Matthew Saad Muhammad, "Miracle Matthew", light heavyweight in the 70s-80s, and an absolute legend in this sport.
Matthew Saad Muhammad's real name was Maxwell Antonio Loach. He was born on June 16, 1954, in Philadelphia. He later became known as Matthew Franklin after being abandoned as a child and placed in Catholic Social Services, where he was given that name. He later changed his name to Matthew Saad Muhammad after converting to Islam. Just about every fight Muhammad was involved in was action-packed as hell. He's nicknamed "Miracle Matthew" because he had a knack for snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, just when it looked like he was done, he would come roaring back and pull off a miracle and win the fight. Guys like him are the reason we love this sport, Muhammad was the definition of Heart. But his beginning was heartbreaking, he was abandoned by his own family when he was young, his mother had passed away and the care of Muhammad and his older brother was undertaken by an aunt. Care might be a strong word as the aunt instructed his older brother to get rid of him because she couldn’t afford both children, so the brother took Muhammad out on a walk one day to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and just left him, walked off, abandoned him, basically discarded him like trash. Muhammad later recalled how he ran really hard and tried to catch up with his brother but couldn't catch him. To imagine a child so young being in those circumstances is hard to fathom. Muhammad ended up being picked up by some police officers and brought to Catholic Social Services and the nuns there gave him the name Matthew, after the saint, and Franklin, after the Parkway where he was found, so they named him Matthew Franklin. He would later convert to Islam and change his name to Matthew Saad Muhammad. I can't even put into words how cold hearted and evil it was to just abandon a child like that, it makes you sick to your stomach, it is one of the most cold hearted and evil things I've ever heard. But the funny thing is, that young kid that was abandoned and thrown away like garbage that day, that kid became a legend.
Never Say Die
Boxing champion Matthew Saad Muhammad’s life and career had the vast arc of a feature film
By: Glen Sharp
In boxing, the light heavyweights—fighters competing at 175 pounds—have always labored in the shadow of the heavyweights, who have generally defined American interest in the sport. But the light heavyweight division enjoyed a golden era from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. So many Hall-of-Fame-quality boxers competed at the same time that some were unable to attain a title that might have been easy pickings had they come along earlier or later. William Dettloff’s fine biography, Matthew Saad Muhammad: Boxing’s Miracle Man, describes the feature-film-like life of one of the more exceptional fighters of this group, whose rise to glory and fall from grace is about as pure as tragedy gets.
Even for the harsh world of boxing, Saad Muhammad’s story—the world he came from, the fame and wealth he achieved, and his subsequent loss of everything—is bracing. Dettloff deftly bookends Saad’s boxing years with his biography and the way in which he arrived in the world on one end, and the long, sad decline of his life on the other. The fighting is why we remember him, but his beginnings affected his fighting, and the fighting affected his end.
A former boxer himself, Dettloff has written a biography of former heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles and served as senior writer for Ring magazine. He is currently editor-in-chief of Ringside Seat. He brings a deep understanding of a boxer’s make-up to this project.
Lack of economic opportunity is often a strong factor in explaining why one becomes a professional boxer, but once a fight has begun in the ring, money plays little role. “There’s not enough [money] in the world to pull a man off the canvas when he has fallen face first or to make him keep punching through a waterfall of blood and bone-dead exhaustion,” Dettloff writes. “That comes from somewhere else, some place deep and feral, where money has no meaning.”
The boy never knew his father, his mother died young of alcoholism, and his family members abandoned him on the side of the road like an unwanted dog or cat. He was able only to mutter something resembling “Matthew” to the nuns who found him on Philadelphia’s Ben Franklin Parkway, so they christened him Matthew Franklin. He converted to Islam later, and after winning the light heavyweight championship, changed his name to Matthew Saad Muhammad. But even during those short years when he sat on top of the world, Saad was haunted by not knowing who he was or where he had come from.
He grew up fighting in the streets and participating in gang life and got his first formal training as a boxer in prison. Once released, he walked into the Juniper Gym, run by Nick Belfiore. One of the exceptional qualities of Miracle Man is Dettloff’s providing mini-biographies of those prominent in Saad’s story. In Belfiore, Dettloff shows us not just an individual, but an archetype in the world of boxing—a man who has put in countless hours of work and commitment, pursued dreams, and, of course, endured betrayals. A writer would need to have spent a good amount of time in gyms himself to draw the character of Belfiore as fully as Dettloff has done here.
Many who follow boxing, even those aware of Saad Muhammad’s championship run, might not have known that he was more of a careful boxer early in his career. He evolved into an aggressive slugger only when frustrated by not receiving decisions in close fights. Looking to take matters out of the judge’s hands, Saad became the most exciting fighter in the world for a few years.
A match with Richie Kates and two fights each with Marvin Johnson and Yaqui López cemented Saad’s reputation for having a wicked punch, an unfailing will, and otherworldly durability. Saad won the light heavyweight championship in 1979 in his second epic slugfest with Marvin Johnson. Then, in 1980, he engaged in another classic with López, a battle in which he seemed to stand on the edge of defeat more than once, thus securing his legacy as one of the ring’s great never-say-die performers. Neither Saad nor López would ever fully recover.
After the López fight, Dettloff points out, Saad Muhammad was operating with diminished reaction time and reduced ability to punch as sharply as he once did. He was now using his durability to wear opponents out until he could take advantage.
Saad loved being champion and wouldn’t consider the possibility that he was slipping. He had married a beauty queen and was flush enough with cash to buy a $75,000 piano that he would never play. His entourage grew to 22 people; he fathered several children out of wedlock. Only fighting would allow him to continue to pay for such a lifestyle. Dettloff describes how fighters rationalize their diminished abilities, a necessary exercise because “a fighter with damaged self-belief is a dead man walking.” A boxer must believe that he is invincible, even as this delusion puts him in harm’s way.
Worn down by so many hard fights, Saad lost his championship to Dwight Braxton in 1981. Braxton, a short, squat, and indefatigable slugger, presented a style that would always have been hard for Saad to contend with, even in the best of circumstances, but by 1981, Saad’s circumstances were far from the best, as Dettloff vividly details. Given his unmotivated training and struggle to make the weight limit, Saad seemed, in retrospect, destined for defeat. Dettloff captures in one scene why the contest ended as it did. Saad had taken a break from training to buy a $180,000 Rolls Royce, something the hungry Braxton could not have even contemplated.
“A rich guy blows a small fortune on a top-of-the-line luxury car. The other can still smell the prison soap in his nose,” Dettloff succinctly puts it. Guess who wins?
Losing the rematch with Braxton in even harsher fashion began the downturn of Saad’s life. Gone were the beautiful women, the mansion, the money, and the cars. He lost minor fights as often as he won, but in need of cash, he kept fighting. It’s a familiar boxing story.
Dettloff devotes a good portion of the closing section of the book to explaining how Saad’s pride kept him from seeing his children once the celebrity lifestyle was gone. He didn't want them to know how far he had fallen. In any case, he likely could never have been an adequate father to all these far-flung children.
In 2004, Dettloff interviewed Saad for HBO. At the time, Saad was looking for someone to help him write an autobiography, and he asked Dettloff, who declined, unsure of the marketability of such a project. Nearly two decades after being asked and six years after Saad’s death, Dettloff has gotten around to telling Saad’s story. Saad, in fact, had been trying to land a book or movie deal about his life as far back as the 1980s.
Saad “knew a good story when he saw one,” Dettloff writes, and now the author has rendered it.
Matthew Saad Muhammad's fights, there's a quote in the above article, "There’s not enough money in the world to pull a man off the canvas when he has fallen face first, or to make him keep punching through a waterfall of blood and bone-dead exhaustion,” Dettloff writes. “That comes from somewhere else, some place deep and feral, where money has no meaning.” That's the epitome of what this sport is about, getting up when you can no longer get up, continuing to fight when you can no longer fight, it's the theme in every Rocky movie, it's why the character of Rocky Balboa was so beloved, the guy just wouldn't quit, no matter what, he just kept coming, it's called Heart. Matthew Saad Muhammad had Heart in spades, the man fought wars in the ring and on more than one occasion he was the real life Rocky Balboa. Great article written back in 2014, just after Muhammad passed away.
Matthew Saad Muhammad: An appreciation
By: Frank Lotierzo
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 child 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 better of it. After taking 40 unanswered blows in a brutal eighth round, Matthew Saad Muhammad recovered and stopped Lopez with one second remaining in the 11th round to retain his world title in 1980’s Fight of the Year.
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.
Matthew Saad Muhammad vs Yaqui Lopez 2 is a classic, watch at one point in the fight Lopez absolutely unloads on Saad Muhammad, he hits Muhammad with about 40 unanswered shots, only to see Muhammad recover and stop Lopez, this is a prime example of why Muhammad was called "Miracle Matthew."
Matthew Saad Muhammad vs Marvin "Pops" Johnson, they fought twice, both were life-and-death struggles, wild west shootouts with two gunslingers armed to the teeth, both fights were as good as it gets in boxing. Marvin Johnson was known for being a tough warrior, and brutal puncher, he had this uppercut that was murder, he would shoot it out at you like a shotgun blast, it would come out of nowhere and detonate right on your chin, it was one of the nastiest punches you'll ever see. Johnson caught Muhammad with some wicked brutal uppercuts, I still don't know how Muhammad wasn't out cold from some of those shots. This is the highlights from their first fight. At the time Muhammad had not yet changed his name so they still refer to him as Matthew Franklin.
Saad Muhammad vs Johnson II was a great fight as well, Johnson opens up two cuts above both of Muhammad's eyes, but Muhammad is just unstoppable, watch the way Muhammad goes after Johnson to finish him off at the end, I can't imagine being Johnson and trying to fend off that onslaught, it must have been like being trapped in a category 5 hurricane. I don't see many light heavyweights in history beating this version of Muhammad, he was a machine. When Matthew Saad Muhammad was at his peak he was all but impossible to beat. You just couldn't do anything against him, he was omnipotent when the going got tough, able to come back from brutal beatings.
This is a photo of Matthew Saad Muhammad pointing to the spot where he was found as a child, he was only 5 years old at the time that his family abandoned him.
From a horrible start in life, to one of the greatest to ever lace em' up. That 5-year old kid that was abandoned by his own family on the streets of Philadelphia grew up to become a legend. I'd say Matthew Saad Muhammad got the last laugh.
Lee Savold, "The Battling Bartender", heavyweight contender in the 30s, 40s, and early 50s. He could box, but boy could he whack, he had a left hook that was murder, he broke the great Billy Conn's nose with it, Conn later said it was one of the hardest punches he'd ever been hit with. He also fought Lou Nova and cut Nova to pieces with his power shots. Savold also holds the record for fastest knockout in a main event at Madison Square Garden, he accomplished this in 1948 when he knocked out the heavyweight champion of Italy Gino Buonvino in 54 seconds. The guy could bang, he finished his career with 72 KO.
Lee Savold - The Battling Bartender
There have been a great many sluggers in Minnesota's rich boxing history. Men who always had a chance until the very last second because of the power in their fists; men such as: Pat Killen, Charley Kemmick, Fred Fulton, Duane Bobick, and in more modern times, Jason Litzau. But there is a fighter from the small farming town of Canby in southwestern Minnesota whose resume tops them all when it comes to the topic of knockouts. For Lee Hulver Savold was not only a two-fisted dynamo, but also a smooth boxing Heavyweight that could feint you out of your shoes while setting you up for his fatal blow. And when you have fighter that can both box and punch; well now…you have yourself a very dangerous person. Lee Savold was just such a fighter.
While in his late teens, he left home for the Twin Cities where he managed to find Mike Gibbon's Gym in downtown St. Paul, and it was there that he met one of the old masters of the prize ring in Jock Malone, who would end up being one of Lee's many managers. Malone thought the world of young Lee, so much so, that he often put Lee in over his head instead of taking the time to fully develop the talent that Lee had. As a result, Lee took losses in many of his early fights that were simply a matter of a lack of experience. Such was the case as when despite having only 7 pro fights to his credit, Savold was told to fight the talented Larry Udell in 1934. Udell make quick work of the young fighter, and left Lee questioning his capabilities. This began a string of losses for the young Canby fighter, and with that came a loss of confidence. But Lee persevered and came back winning several fights in a row and entered 1935 with a record of 12-5-1. He twice beat old antagonist Udell within a months' time and as well as many others with a few losses here and there. But after losing in San Francisco to Phil Brubaker, in 1938, Lee's interest dropped considerably as he needed money to support his family, so he moved back home to St. Paul and bartended for a living. Lee was lured back into the ring to make extra money in July of 1939 with Andy Miller. Terribly out of shape, Lee dropped the decision down in Iowa.
Lee needed someone who could teach him while he developed. That man ended up being old-world shark, Pinkie George. George watched this fight and remembered Lee's talent from his earlier days and offered him a contract, to which Lee accepted and agreed to give boxing one more chance. The new partnership paid off, as George brought Savold around the country and Lee was winning often and earning a Top 10 world ranking. He then met the highly rated Buddy Baer, but dropped a very close decision over 8 rounds, followed by a trip back to Minnesota where he crushed local rivals, Billy Miske Jr. and Arne Andersson; blasting out Miske in 3 rounds and breaking Andersson's jaw before next facing Billy Conn in New York City. In the end, Lee was no match for the smooth master Conn, but Lee broke Conn's nose badly in the fight.
By 1942, Savold was now 65-23-1 and still rated among the Top 10 on the planet. That same year, Jim Daly purchased half of Savold's contract and used his connections on the east coast getting Lee many fights at the Garden, and Lee moved his family to New Jersey. Big wins came over the next few years such as: Lou Nova, Tony Musto, Lem Franklin, Jack Marshall, Nate Bolden, Johnny Kapovich, Joe Baski, and Al Hoosman. 1946 was not as active for Lee, and he lost his top rating mostly on account of inactivity. 1947 was even worse, and when Lee was fighting, he wasn't training for them and lost matches he shouldn't have. Lee semi-retired. But when Italian sensation Gino Buonvino came to headline a show at the Garden and his opponent cancelled at the last minute, Daly volunteered Savold. Figuring Savold was a safe bet due to hard luck, poor conditioning, and inactivity, they accepted. Lee took the fight on 48 hours' notice and stunned the world when belted out Gino in just 54 seconds, a Garden record. Suddenly Savold was hot property again. He won his next few matches by KO and then went to England to fight the European Champion, Bruce Woodcock. Savold dominated him over 4 rounds until a controversial body blow was called a foul, thus costing Savold the match. He stayed in England for a rematch and bludgeoned Woodcock in the rematch. Savold was now the #1 rated Heavyweight in the world, and because the world title was vacant, the Europeans tried claiming Lee and the new Heavyweight Champion as well, though it was a loose claim not accepted in the U.S.
He made the most of his fame and record, and as the world was having a box-off to help determine the world champion, he faced former champ, Joe Louis in June of 51'. Despite his recent success, Lee had not fought in a year going into the fight, as was not a young man anymore at age 36 and with 149 bouts to his credit. He did fight Louis rather than run, and got in some great shots, but in the end, he was KO'd in the 6th. He then was brought in to face up-and-coming Rocky Marciano, and his age betrayed him, as the future champion stopped him in the 6th round. After a 20 year professional career, Minnesota's all-time record holder for knockouts at 72 KO's, called it quits. His jab and speed are considered among the best in state history among Heavyweights, and his power was second to none. His likeness may never be seen again among Minnesota big men.
Earnie Shavers, "The Acorn", heavyweight contender in the 70s, many people consider him to be the hardest puncher in boxing history. He put Ali through pure unadulterated hell when they fought in 1978. Ali took some sickening shots from Shavers. You have to hand it to Ali, he had one of the best chins in boxing history.
Earnie Shavers hit Larry Holmes so hard in their second fight, it sounded like a shotgun blast going off. Shavers and Holmes fought twice and Shavers put Holmes through pure hell with his power punches as well. Here's the famous Shavers-Holmes knockdown. To this day, I swear, I don't know how Holmes was able to get up from this, it's one of the most brutal shots in boxing history, he caught Holmes flush, the impact was like a car crash. Holmes was one of the toughest boxers ever and he had a chin made of Titanium.
The Cooper twins, on the left is Henry Cooper, who was a good heavyweight and floored Cassius Clay with his famous brutal left hook, and his twin brother George Cooper, his brother George was a good heavyweight boxer as well.
Mike Tyson had a brutal combination he would unload on his opponents, first he would bang you in the ribs, and then detonate the uppercut. Ribs, uppercut, boom, boom.
Tony Pietrantonio was unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a knockout punch from Lavarn Harvell during their light heavyweight boxing match in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 2012.
Pietrantonio came crashing down on to the canvas in the third round after receiving the blow, which a well-timed photo captured perfectly, conveying the sheer impact of the punch.
The punch was so hard that Pietrantonio's face became heavily distorted and his mouth looked like it was about to twist off his face. Even his flapping ears appeared to absorb the full force of the blow.
Harvell said after the fight: "I felt that punch all the way up my shoulder and back, so I knew he wasn't getting up."
Ray Miller, featherweight and lightweight contender from 1925-32, had a left hook that was murder, one of the best left hooks in boxing history, when he could land it. Ray Miller is famous for being the only man in boxing history to stop the great Jimmy Mclarnin.
Ray Miller's Left Hook
"If you fight a good left hooker, sooner or later he will knock you on your ass. He will get the left out where you can't see it, and in it comes like a brick," Ernest Hemingway once theorized.
Ray Miller wasn't a good left hooker; he threw a great left hook. In virtually every writeup about him, the devastation wrought by that particular punch merited mention. His best version of the left hook was as a counter from the outside.
"You have the greatest left hook in boxing history," the great retired featherweight champion Abe Attell once told Miller. "The greatest... if it hits anybody."
"When I hit a guy with a left hook," Miller acknowledged, "if he didn't go down, he did some funny things on his feet."
Ray Miller was born on October 5, 1905 on the Westside of Chicago not far from where Barney Ross and Jackie Fields would grow up. It was a tough Jewish section of the city at the time. Born lefthanded, Miller fought in an orthodox stance. "First time I got in the ring, the other guy stuck out his left hand," Miller explained. "So I shouldn't look like a rube, I stuck out my left hand." It proved to be a fateful choice. Perhaps Miller's left hand wouldn't have been so powerful had it been his backhand.
Ray certainly put in the work, but he was somewhat of a pugilistic natural. His wife Mary recalled a story about his early years in the sport to the Sun Sentinel. "As a youngster in Chicago, he once walked into a gym where one of the trainers talked him into boxing a few rounds for a few dollars. After doing that a few times, the gym manager gave him $10 and told him not to come back 'You just knocked out our champion,' they told him."
The exact date of Ray Miller's professional debut is lost to history, but it likely took place late in the summer of '22. He began as a bantamweight and showed good promise. He mostly fought in Chicago and around the state of Iowa. During his boxing career, Miller was also shoe salesman and cartoonist in order to earn extra dough.
By 1924, he had moved up to featherweight and had improved by "leaps and bounds in a year's time," according to former bantamweight champion Harry Forbes and Eddie McGoorty, another ex-fighter who once held a portion of the middleweight crown. In an article for the Chicago Daily Tribune, Walter Eckersall compared Miller to Joe Burman, a British-born bantamweight who held the world title for two days when the previous champion allegedly faked a shoulder injury and Burman was awarded the belt before losing it two days later.
On August 24, 1924 in Aurora, Illinois, Miller stopped Minnesota's Dandy Dillon in the second round, reportedly with a right. Dillon "was knocked colder than a newly-risen spring," according to the Los Angeles Times.
Miller had a busy 1925 in the ring, including a draw against Chick Suggs and Babe Herman. On June 12, 1926, Ray beat Mike Dundee, who was described as Miller's old boxing coach. In a battle of the left hands, Dundee was the aggressor, but Miller's "left was more accurate and more deadly in its effect," according to James Dawson of the New York Times. Miller's ability to counter Dundee's aggression led to a ten-round victory on points in Coney Island.
After dropping a decision in Montreal to Kid Roy, Miller fought Billy Petrolle. In the opening round, Miller connected with a left hook and added some left uppercuts. He was knocked down in the second but soon scored with two left hooks to get back into the fight. Miller landed left hooks to the body and jaw in the ninth. At the end of ten rounds in Coney Island, the bout was declared a draw.
Ahead of a January 20, 1927 fight in Chicago against Eddie Shea, Miller was described as "a double of Charley White, the local lightweight who used to knock over opponents with short left hooks." In an exciting fight with no lulls, Miller scored a knockdown against Shea in the first round. As Shea pressed forward, Miller countered well at range. Left hooks hurt Shea in the seventh, and Miller then went for the knockout, but to no avail. Shea was tough, but Ray won the decision in a ten-rounder.
The rest of 1927 and the first half of 1928 featured a few setbacks. He was away from the ring for ten month in '27 due to an injury and dropped a rematch with his old coach, Mike Dundee, at the end of the year.
Sid Terris possessed a pair of the fastest hands in the history of boxing and his feet were just as quick. A 5' 10" lightweight, he had all the physical gifts to vault him to legendary status. On July 6, 1928 in Coney Island, New York, Terris moved and jabbed for two minutes when Miller caught him on the ropes and landed a hard right. A left hook to the chin soon followed and Terris, who outweighed Miller by six and a half pounds, plummeted to the canvas for the count.
The destruction was so thorough that Frank Wallace, in a special to The Washington Post, wrote, "Sid Terris is through as a fighter. He crumbled before the first rushing attack Miller put on." Terris continued fighting until 1931, but he was never the same.
Miller's best win came on November 30, 1928 against Jimmy McLarnin. Miller was 2-2 following the win over Terris, which included a decision loss to King Tut of Minnesota. Ray couldn't figure out Tut's bob-and-weave style. Miller settled on the left uppercut, which helped him take the third round. In the tenth, Miller hurt Tut with the same punch, but it wasn't enough. In a loss, Miller had again given up six and half pounds.
Outweighed by five and half pounds against McLarnin, Miller controlled the first three rounds. McLarnin got back into the fight in the next two, but a left hook in the sixth turned the fight back to Miller. McLarnin then took an absolute beating as his blood splattered all over the ringside observers. The seventh amounted to a "murderous assault." Before the bell rang to begin the eighth, McLarnin's corner mercifully threw in the towel. It was deemed the "biggest upset in years." It would turn out to be the only time in McLarnin's storied career he would ever be stopped. In his later years, the legend loved talking about his old fights, but finding his comments on the Miller bout turned out to be a fruitless challenge.
Miller next fought Tommy Grogan. On January 11, 1929 at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan- the same venue as his bout against McLarnin- Grogan smacked Miller silly, scoring five knockdowns in the span of 25 seconds in the second round. When the bell finally rang, Miller walked to the wrong corner. But in the fourth, Miller amazingly flattened Grogan with a left hook to punctuate one of the most stunning comebacks in boxing history. Miller even helped Grogan up and walked him back to his corner.
After a decision victory over Grogan in the rematch a few weeks later, Miller faced McLarnin in another highly-anticipated rematch. Jack Farrell described, "The biggest crowd paying the biggest gate of the professional boxing season saw the worst fight of the year at Madison Square Garden." Farrell said, "The Chicagoan [ran] away like a frightened rabbit." It was a disappointing decision loss.
On May 5, Miller won an unpopular decision in a rematch against Billy Petrolle. Miller backed up Petrolle with left hooks in the fifth and landed a left hook on the chin to score a knockdown in the eighth, but the fans at Olympia Stadium booed when Ray was announced the winner.
The disputed decision necessitated another rematch. Their third fight took place a month later, again at Olympia Stadium. This time Petrolle stayed inside Miller's left rendering the hook ineffective. Petrolle won convincingly. With a record of 1-1-1 against Miller, Petrolle would later call Ray "the hardest hitter" he ever faced. He ranked Miller as the fourth best opponent of his career, just behind Barney Ross and ahead of McLarnin.
"Just a few months ago, Miller was hogging all the limelight in the lightweight class. He climaxed a sensational string of victories by knocking out Jimmy McLarnin," wrote light heavyweight champion and master boxer Tommy Loughran. Speaking of Miller, Loughran continued, "He looked like the biggest shot and the best drawing card among the smaller men. Then, all of a sudden, he wasn't up there any more."
On August 12, 1929- three days before Loughran's article ran- Ray dropped what should have been a tune-up fight for him against Bruce Flowers. After breaking Miller's nose in the fourth, Flowers was "easily superior" and won in "unmistakably convincing fashion."
Miller had lost three in a row by the time he faced the "Alpha Assassin" Johnny Canzoneri on April 1, 1930 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Ray earned a much-needed win with a first round KO in 50 seconds thanks to a series of left hooks punctuated by a right cross.
Ray put together a streak of six out of seven against good fighters, but then he dropped three out of four including a loss to Justo Suarez. Miller next rode a nine-fight win streak in which he knocked out Jimmy McNamara and Solly Ritz in the first round. That led to stiffer competition.
Against tougher foes, Miller dropped five out of his next six. He floored Sammy Fuller with a left hook in the first round of their fight on February 26, 1932 at Madison Square Garden. But a right cross put Miller down in the fourth, and the decision went to Fuller. On May 13, 1932 at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Miller crunched a left hook on Wesley Ramey's jaw in the fourth round that scored a knockdown. But for the rest fight, Ramey thoroughly outboxed Miller.
The left hook proved something of fool's gold for Miller. It carried him far, to world class level, in fact. But perhaps its power hindered his progress in other areas of his game. He could be outboxed and his poor record in rematches suggests his style could be figured out. On August 26, 1932, Miller fought a fellow Jew from Chicago. Barney Ross had yet to become a three division world champion when the two met at Sparta Stadium in their hometown. Ross connected with a left hook that sent Miller down in the opening round. As he had many times before, including during the five knockdowns against Tommy Grogan, Miller shot up before the referee could count. He never learned to stay down for a few seconds and clear his head.
Miller began to land on Ross in the fourth and nearly knocked him out with a right cross in the fifth. How things would have been different if he had! But Ross came back a round later and wobbled Miller. Ray landed his signature punch in the seventh, but it strayed low and he was warned for the infraction. Ultimately, Ross was awarded the decision.
Miller was to fight lightweight champion Tony Canzoneri in an over-the-limit bout in October, but a nose injury forced him to pull out, and his old nemesis Billy Petrolle got the fight. Miller later won on New Year's Day and retired. He never received a title shot.
Joe Gould, the manager of heavyweight champion James J. Braddock, pulled Miller out of retirement halfway through 1935. "Outside of champion Barney Ross," Gould declared, "there's very little talent in the welter ranks right now, and a knockout puncher like Ray should have easy pickins [sic]." Miller was 29 years old. He fought twice more, and that was it.
Miller remained close to the sport and refereed fights until the mid-1950s. He didn't even start his most famous match in the ring. "Sugar" Ray Robinson was outboxing light heavyweight champion Joey Maxim on a scorching June day at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx in 1952 when referee Ruby Goldstein fainted from heat exhaustion in the tenth round. Miller became the first known person to replace a referee mid-fight. Robinson succumbed to the heat himself after the thirteenth round and later said, "I lasted longer than the referee and no one was hitting him!"
Ray worked in the liquor business after he retired from boxing. He died of lung cancer on March 31, 1987. He was strong until the end.
After his passing, his wife reminisced, "Two weeks ago, his power. If you saw his hand, you would know. Just a powerful, powerful hand."
This is another one of my favorite boxing cards, 1951 Topps Ringside Ray Miller, I love this card with the line green background, the 51' Topps Ringside set really is awesome. They listed him as a referee because after his boxing career he became a boxing referee.
One of the greatest boxing images ever taken, Gennady Golovkin, "The God of War", covered in blood. Golovkin was one of the greatest fighters in history, a technical master, and had a steel beam for a chin , he was never knocked down in a fight, not once. Fighters would hit him with bombs and he would just walk right through it and systematically dismantle them. He unified the middleweight championship and held it for 3 years and 11 months, he defended those titles a record 20 times. Golovkin was a bad MF'er.
Gerrie Coetzee, "The Bionic Hand" was a South African professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1986, and in 1993 and 1997. His nickname "The Bionic Hand" is one of the coolest nicknames in sports history. He was the first African in history to ever fight for, and win, a world heavyweight championship, having held the WBA title from 1983 to 1984. He held notable knockout wins against WBA world heavyweight champion Michael Dokes and undisputed world heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, as well as a draw with future WBC world heavyweight champion Pinklon Thomas and wins over top contenders Ron Stander, Scott LeDoux and James Tillis. He was nicknamed "The Bionic Hand" because he fractured his right hand time and time again, and had to have multiple surgeries on the hand, one surgery involved the insertion of metal pins, and a 1978 operation fused his metacarpal bones into a permanent fist, leading some to call the hand "bionic." That right hand was powerful, he was one of the hardest punchers of the 80s.
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Matthew Saad Muhammad, "Miracle Matthew", light heavyweight in the 70s-80s, and an absolute legend in this sport.
Matthew Saad Muhammad's real name was Maxwell Antonio Loach. He was born on June 16, 1954, in Philadelphia. He later became known as Matthew Franklin after being abandoned as a child and placed in Catholic Social Services, where he was given that name. He later changed his name to Matthew Saad Muhammad after converting to Islam. Just about every fight Muhammad was involved in was action-packed as hell. He's nicknamed "Miracle Matthew" because he had a knack for snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, just when it looked like he was done, he would come roaring back and pull off a miracle and win the fight. Guys like him are the reason we love this sport, Muhammad was the definition of Heart. But his beginning was heartbreaking, he was abandoned by his own family when he was young, his mother had passed away and the care of Muhammad and his older brother was undertaken by an aunt. Care might be a strong word as the aunt instructed his older brother to get rid of him because she couldn’t afford both children, so the brother took Muhammad out on a walk one day to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and just left him, walked off, abandoned him, basically discarded him like trash. Muhammad later recalled how he ran really hard and tried to catch up with his brother but couldn't catch him. To imagine a child so young being in those circumstances is hard to fathom. Muhammad ended up being picked up by some police officers and brought to Catholic Social Services and the nuns there gave him the name Matthew, after the saint, and Franklin, after the Parkway where he was found, so they named him Matthew Franklin. He would later convert to Islam and change his name to Matthew Saad Muhammad. I can't even put into words how cold hearted and evil it was to just abandon a child like that, it makes you sick to your stomach, it is one of the most cold hearted and evil things I've ever heard. But the funny thing is, that young kid that was abandoned and thrown away like garbage that day, that kid became a legend.
Never Say Die
Boxing champion Matthew Saad Muhammad’s life and career had the vast arc of a feature film
By: Glen Sharp
In boxing, the light heavyweights—fighters competing at 175 pounds—have always labored in the shadow of the heavyweights, who have generally defined American interest in the sport. But the light heavyweight division enjoyed a golden era from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. So many Hall-of-Fame-quality boxers competed at the same time that some were unable to attain a title that might have been easy pickings had they come along earlier or later. William Dettloff’s fine biography, Matthew Saad Muhammad: Boxing’s Miracle Man, describes the feature-film-like life of one of the more exceptional fighters of this group, whose rise to glory and fall from grace is about as pure as tragedy gets.
Even for the harsh world of boxing, Saad Muhammad’s story—the world he came from, the fame and wealth he achieved, and his subsequent loss of everything—is bracing. Dettloff deftly bookends Saad’s boxing years with his biography and the way in which he arrived in the world on one end, and the long, sad decline of his life on the other. The fighting is why we remember him, but his beginnings affected his fighting, and the fighting affected his end.
A former boxer himself, Dettloff has written a biography of former heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles and served as senior writer for Ring magazine. He is currently editor-in-chief of Ringside Seat. He brings a deep understanding of a boxer’s make-up to this project.
Lack of economic opportunity is often a strong factor in explaining why one becomes a professional boxer, but once a fight has begun in the ring, money plays little role. “There’s not enough [money] in the world to pull a man off the canvas when he has fallen face first or to make him keep punching through a waterfall of blood and bone-dead exhaustion,” Dettloff writes. “That comes from somewhere else, some place deep and feral, where money has no meaning.”
The boy never knew his father, his mother died young of alcoholism, and his family members abandoned him on the side of the road like an unwanted dog or cat. He was able only to mutter something resembling “Matthew” to the nuns who found him on Philadelphia’s Ben Franklin Parkway, so they christened him Matthew Franklin. He converted to Islam later, and after winning the light heavyweight championship, changed his name to Matthew Saad Muhammad. But even during those short years when he sat on top of the world, Saad was haunted by not knowing who he was or where he had come from.
He grew up fighting in the streets and participating in gang life and got his first formal training as a boxer in prison. Once released, he walked into the Juniper Gym, run by Nick Belfiore. One of the exceptional qualities of Miracle Man is Dettloff’s providing mini-biographies of those prominent in Saad’s story. In Belfiore, Dettloff shows us not just an individual, but an archetype in the world of boxing—a man who has put in countless hours of work and commitment, pursued dreams, and, of course, endured betrayals. A writer would need to have spent a good amount of time in gyms himself to draw the character of Belfiore as fully as Dettloff has done here.
Many who follow boxing, even those aware of Saad Muhammad’s championship run, might not have known that he was more of a careful boxer early in his career. He evolved into an aggressive slugger only when frustrated by not receiving decisions in close fights. Looking to take matters out of the judge’s hands, Saad became the most exciting fighter in the world for a few years.
A match with Richie Kates and two fights each with Marvin Johnson and Yaqui López cemented Saad’s reputation for having a wicked punch, an unfailing will, and otherworldly durability. Saad won the light heavyweight championship in 1979 in his second epic slugfest with Marvin Johnson. Then, in 1980, he engaged in another classic with López, a battle in which he seemed to stand on the edge of defeat more than once, thus securing his legacy as one of the ring’s great never-say-die performers. Neither Saad nor López would ever fully recover.
After the López fight, Dettloff points out, Saad Muhammad was operating with diminished reaction time and reduced ability to punch as sharply as he once did. He was now using his durability to wear opponents out until he could take advantage.
Saad loved being champion and wouldn’t consider the possibility that he was slipping. He had married a beauty queen and was flush enough with cash to buy a $75,000 piano that he would never play. His entourage grew to 22 people; he fathered several children out of wedlock. Only fighting would allow him to continue to pay for such a lifestyle. Dettloff describes how fighters rationalize their diminished abilities, a necessary exercise because “a fighter with damaged self-belief is a dead man walking.” A boxer must believe that he is invincible, even as this delusion puts him in harm’s way.
Worn down by so many hard fights, Saad lost his championship to Dwight Braxton in 1981. Braxton, a short, squat, and indefatigable slugger, presented a style that would always have been hard for Saad to contend with, even in the best of circumstances, but by 1981, Saad’s circumstances were far from the best, as Dettloff vividly details. Given his unmotivated training and struggle to make the weight limit, Saad seemed, in retrospect, destined for defeat. Dettloff captures in one scene why the contest ended as it did. Saad had taken a break from training to buy a $180,000 Rolls Royce, something the hungry Braxton could not have even contemplated.
“A rich guy blows a small fortune on a top-of-the-line luxury car. The other can still smell the prison soap in his nose,” Dettloff succinctly puts it. Guess who wins?
Losing the rematch with Braxton in even harsher fashion began the downturn of Saad’s life. Gone were the beautiful women, the mansion, the money, and the cars. He lost minor fights as often as he won, but in need of cash, he kept fighting. It’s a familiar boxing story.
Dettloff devotes a good portion of the closing section of the book to explaining how Saad’s pride kept him from seeing his children once the celebrity lifestyle was gone. He didn't want them to know how far he had fallen. In any case, he likely could never have been an adequate father to all these far-flung children.
In 2004, Dettloff interviewed Saad for HBO. At the time, Saad was looking for someone to help him write an autobiography, and he asked Dettloff, who declined, unsure of the marketability of such a project. Nearly two decades after being asked and six years after Saad’s death, Dettloff has gotten around to telling Saad’s story. Saad, in fact, had been trying to land a book or movie deal about his life as far back as the 1980s.
Saad “knew a good story when he saw one,” Dettloff writes, and now the author has rendered it.
Matthew Saad Muhammad's fights, there's a quote in the above article, "There’s not enough money in the world to pull a man off the canvas when he has fallen face first, or to make him keep punching through a waterfall of blood and bone-dead exhaustion,” Dettloff writes. “That comes from somewhere else, some place deep and feral, where money has no meaning.” That's the epitome of what this sport is about, getting up when you can no longer get up, continuing to fight when you can no longer fight, it's the theme in every Rocky movie, it's why the character of Rocky Balboa was so beloved, the guy just wouldn't quit, no matter what, he just kept coming, it's called Heart. Matthew Saad Muhammad had Heart in spades, the man fought wars in the ring and on more than one occasion he was the real life Rocky Balboa. Great article written back in 2014, just after Muhammad passed away.
Matthew Saad Muhammad: An appreciation
By: Frank Lotierzo
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 child 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 better of it. After taking 40 unanswered blows in a brutal eighth round, Matthew Saad Muhammad recovered and stopped Lopez with one second remaining in the 11th round to retain his world title in 1980’s Fight of the Year.
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.
Matthew Saad Muhammad vs Yaqui Lopez 2 is a classic, watch at one point in the fight Lopez absolutely unloads on Saad Muhammad, he hits Muhammad with about 40 unanswered shots, only to see Muhammad recover and stop Lopez, this is a prime example of why Muhammad was called "Miracle Matthew."
Matthew Saad Muhammad vs Marvin "Pops" Johnson, they fought twice, both were life-and-death struggles, wild west shootouts with two gunslingers armed to the teeth, both fights were as good as it gets in boxing. Marvin Johnson was known for being a tough warrior, and brutal puncher, he had this uppercut that was murder, he would shoot it out at you like a shotgun blast, it would come out of nowhere and detonate right on your chin, it was one of the nastiest punches you'll ever see. Johnson caught Muhammad with some wicked brutal uppercuts, I still don't know how Muhammad wasn't out cold from some of those shots. This is the highlights from their first fight. At the time Muhammad had not yet changed his name so they still refer to him as Matthew Franklin.
Saad Muhammad vs Johnson II was a great fight as well, Johnson opens up two cuts above both of Muhammad's eyes, but Muhammad is just unstoppable, watch the way Muhammad goes after Johnson to finish him off at the end, I can't imagine being Johnson and trying to fend off that onslaught, it must have been like being trapped in a category 5 hurricane. I don't see many light heavyweights in history beating this version of Muhammad, he was a machine. When Matthew Saad Muhammad was at his peak he was all but impossible to beat. You just couldn't do anything against him, he was omnipotent when the going got tough, able to come back from brutal beatings.
This is a photo of Matthew Saad Muhammad pointing to the spot where he was found as a child, he was only 5 years old at the time that his family abandoned him.
A few of my favorite photos from Matthew Saad Muhammad's legendary career.
Matthew Saad Muhammad in his later years with Sylvester Stallone.
From a horrible start in life, to one of the greatest to ever lace em' up. That 5-year old kid that was abandoned by his own family on the streets of Philadelphia grew up to become a legend. I'd say Matthew Saad Muhammad got the last laugh.
Excellent book about Matthew Saad Muhammad.
Lee Savold, "The Battling Bartender", heavyweight contender in the 30s, 40s, and early 50s. He could box, but boy could he whack, he had a left hook that was murder, he broke the great Billy Conn's nose with it, Conn later said it was one of the hardest punches he'd ever been hit with. He also fought Lou Nova and cut Nova to pieces with his power shots. Savold also holds the record for fastest knockout in a main event at Madison Square Garden, he accomplished this in 1948 when he knocked out the heavyweight champion of Italy Gino Buonvino in 54 seconds. The guy could bang, he finished his career with 72 KO.
Lee Savold - The Battling Bartender
There have been a great many sluggers in Minnesota's rich boxing history. Men who always had a chance until the very last second because of the power in their fists; men such as: Pat Killen, Charley Kemmick, Fred Fulton, Duane Bobick, and in more modern times, Jason Litzau. But there is a fighter from the small farming town of Canby in southwestern Minnesota whose resume tops them all when it comes to the topic of knockouts. For Lee Hulver Savold was not only a two-fisted dynamo, but also a smooth boxing Heavyweight that could feint you out of your shoes while setting you up for his fatal blow. And when you have fighter that can both box and punch; well now…you have yourself a very dangerous person. Lee Savold was just such a fighter.
While in his late teens, he left home for the Twin Cities where he managed to find Mike Gibbon's Gym in downtown St. Paul, and it was there that he met one of the old masters of the prize ring in Jock Malone, who would end up being one of Lee's many managers. Malone thought the world of young Lee, so much so, that he often put Lee in over his head instead of taking the time to fully develop the talent that Lee had. As a result, Lee took losses in many of his early fights that were simply a matter of a lack of experience. Such was the case as when despite having only 7 pro fights to his credit, Savold was told to fight the talented Larry Udell in 1934. Udell make quick work of the young fighter, and left Lee questioning his capabilities. This began a string of losses for the young Canby fighter, and with that came a loss of confidence. But Lee persevered and came back winning several fights in a row and entered 1935 with a record of 12-5-1. He twice beat old antagonist Udell within a months' time and as well as many others with a few losses here and there. But after losing in San Francisco to Phil Brubaker, in 1938, Lee's interest dropped considerably as he needed money to support his family, so he moved back home to St. Paul and bartended for a living. Lee was lured back into the ring to make extra money in July of 1939 with Andy Miller. Terribly out of shape, Lee dropped the decision down in Iowa.
Lee needed someone who could teach him while he developed. That man ended up being old-world shark, Pinkie George. George watched this fight and remembered Lee's talent from his earlier days and offered him a contract, to which Lee accepted and agreed to give boxing one more chance. The new partnership paid off, as George brought Savold around the country and Lee was winning often and earning a Top 10 world ranking. He then met the highly rated Buddy Baer, but dropped a very close decision over 8 rounds, followed by a trip back to Minnesota where he crushed local rivals, Billy Miske Jr. and Arne Andersson; blasting out Miske in 3 rounds and breaking Andersson's jaw before next facing Billy Conn in New York City. In the end, Lee was no match for the smooth master Conn, but Lee broke Conn's nose badly in the fight.
By 1942, Savold was now 65-23-1 and still rated among the Top 10 on the planet. That same year, Jim Daly purchased half of Savold's contract and used his connections on the east coast getting Lee many fights at the Garden, and Lee moved his family to New Jersey. Big wins came over the next few years such as: Lou Nova, Tony Musto, Lem Franklin, Jack Marshall, Nate Bolden, Johnny Kapovich, Joe Baski, and Al Hoosman. 1946 was not as active for Lee, and he lost his top rating mostly on account of inactivity. 1947 was even worse, and when Lee was fighting, he wasn't training for them and lost matches he shouldn't have. Lee semi-retired. But when Italian sensation Gino Buonvino came to headline a show at the Garden and his opponent cancelled at the last minute, Daly volunteered Savold. Figuring Savold was a safe bet due to hard luck, poor conditioning, and inactivity, they accepted. Lee took the fight on 48 hours' notice and stunned the world when belted out Gino in just 54 seconds, a Garden record. Suddenly Savold was hot property again. He won his next few matches by KO and then went to England to fight the European Champion, Bruce Woodcock. Savold dominated him over 4 rounds until a controversial body blow was called a foul, thus costing Savold the match. He stayed in England for a rematch and bludgeoned Woodcock in the rematch. Savold was now the #1 rated Heavyweight in the world, and because the world title was vacant, the Europeans tried claiming Lee and the new Heavyweight Champion as well, though it was a loose claim not accepted in the U.S.
He made the most of his fame and record, and as the world was having a box-off to help determine the world champion, he faced former champ, Joe Louis in June of 51'. Despite his recent success, Lee had not fought in a year going into the fight, as was not a young man anymore at age 36 and with 149 bouts to his credit. He did fight Louis rather than run, and got in some great shots, but in the end, he was KO'd in the 6th. He then was brought in to face up-and-coming Rocky Marciano, and his age betrayed him, as the future champion stopped him in the 6th round. After a 20 year professional career, Minnesota's all-time record holder for knockouts at 72 KO's, called it quits. His jab and speed are considered among the best in state history among Heavyweights, and his power was second to none. His likeness may never be seen again among Minnesota big men.
Lee Savold and Lou Nova after their encounter, you can see the damage Savold's punches did.
Lee Savold training.
Billy Conn with his broken nose, courtesy of Lee Savold. (That's Fritzie Zivic on the right laughing and pointing at Conn.)
Good shot of Lee Savold.
Lee Savold on the cover of Ring magazine.
Lee Savold knocks out Bruce Woodcock, you can see the damage Savold's punches did to Woodcock's face.
This is one of the coolest boxing cards, 1951 Ringside
This is one of my favorite boxing cards, 1951 Topps Ringside Lee Savold, I love the Blue background.
One of the greatest boxing photos ever taken, Sugar Ray Robinson, throne of blood. Absolutely savage.
Earnie Shavers, "The Acorn", heavyweight contender in the 70s, many people consider him to be the hardest puncher in boxing history. He put Ali through pure unadulterated hell when they fought in 1978. Ali took some sickening shots from Shavers. You have to hand it to Ali, he had one of the best chins in boxing history.
Like I said, Shavers put Ali through hell with his power punches.
Earnie Shavers hit Larry Holmes so hard in their second fight, it sounded like a shotgun blast going off. Shavers and Holmes fought twice and Shavers put Holmes through pure hell with his power punches as well. Here's the famous Shavers-Holmes knockdown. To this day, I swear, I don't know how Holmes was able to get up from this, it's one of the most brutal shots in boxing history, he caught Holmes flush, the impact was like a car crash. Holmes was one of the toughest boxers ever and he had a chin made of Titanium.
The Cooper twins, on the left is Henry Cooper, who was a good heavyweight and floored Cassius Clay with his famous brutal left hook, and his twin brother George Cooper, his brother George was a good heavyweight boxer as well.
Henry Cooper and George Cooper in the military.
A Mike Tyson uppercut.
Mike Tyson had a brutal combination he would unload on his opponents, first he would bang you in the ribs, and then detonate the uppercut. Ribs, uppercut, boom, boom.
Look at that uppercut in slow motion.
Tony Pietrantonio was unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a knockout punch from Lavarn Harvell during their light heavyweight boxing match in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 2012.
Pietrantonio came crashing down on to the canvas in the third round after receiving the blow, which a well-timed photo captured perfectly, conveying the sheer impact of the punch.
The punch was so hard that Pietrantonio's face became heavily distorted and his mouth looked like it was about to twist off his face. Even his flapping ears appeared to absorb the full force of the blow.
Harvell said after the fight: "I felt that punch all the way up my shoulder and back, so I knew he wasn't getting up."
Ray Miller, featherweight and lightweight contender from 1925-32, had a left hook that was murder, one of the best left hooks in boxing history, when he could land it. Ray Miller is famous for being the only man in boxing history to stop the great Jimmy Mclarnin.
Ray Miller's Left Hook
"If you fight a good left hooker, sooner or later he will knock you on your ass. He will get the left out where you can't see it, and in it comes like a brick," Ernest Hemingway once theorized.
Ray Miller wasn't a good left hooker; he threw a great left hook. In virtually every writeup about him, the devastation wrought by that particular punch merited mention. His best version of the left hook was as a counter from the outside.
"You have the greatest left hook in boxing history," the great retired featherweight champion Abe Attell once told Miller. "The greatest... if it hits anybody."
"When I hit a guy with a left hook," Miller acknowledged, "if he didn't go down, he did some funny things on his feet."
Ray Miller was born on October 5, 1905 on the Westside of Chicago not far from where Barney Ross and Jackie Fields would grow up. It was a tough Jewish section of the city at the time. Born lefthanded, Miller fought in an orthodox stance. "First time I got in the ring, the other guy stuck out his left hand," Miller explained. "So I shouldn't look like a rube, I stuck out my left hand." It proved to be a fateful choice. Perhaps Miller's left hand wouldn't have been so powerful had it been his backhand.
Ray certainly put in the work, but he was somewhat of a pugilistic natural. His wife Mary recalled a story about his early years in the sport to the Sun Sentinel. "As a youngster in Chicago, he once walked into a gym where one of the trainers talked him into boxing a few rounds for a few dollars. After doing that a few times, the gym manager gave him $10 and told him not to come back 'You just knocked out our champion,' they told him."
The exact date of Ray Miller's professional debut is lost to history, but it likely took place late in the summer of '22. He began as a bantamweight and showed good promise. He mostly fought in Chicago and around the state of Iowa. During his boxing career, Miller was also shoe salesman and cartoonist in order to earn extra dough.
By 1924, he had moved up to featherweight and had improved by "leaps and bounds in a year's time," according to former bantamweight champion Harry Forbes and Eddie McGoorty, another ex-fighter who once held a portion of the middleweight crown. In an article for the Chicago Daily Tribune, Walter Eckersall compared Miller to Joe Burman, a British-born bantamweight who held the world title for two days when the previous champion allegedly faked a shoulder injury and Burman was awarded the belt before losing it two days later.
On August 24, 1924 in Aurora, Illinois, Miller stopped Minnesota's Dandy Dillon in the second round, reportedly with a right. Dillon "was knocked colder than a newly-risen spring," according to the Los Angeles Times.
Miller had a busy 1925 in the ring, including a draw against Chick Suggs and Babe Herman. On June 12, 1926, Ray beat Mike Dundee, who was described as Miller's old boxing coach. In a battle of the left hands, Dundee was the aggressor, but Miller's "left was more accurate and more deadly in its effect," according to James Dawson of the New York Times. Miller's ability to counter Dundee's aggression led to a ten-round victory on points in Coney Island.
After dropping a decision in Montreal to Kid Roy, Miller fought Billy Petrolle. In the opening round, Miller connected with a left hook and added some left uppercuts. He was knocked down in the second but soon scored with two left hooks to get back into the fight. Miller landed left hooks to the body and jaw in the ninth. At the end of ten rounds in Coney Island, the bout was declared a draw.
Ahead of a January 20, 1927 fight in Chicago against Eddie Shea, Miller was described as "a double of Charley White, the local lightweight who used to knock over opponents with short left hooks." In an exciting fight with no lulls, Miller scored a knockdown against Shea in the first round. As Shea pressed forward, Miller countered well at range. Left hooks hurt Shea in the seventh, and Miller then went for the knockout, but to no avail. Shea was tough, but Ray won the decision in a ten-rounder.
The rest of 1927 and the first half of 1928 featured a few setbacks. He was away from the ring for ten month in '27 due to an injury and dropped a rematch with his old coach, Mike Dundee, at the end of the year.
Sid Terris possessed a pair of the fastest hands in the history of boxing and his feet were just as quick. A 5' 10" lightweight, he had all the physical gifts to vault him to legendary status. On July 6, 1928 in Coney Island, New York, Terris moved and jabbed for two minutes when Miller caught him on the ropes and landed a hard right. A left hook to the chin soon followed and Terris, who outweighed Miller by six and a half pounds, plummeted to the canvas for the count.
The destruction was so thorough that Frank Wallace, in a special to The Washington Post, wrote, "Sid Terris is through as a fighter. He crumbled before the first rushing attack Miller put on." Terris continued fighting until 1931, but he was never the same.
Miller's best win came on November 30, 1928 against Jimmy McLarnin. Miller was 2-2 following the win over Terris, which included a decision loss to King Tut of Minnesota. Ray couldn't figure out Tut's bob-and-weave style. Miller settled on the left uppercut, which helped him take the third round. In the tenth, Miller hurt Tut with the same punch, but it wasn't enough. In a loss, Miller had again given up six and half pounds.
Outweighed by five and half pounds against McLarnin, Miller controlled the first three rounds. McLarnin got back into the fight in the next two, but a left hook in the sixth turned the fight back to Miller. McLarnin then took an absolute beating as his blood splattered all over the ringside observers. The seventh amounted to a "murderous assault." Before the bell rang to begin the eighth, McLarnin's corner mercifully threw in the towel. It was deemed the "biggest upset in years." It would turn out to be the only time in McLarnin's storied career he would ever be stopped. In his later years, the legend loved talking about his old fights, but finding his comments on the Miller bout turned out to be a fruitless challenge.
Miller next fought Tommy Grogan. On January 11, 1929 at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan- the same venue as his bout against McLarnin- Grogan smacked Miller silly, scoring five knockdowns in the span of 25 seconds in the second round. When the bell finally rang, Miller walked to the wrong corner. But in the fourth, Miller amazingly flattened Grogan with a left hook to punctuate one of the most stunning comebacks in boxing history. Miller even helped Grogan up and walked him back to his corner.
After a decision victory over Grogan in the rematch a few weeks later, Miller faced McLarnin in another highly-anticipated rematch. Jack Farrell described, "The biggest crowd paying the biggest gate of the professional boxing season saw the worst fight of the year at Madison Square Garden." Farrell said, "The Chicagoan [ran] away like a frightened rabbit." It was a disappointing decision loss.
On May 5, Miller won an unpopular decision in a rematch against Billy Petrolle. Miller backed up Petrolle with left hooks in the fifth and landed a left hook on the chin to score a knockdown in the eighth, but the fans at Olympia Stadium booed when Ray was announced the winner.
The disputed decision necessitated another rematch. Their third fight took place a month later, again at Olympia Stadium. This time Petrolle stayed inside Miller's left rendering the hook ineffective. Petrolle won convincingly. With a record of 1-1-1 against Miller, Petrolle would later call Ray "the hardest hitter" he ever faced. He ranked Miller as the fourth best opponent of his career, just behind Barney Ross and ahead of McLarnin.
"Just a few months ago, Miller was hogging all the limelight in the lightweight class. He climaxed a sensational string of victories by knocking out Jimmy McLarnin," wrote light heavyweight champion and master boxer Tommy Loughran. Speaking of Miller, Loughran continued, "He looked like the biggest shot and the best drawing card among the smaller men. Then, all of a sudden, he wasn't up there any more."
On August 12, 1929- three days before Loughran's article ran- Ray dropped what should have been a tune-up fight for him against Bruce Flowers. After breaking Miller's nose in the fourth, Flowers was "easily superior" and won in "unmistakably convincing fashion."
Miller had lost three in a row by the time he faced the "Alpha Assassin" Johnny Canzoneri on April 1, 1930 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Ray earned a much-needed win with a first round KO in 50 seconds thanks to a series of left hooks punctuated by a right cross.
Ray put together a streak of six out of seven against good fighters, but then he dropped three out of four including a loss to Justo Suarez. Miller next rode a nine-fight win streak in which he knocked out Jimmy McNamara and Solly Ritz in the first round. That led to stiffer competition.
Against tougher foes, Miller dropped five out of his next six. He floored Sammy Fuller with a left hook in the first round of their fight on February 26, 1932 at Madison Square Garden. But a right cross put Miller down in the fourth, and the decision went to Fuller. On May 13, 1932 at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Miller crunched a left hook on Wesley Ramey's jaw in the fourth round that scored a knockdown. But for the rest fight, Ramey thoroughly outboxed Miller.
The left hook proved something of fool's gold for Miller. It carried him far, to world class level, in fact. But perhaps its power hindered his progress in other areas of his game. He could be outboxed and his poor record in rematches suggests his style could be figured out. On August 26, 1932, Miller fought a fellow Jew from Chicago. Barney Ross had yet to become a three division world champion when the two met at Sparta Stadium in their hometown. Ross connected with a left hook that sent Miller down in the opening round. As he had many times before, including during the five knockdowns against Tommy Grogan, Miller shot up before the referee could count. He never learned to stay down for a few seconds and clear his head.
Miller began to land on Ross in the fourth and nearly knocked him out with a right cross in the fifth. How things would have been different if he had! But Ross came back a round later and wobbled Miller. Ray landed his signature punch in the seventh, but it strayed low and he was warned for the infraction. Ultimately, Ross was awarded the decision.
Miller was to fight lightweight champion Tony Canzoneri in an over-the-limit bout in October, but a nose injury forced him to pull out, and his old nemesis Billy Petrolle got the fight. Miller later won on New Year's Day and retired. He never received a title shot.
Joe Gould, the manager of heavyweight champion James J. Braddock, pulled Miller out of retirement halfway through 1935. "Outside of champion Barney Ross," Gould declared, "there's very little talent in the welter ranks right now, and a knockout puncher like Ray should have easy pickins [sic]." Miller was 29 years old. He fought twice more, and that was it.
Miller remained close to the sport and refereed fights until the mid-1950s. He didn't even start his most famous match in the ring. "Sugar" Ray Robinson was outboxing light heavyweight champion Joey Maxim on a scorching June day at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx in 1952 when referee Ruby Goldstein fainted from heat exhaustion in the tenth round. Miller became the first known person to replace a referee mid-fight. Robinson succumbed to the heat himself after the thirteenth round and later said, "I lasted longer than the referee and no one was hitting him!"
Ray worked in the liquor business after he retired from boxing. He died of lung cancer on March 31, 1987. He was strong until the end.
After his passing, his wife reminisced, "Two weeks ago, his power. If you saw his hand, you would know. Just a powerful, powerful hand."
Ray Miller (left) and Jimmy Mclarnin at the weigh-in.
Ray Miller in the Everlast boxing record book.
This is another one of my favorite boxing cards, 1951 Topps Ringside Ray Miller, I love this card with the line green background, the 51' Topps Ringside set really is awesome. They listed him as a referee because after his boxing career he became a boxing referee.
One of the greatest boxing images ever taken, Gennady Golovkin, "The God of War", covered in blood. Golovkin was one of the greatest fighters in history, a technical master, and had a steel beam for a chin , he was never knocked down in a fight, not once. Fighters would hit him with bombs and he would just walk right through it and systematically dismantle them. He unified the middleweight championship and held it for 3 years and 11 months, he defended those titles a record 20 times. Golovkin was a bad MF'er.
Golovkin was a beast.
Gerrie Coetzee, "The Bionic Hand" was a South African professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1986, and in 1993 and 1997. His nickname "The Bionic Hand" is one of the coolest nicknames in sports history. He was the first African in history to ever fight for, and win, a world heavyweight championship, having held the WBA title from 1983 to 1984. He held notable knockout wins against WBA world heavyweight champion Michael Dokes and undisputed world heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, as well as a draw with future WBC world heavyweight champion Pinklon Thomas and wins over top contenders Ron Stander, Scott LeDoux and James Tillis. He was nicknamed "The Bionic Hand" because he fractured his right hand time and time again, and had to have multiple surgeries on the hand, one surgery involved the insertion of metal pins, and a 1978 operation fused his metacarpal bones into a permanent fist, leading some to call the hand "bionic." That right hand was powerful, he was one of the hardest punchers of the 80s.