Lee Roy Murphy vs Chisanda Mutti

Both men were on the canvas when the world cruiserweight championship was decided. In the twelfth round at the Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco, on 19 October 1985, the challenger, Chisanda Mutti, and the champion, Lee Roy Murphy, landed right hands almost together and fell together. Murphy rose before referee Larry Hazzard completed his count. Mutti could not. The knockout came at one minute 53 seconds of a contest scheduled for fifteen rounds.

Murphy was making the second defence of the International Boxing Federation title he had won from Marvin Camel the previous year. Mutti, a Zambian and the Commonwealth cruiserweight champion, had already contested championships at lower weights. He brought greater height and reach into the ring, but made little attempt to conduct the fight at a safe distance. He advanced on Murphy and exchanged jabs and heavier punches within the champion’s range. The decision gave Murphy opportunities to answer, while also forcing him to fight at a pace the challenger appeared willing to maintain.

Mutti made the stronger start. He pressed the champion, and the exchanges continued through the middle rounds without either man establishing much room in which to work. Murphy sought to slow him with punches to the body. Mutti remained in front of him, however, and his right hand was particularly effective in the eighth, when it repeatedly drove Murphy’s head back. The close fighting was taking a toll on both men, but Mutti had done the better work on the judges’ cards.

In the ninth, Mutti put together a succession of punches and knocked Murphy down. The champion survived the round, though the knockdown left him with a considerable task. Mutti still had the initiative, but the effort of sustaining his attack began to show. By the eleventh, he was plainly tired. Murphy caught him with a right hand and sent him down in turn. Mutti regained his feet and lasted to the bell, giving himself another round in which to protect the lead he had built.

There was no cautious finish. During the twelfth, Mutti threw a right at the same moment Murphy delivered his own. Each punch landed, and both boxers went down. Hazzard counted over them. Murphy struggled upright; Mutti remained on the canvas and was counted out. His handlers attended to him there after the decision. It was an unusual ending to a contest in which the challenger had come close to taking the title by force, only to find that the champion could still produce the decisive punch when both were nearly spent.

The scoring at the stoppage showed how much Murphy had needed that finish. Renato Caddeo had Mutti ahead 106 to 102, Frank Brunette 105 to 102, and Lorenzo Casentini 105 to 101. Murphy retained his championship by knockout, but the cards recorded the extent of Mutti’s challenge. The Zambian had led on all three before the simultaneous knockdown ended his attempt.

I’ve heard that Murphy and Mutti's fight is so often described by its ending that it can obscure what Mutti did beforehand. He wasn’t there to make up the numbers. He’d been matched hard, had gone the distance with Tony Sibson early in his career, and came in as Commonwealth cruiserweight champion. Murphy had earned his world title by stopping Marvin Camel and had defended it against Eddie Taylor.

What strikes me is that Mutti had the height and reach to make Murphy work his way in, yet chose to meet him up close. His right hand was finding the champion, and in the ninth he put Murphy down. Murphy’s answer was to keep working, particularly to the body. By the eleventh, Mutti was exhausted and Murphy had dropped him. That change tells you more about the fight than the famous finish does.

They landed right hands together in the twelfth and both fell. Murphy got up; Mutti couldn’t. Mutti was ahead on every card, so I won’t pretend Murphy had solved him to the point where the decision would have gone his way. But a championship fight asks you to get through every round. Murphy found a way to do that when he was in serious trouble, and Mutti gave him all he could handle.