Matthew Saad Muhammad vs Jerry Martin

Making the eighth defence of his title, Matthew Saad Muhammad retained the WBC light-heavyweight championship when referee Larry Hazzard stopped Jerry Martin after 28 seconds of the eleventh round at the Golden Nugget Casino in Atlantic City on September 26, 1981. Both men weighed 172lb for the scheduled 15-round contest. Martin, the WBC’s No. 2 contender, had made the champion work hard for much of the fight and was still competitive on the official scorecards when two right hands early in the eleventh persuaded Hazzard that he could no longer defend himself adequately. The stoppage was immediately disputed by Martin and greeted with boos by many among the small casino crowd of about 800.

Martin had already demonstrated that he belonged among the leading light-heavyweights of a particularly strong period. He had defeated James Scott at Rahway State Prison and had previously challenged Eddie Mustafa Muhammad for the WBA championship, losing by a tenth-round stoppage after giving a respectable account of himself. Against Saad Muhammad, he began with confidence, moving forward and concentrating heavily on the body. Several punches strayed low, and Martin received two warnings, but his early work kept the champion occupied and prevented Saad Muhammad from immediately establishing the long-range punching that normally preceded his heavier attacks.

Saad Muhammad began to settle in the third round. He moved towards the centre of the ring and used his long left to measure Martin, taking greater control of the distance and forcing the challenger to work harder to get inside. Martin continued pressing, but the effort he had put into the opening rounds gradually began to tell. Saad Muhammad was never a champion who required complete control before becoming dangerous. He had built much of his reputation upon recovering from difficult positions, and Martin’s early success did not discourage him from continuing to look for openings with the right hand.

There were several occasions in the middle rounds when Martin appeared vulnerable, but Saad Muhammad could not finish the job. The champion would hurt him or force him onto the defensive, only for Martin to regroup and come forward again. The challenger remained physically strong and willing to exchange, and the contest never developed into an easy defence. Saad Muhammad nevertheless held the advantage at longer range, where his left hand allowed him to score without having to meet Martin’s body attack at close quarters. By the ninth, both men showed signs of fatigue, but the champion was still landing cleaner punches from outside.

Martin then produced an unexpectedly strong tenth round. He drove Saad Muhammad backwards with combinations to the body and, for a time, appeared to have regained the momentum that had belonged to him early in the fight. The challenger’s pressure forced the champion around the ring and provided anxious moments for Saad Muhammad’s supporters. Yet, as had happened repeatedly during his title reign, Saad Muhammad answered when apparently in difficulty. Before the bell, he rallied and hurt Martin, leaving the challenger in a less secure condition than his earlier success in the round had suggested. Later accounts of Martin’s career remembered the tenth as one of the periods in which he had Saad Muhammad in serious trouble before the champion turned matters around.

The official scoring after ten rounds showed that the contest had remained close. Harold Lederman had it even at 95-95. William Kostrub scored 96-94 for Saad Muhammad and Richard Murry had the champion farther ahead at 97-93. Martin therefore still had every reason to believe he could win the championship when he came out for the eleventh. He was not required to seek a desperate knockout, and there had been no knockdown to place him beyond recovery on the cards.

The end came almost immediately. Saad Muhammad landed two right hands to Martin’s chin, and the challenger staggered, his hands dropping as he tried to regain himself. Hazzard stepped in after only 28 seconds and stopped the contest before Saad Muhammad could land again. Martin protested at once, insisting afterwards that he remained aware of what was happening and had been counting for himself while recovering. Hazzard maintained that Martin’s eyes had rolled, his hands had fallen, and he was exposed to another serious blow. Jersey Joe Walcott, then chairman of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission, supported the referee’s judgment. The crowd was less convinced, and the ending remained controversial because Martin was still standing and had been competitive immediately beforehand.

The victory gave Saad Muhammad his eighth successful defence of the WBC championship and continued one of the most demanding title reigns of the period. He had already beaten John Conteh twice, Yaqui Lopez, Lottie Mwale, Vonzell Johnson and Murray Sutherland, often after absorbing considerable punishment himself. Martin proved another difficult challenger and had enough success to make the result uncertain well into the fight. The abrupt ending prevented a conclusive answer as to whether he might have recovered, but Saad Muhammad had again produced the damaging punches when the contest appeared to be turning against him. Less than three months later, his reign finally ended when Dwight Muhammad Qawi stopped him in ten rounds in Atlantic City.

I’ll never forget watching Matthew Saad Muhammad because his fights had a pattern you almost couldn’t believe. He’d get dragged into these life-or-death scraps, look as though the fight was slipping away, then somehow find another gear and come back with the punches that put him in control again. Jerry Martin gave him exactly that sort of night.

Martin was a real tough guy, and he made Saad work. He went to the body, forced him backwards at times and had a very good tenth round when it looked like he might be turning the fight. But that was the danger with Saad Muhammad. You could be having your best spell and still be one clean right hand away from everything changing.

That’s exactly what happened. Saad came out for the eleventh, landed two hard rights, and the referee jumped in. Martin hated the stoppage, and I can understand why because he was still on his feet and the fight had been competitive. I wouldn’t call it an outrageous stoppage, but I do think it was a bit on the quick side.

What made Saad Muhammad so incredible to watch was that he never seemed beaten while there was still time left on the clock. He wasn’t the neatest champion, and he took far too much punishment, but his resilience, power and ability to turn a fight around were exceptional.

You watched him because you genuinely didn’t know what was going to happen next.