Was John Conteh in his prime when he fought the 15 grinder with Saad Muhammad?

Well it was his last top line performance before his lifestyle caught up with him. Against Galindez he would have to be at his very best ,I would give him an even chance.


I didnt say Conteh was in his prime.
People forget that Parlov came into the ring with layers of a plastic /rubberskin like solution plastered all over his eyebrows ,and was allowed to get away with it.
Just as people forget that when Saad was cut his corner used illegal blood clotting cement , which stopped the blood instantly,[monsel's solution]? I beleive his corner were later suspended ,but that didnt help Conteh at the time.Prime Conteh which was some time before his Saad figths ,probably just after he beat Ahumada, would be no easy night for anyone.

 

1. No, he was considered to be slipping at that time - between the persistent troubles with his right hand, plus his chin/stamina looked a bit suspect against Burnett. That he performed so well in the 1st Saad fight was considered an "upset" in and of itself, even without getting the win.

2. I'd give Galindez the edge based on what both have actually shown and proven in their careers, but it's a tough call.


Personally, I don't think we ever quite saw a "prime" Conteh - that is, I don't think he ever quite reached his fullest potential. Right when he should've been reaching his peak, he broke his hand (which never fully healed properly), which forced him to alter his style, and then after that management issues sidetracked him and resulted in his being stripped of his title. Also was supposedly robbed of regaining the title vs. Parlov, prior to fighting Saad.

 

No, he wasn't but it was mostly due to his lifestyle that he had declined.He really should have been.

He trained hard for the first Saad fight and managed to regain a good degree of his pure boxing sharpness, but his chin and general physical ability had declined.

I don't think we really saw a true peak conteh, which is probably oen of the main criticisms against him.Going on what we do have to work with i would say his prime was from the Schmidtke bout through to the Hutchins fight.He was mostly excellent in that time period, but really most of that time was pre-prime.Even the Ahumada title winning fight was only 3 years into his career and a bout he was favoured to lose by many because of Jorge's performance against Foster and Conteh's relative inexperience.


Luckily with the depth of light heavy at the time he had multiple fights against very good fighters and you can get a good idea of him as a fighter up aginst adversity.

Also on the saad fight, i often thnk it's a shame it's mostly just noted for the late rally by Saad securing him the win.It's one of the best technical fights you will see at the weight, with some ridiculous left-hand work from both fighters.

 

we agree on this one my2sense:good.

 

You guys pretty much have nailed it !

 

Just read down the List of great fighters above.

the great Lightheavies of the '70's.

 

Conteh was definitely past his prime when he fought Saad in 1979. There is no doubt about this; Conteh's last excellent fight, I'd say, was his three round kayo over Len Hutchins in 1977. After that, Conteh looked average to mediocre in bouts against Ivy Brown, Mate Parlov, Teo Rogers, and Jesse Burnett before facing Saad.

We could say that the first Saad bout was Conteh's last excellent effort as a professional. He dug into himself and did a great job of making the most of what he had left physically.

As for Conteh-Galindez in their primes, I believe Conteh would have won. I say this because Galindez always had trouble with fast, slick technical boxers who could control a fight from center ring. At his peak, Conteh was an excellent technical boxer with a great left jab; his hands were also lightning fast. Noteworthy also is that Galindez was always a bleeder, which would not have helped against a slashing puncher like Conteh.

 

No he was slipping at the time.

In their primes, Conteh was a great boxer-puncher and woulod beat the inconsistent Galindez on PTS (in my opinion)

 

Prime? Slipping? He was about four year past his best. Clearly not the same fighter who beat Ahumada and even Yacqui Lopez. Even the Boxing News gave him "no chance" of winning, they were very nearly wrong.

 

as my dinner with conteh says,he had all but gone when he got his against chance saad muhammad.
the 1974/75 conteh would have outpointed galindez easily and KO'D the one beaten by mike rossman.the two handed conteh was a superb fighting machine

 

Yep, he'd have beaten Saad too. Although I think the ending would have been similar with him hanging on after a late onslaught, but the points margin too wide to close the gap. He boxed Muhammad's ears off throughout much of the contest, even way past his prime.

 

Here's Conteh vs Bogs from '74 (somebody just put up 2 days ago);

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpau1J4E5vY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_aHt4KECcA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7lcSTdt8kE

 

No, Conteh had already seen better days when he fought Saad. I think the version that fought Ahumada would have beaten Saad. The same version would have probably fought a won-lost-won trilogy with prime Galindez, with all three fights going the 15 round route with close decisions each time, something like Griffith-Benvenuti.

 

Agreed. Unknown Mike Rossman outboxed and sliced and diced Galindez. Prime conteh would've done the same.