Eddie Mustafa Muhammad vs Matthew Saad Muhammad

[Titan1]

If they had met in the spring of '81 like they were supposed to, would Matthew had gotten his revenge against Eddie in the unification matchup?

[robert ungurean]

Eddies so much more talanted but Matt' desire & more heart would have won it for him.
Would have been a great fight.

[robert ungurean]

Matt's

[Duodenum]

Not if Eddie managed to get himself into peak physical condition. If they both came in around 173, I think Eddie's defensive skill at slipping Matt's punches would come into play. As he did with Marvin Johnson, Easy Eddie would blow some early rounds, but he'd enter the championship stretch with a full tank in reserve, where most of Matt's opponents were spent late. In this one, Matt would be working much harder than Eddie. In the Johnson fight, Eddie also was able to shrug off an awful lot of Marvin's punches on the inside. If you think those seemingly little taps on Eddie's head didn't have substantial impact, check out Johnson's 60 second squashing of Alvino Manson on ESPN. Just a handful of seeming innocuous left uppercut bumps on the point of Alvino's chin sent him tumbling forward and down for the count. Matt isn't going to take Eddie out when he does manage to nail him, or even score a knockdown on Lazy Ed.

Matt had a heart the size of Secretariat's, but that wouldn't help him against Eddie's defensive skills, or his deadly body attack. And if Matt exposes his head to Eddie's counterpunching bu going downstairs himself, he could be taking his life in his hands. (Not that this would be anything new to Matt.)

Rationally, there should be no way Saad Muhammad wins this one. Eddie has the edge in all the factors concerning boxing technique. However, on a scale of 1 to 10, Matt's intangibles rate about, ohhh, say, 2361.97. Like Bobby Chacon, Matt had a way of defying reason and logic.

Well, as you can tell by how I've changed my tune over the course of this post, I'm a spineless little worm with no conviction.

Matthew Saad Muhammad W 15 Lazy Easy Eddie Mustafa Muhammad

[la-califa]

Matt was a notoriously slow starter. Eddie would move out fast & pile up points. By mid rounds he might even catch Matt with his big right hand. But if the fight starts to drag on into the late rounds. It's all Matt. Few fighters had this much heart in rounds 11 - 15. If Alvaro "Yaqui" Lopez had been fighting Eddie that night he would finally have won that world championship.

[JohnThomas1]

Eddie was the conscensus opinion at the time and i agree. He was in great form. We have to remember that nobody conserved more energy than Eddie (sometimes good, sometimes bad, in this one definitely good) His smooth skills and awesome countering will enable him to outpoint Saad, who is at his greatest in brawls. Eddie's fantastic chin will allow him to soak up any big Saad right hands.

[Manassa]

I see it quite simply as depending on which Mustafa turns up. Saad would outwork and outfight a lazy Mustafa, but properly focused and prepared, the result would be reversed.

[JohnThomas1]

I see it quite simply as depending on which Mustafa turns up. Saad would outwork and outfight a lazy Mustafa, but properly focused and prepared, the result would be reversed.

Exactly. I could not agree more.

[he grant]

Mustafa was in his mental prime and he was a more talented guy ... I like Mustafa even though I loved Saad ...

[natonic]

I pick Eddie Mustafa Muhammed. I think he would've showed up for this fights. I just think he would've controlled the fight with his jab and sneak right hand. I don't think he would've fell in to a war either, which would've been Saad's chance.

[WhataRock]

Just about never seen anyone with the recuperative abilities of Matt but I dont think Eddie would allow that to come into play.

The first film I saw of flame was when he took on Snipes and that has stuck with me, he was out of shape and very lazy in that fight.

But most of the other stuff Ive seen of him when he got down to 175 he looked a ton better of course.

[he grant]

It's funny that Eddie is a trainer today because in his prime he was considered an exceptionally talented underachiever ...

[jowcol]

Who knows with Eddie? He was his own worst enemy. IMHO neither Saad nor Spinks could ever beat him if he was in shape and had his head screwed on straight.

[JohnThomas1]

Who knows with Eddie? He was his own worst enemy. IMHO neither Saad nor Spinks could ever beat him if he was in shape and had his head screwed on straight.

Agreed.

[WhataRock]

Really think he would beat Spinks?

I thought he looked pretty good in their fight for coming off a loss. He had only beaten Johson a year previous.

[JohnThomas1]

Eddie lost 27 pounds in two months, and a few the day of the fight. He was neatly outboxing Spinks before the weight drama's and a terribly closed eye (may or may not have been the result of a legal blow) slowed him dramatically.

Spinks tho often came on late, so with no drama's for Eddie it would have been interesting. His eye tho made it impossible to avoid blows the way he so brilliantly had been.

[Mantequilla]

While i agree that Eddie would win if he's on top form, i do think Saad's technical skills are often underestimated.

he was a very skilled boxer-puncher in his own right, but his problem was average defensive reflexes and tendency to get willingly drawn into wars.

Gregory is never going to try and go to war so i expect this would be a pretty nice technical fight.

[jowcol]

Really think he would beat Spinks?

I thought he looked pretty good in their fight for coming off a loss. He had only beaten Johson a year previous.

Hi Rock! I remember being so impressed with Eddie at that point then the knucklehead balloons to 200+ against Snipes??? He didn't make weight against Spinks until the final day and was more like a shriveled pear by then. Still, before the weight loss fatigue kicked in he was building a lead against Spinks and damn that closed eye. (thumb?)

I've always hoped that I could meet Eddie some day. I would like to tell him that I've never seen a more complete fighter with all the tools. Boxer, upstairs puncher, downstairs puncher, defense, great set of whiskers (impossible to KO). Of course I'd lay off the negatives, I wouldn't want the big left hook crashing into my right ribcage. :yikes

[kickbxn5]

Though I LOVE both of those guys, I cannot see it turning out any different than their original fight. Mustafa w by dec

[Raging B(_)LL]

I do think Saad's technical skills are often underestimated. He was a very skilled boxer-puncher in his own right, but his problem was average defensive reflexes and tendency to get willingly drawn into wars.

So very true, folks forget that early in his career Matt really didn`t go to war as often as he did later on and preffered to box behind his long jab instead. On a sidenote I have the first four rounds of the Saad/Gregory fight and ironically it was Eddie who was the aggressor and Matt the counter-puncher in that one, and Matt dropped Eddie right onto the seat of his pants with a beauty of right hand.

I wish I had the fight in full, the staredown between them was priceless as they stood literally nose to nose grinning at each other while exchanging all kinds of unpleasantries I`m sure, and then in the third round Eddie`s trunks started slipping off so in between rounds he had to put on another pair of trunks over the ones that were slipping.

The crowd was very lively that night as well, must have been quite a night for those lucky enough to have been there to see it as by all accounts the decision was controversial as well, many felt that Saad should have the got the nod that night instead as he came on late after Eddie`s fast start tired him in the last two rounds.

[Minotauro]

At the time and under the assumption that both guys come in great shape I would favour Eddie he was amazing at his best.

[jowcol]

So very true, folks forget that early in his career Matt really didn`t go to war as often as he did later on and preffered to box behind his long jab instead. On a sidenote I have the first four rounds of the Saad/Gregory fight and ironically it was Eddie who was the aggressor and Matt the counter-puncher in that one, and Matt dropped Eddie right onto the seat of his pants with a beauty of right hand.

I wish I had the fight in full, the staredown between them was priceless as they stood literally nose to nose grinning at each other while exchanging all kinds of unpleasantries I`m sure, and then in the third round Eddie`s trunks started slipping off so in between rounds he had to put on another pair of trunks over the ones that were slipping.

The crowd was very lively that night as well, must have been quite a night for those lucky enough to have been there to see it as by all accounts the decision was controversial as well, many felt that Saad should have the got the nod that night instead as he came on late after Eddie`s fast start tired him in the last two rounds.

I got the fight from the big dealer out of Minnesota (name escapes me now) and I only got 4 rounds. Is that the copy you've got? Remember Dunphy at the staredown? "Oh my!!!, Oh my!!!" :lol:

Back to the Eddie-Spinks scrap for a moment. I remember reading in the paper the next day that the Associated Press had scored the fight a 146-146 draw.:think

[ThinBlack]

Matthew would come on late after an early Eddie start, and floors him in the 14th round to seal up a close unanimous decision.

[Flea Man]

Great post Duo.