth round.
Win	49-9	Yaqui Lopez	TKO	14	13/07/1980	McAfee, New Jersey, United States	WBC World Light Heavyweight Title. 1980 Ring Magazine Fight of the Year. Referee stopped the bout at 2:03 of the 14th round.
Win	17-1	Louis Pergaud	TKO	5	11/05/1980	Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada	WBC World Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 1:19 of the fifth round.
Win	33-3-1	John Conteh	TKO	4	29/03/1980	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	WBC World Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 2:27 of the fourth round.
Win	33-2-1	John Conteh	UD	15	18/08/1979	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States	WBC World Light Heavyweight Title. 146-142, 144-143, 146-141.
Win	22-2	Marvin Johnson	TKO	8	22/04/1979	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States	WBC World Light Heavyweight Title.
Win	43-7	Yaqui Lopez	TKO	11	24/10/1978	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States	NABF Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 2:59 of the 11th round.
Win	11-3	Fred Bright	TKO	8	16/08/1978	Newark, New Jersey, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:18 of the eighth round.
Win	18-3-1	Dale Grant	TKO	5	19/06/1978	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:10 of the fifth round.
Win	34-3	Richie Kates	TKO	6	10/02/1978	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States	NABF Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 1:35 of the sixth round.
Win	11-10-1	Dave Lee Royster	UD	10	01/11/1977	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	35-12-1	Billy "Dynamite" Douglas	TKO	6	17/09/1977	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States	NABF Light Heavyweight Title.
Win	15-0	Marvin Johnson	TKO	12	26/07/1977	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States	NABF Light Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 1:12 of the 12th round.
Win	19-9-1	Ed "Savage" Turner	KO	6	23/06/1977	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States	Turner knocked out at 0:53 of the sixth round.
Win	2-19	Joe Maye	PTS	10	21/04/1977	Wilmington, Delaware, United States
Loss	20-2-1	Eddie Mustafa Muhammad	SD	10	11/03/1977	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Draw	15-1	Mate Parlov	PTS	10	03/12/1976	Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
Loss	16-1	Marvin Camel	MD	10	23/10/1976	Missoula, Montana, United States	91-100, 96-98, 96-96.
Win	8-7-1	Bobby "Fire" Walker	TKO	4	15/09/1976	Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:57 of the fourth round.
Win	14-0	Marvin Camel	SD	10	17/07/1976	Stockton, California, United States
Win	12-0	Mate Parlov	PTS	8	21/05/1976	Milan, Lombardia, Italy
Win	19-34-4	Harold "70's Version" Carter	PTS	10	13/02/1976	Owings Mills, Maryland, United States
Draw	2-1	Wayne McGee	PTS	6	21/10/1975	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	13-2	Roosevelt "Rosy" Brown	TKO	4	24/07/1975	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	3-1	Vandell Woods	KO	6	25/02/1975	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States	Woods knocked out at 0:55 of the sixth round.
Loss	1-0	Wayne McGee	PTS	6	10/12/1974	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	3-1	Joe "Smokey" Middleton	TKO	2	22/10/1974	Alexandria, Virginia, United States	Referee stopped the bout at 1:32 of the second round.
Win	1-0	Lloyd Richardson	TKO	4	10/09/1974	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	--	"Cuppa" Joe Jones	KO	3	15/07/1974	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States	Jones knocked out at 2:19 of the third round.
Win	1-0	Joe "Smokey" Middleton	KO	5	22/05/1974	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	6-21-6	"Rob" Roy Ingram	PTS	4	11/03/1974	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	1-2	Mukeba Apolosa	PTS	4	25/02/1974	Paris, France
Win	1-3	Billy Early	TKO	2	14/01/1974	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

See also

• List of WBC world champions

References

External links

• Professional boxing record for Matthew Saad Muhammad from BoxRec