Dwight Muhammad Qawi vs Bob Foster LHW (Poll added)

"Why would you assume I know nothing about Scott's crime?" Because you didn't read the trial records or interview his lawyer. But of course you're free to convict via Wikipedia. I reasonably assume you think Tyson should have gone down for the **** accusation. Funny thing, at about the same time and with more incriminating evidence than Tyson's she-said for the same charges, wee-Willy Kennedy went to med school rather than prison. Fancy that! And to think they let the not guilty ruling verdict lie versus circle back a half dozen years later a la Scott.

"Well given that they're both dead I'm quite confident I'd win boxing matches." The smart money would be on them nonetheless.

" very cool that you were friends with two boxers who committed murder." Ah-ha. So we're talking "two" murderers. In spite of the voluminous public knowledge otherwise and his ultimate exoneration by a federal judge, you have Rubin pegged as guilty. Otherwise, yes, you're right; befriending them was cool. As to Jersey based boy scouts if it's any consolation I took a pass on Ayala, Jr. Otherwise, if you can dig it up check out my memoir (under the Reminiscence section) in the 2-10-86 Sports Illustrated issue. I made a pilgrimage to Deer Lake a month before Manila and Ali let me spend the night (even pulled out the cot for me with Larry Holmes hand wraps dangling over it) and woke me for road work at 5AM. But, alas, perhaps your take on Ali is that of an unpatriotic draft dodger. To close the circle I also made a rendezvous to Frazier and he was happy to let me run with him, too (came up on him in the dark in the dead of winter and he didn't flinch).

Let's move on to a focus on boxing analysis since that's what we signed on for. Enjoy your weekend.

 

Good choice.

 

Good point on the post being 6 years old! Geez I didn't even notice that (turned out nonetheless the guy is still active on the site but you see I'm new). Final note on the legal stuff is it's worth considering he wasn't convicted at his trial in '75 (so should have been done deal) but they came back 6 years later. That's very unusual and it was truly the Rubin Carter treatment. He F'd up he was super dumb to drive back to Jersey for a visit as a marked man when he should have stayed put in Miami training at 5th street gym where things were developing well for him under Chris Dundee. Anyway, moving on, it was 1989 so I called the prison and got his inmate # and wrote him. He responded and asked if he could call (had to be collect). We talked and made a plan for my contact visit. Of course we got around to discussing his fights. We did talk about Qawi (how tough he was). However, as to his losses James was more inclined to discuss the Jerry Martin fight. That loss came after the denial by Guv Brendan Byrne for allowance to go outside the walls for a title shot had taken the starch out of him and after his incredible run of wins against top 10 fighters earning him the #2 ranking. So then in that same window the WBA stripped his ranking. The WBC had never been willing to rank him but Bob Arum saw $ potential in Scott so had lobbied the WBA to keep him ranked. With no ranking or hope for a title shot his physical and mental prep for Martin nose-dived (understandably, eh?). As it were, Martin had once been incarcerated at Rahway. After the loss it was 15 months until his next fight (but see how in that same amount of time in 78-79 he'd had 8 fights!). See he won the comeback fight and then immediately fought Qawi. Qawi was on the ascent and James the descent and it wasn't close and James packed it in as there was no longer any future for him as a fighter.