Why did Mathew Saad Muhammad deteriorate so rapidly ?

I realize he had a very active career early on and fought in some wars. And the Qawi beatings didn’t help. But it just seems like he went from being an elite champion to losing to mediocre fighters over night.

 

We can’t know for certain but he may have also been taking lots of punishment in sparring considering his lacklustre defence in general.

 

Every single fight was a war for a good stretch of time.

 

Like Frazier, he left bits and pieces in the ring.

 

I wouldn't say overnight. Seems like almost every title defense was becoming harder than the last. More and more punishment was being taken until his body couldn't recoup anymore.
Tris Dixons excellent bio of Matt really broke it down. The body is not designed for what Matthew put it through. Very very sad ending for a wonderful champion

 

Nice post Robert and bang on. You can't have that amount of tough fights in that amount of time and not pay for it. It seemed he was always coming back from the brink. What a warrior.

 

He literally had the life beat out of him.

 

Even before he won the title he was in brutal fights. He beat Marvin Johnson in Philadelphia in what Russell Peltz said was the greatest fight he had seen. (Peltz saw a few over the years) then his managers threw him in with Dynamtie Douglas about 2 months later. That's cruel and unusual even by Philadelphia standards.

When Saad did finally lose the title remember he lost it to a great fighter on the rise. Dwight was his nickname Buzzaw. He gave Mathew a bad beating. Then he beat him even worse in the rematch.

Dwight visited Saad in the hospital right before he died. He said looking at him he had some regrets about the way he fought him. Thinking maybe I could have won a decision or whatever.

It's a rough story.

 

Ever since he got off his "boxin' Matthew" era,he was doomed to fell off hard sooner or later.

 

In the build up videos before some of his fight you can heard his coache talk about him sparring with heavyweights and how good his chin was. Not a good sign.

 

I agree 100%. From what I know about him, it wasn't just the fights but the hard sparring that he and other Philly guys went through. He didn't have much of an amateur career but right out of the gate was sparring tough, seasoned guys. Saad's heart and natural talent was evident early on but those wars caught up to him.

Year's later there was another Philly guy named Ivan Robinson who was a phenomenal amateur fighter. The guy legit should have beaten Oscar twice in the amateurs but was robbed. He also was known for taking on all comers in the gym and often sparred with men much larger than himself just like Saad. After two wars with Gatti, he was never the same and lost to a lot of fighters that couldn't have done **** to him in his prime just like Saad.

 

He didn't he had many tough fights before losing to Braxton. Read his book, I highly recommend it.

 

From his early professional fights he was in deep waters vs the likes of Mate Parlov, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Richie Kates, Marvin Camel. And then you have his title reign which is one of the most brutal title reigns in history in regards to how much punishment he took.

Add on to the fact that he was from Philadelphia and we've all heard of the phrase "Philly gym wars". So he was probably having rough sparring sessions along with his Rocky like wars in professional fights so it's not surprising Muhammad faded quite rapidly.

 

Pretty much. You don't fully recover from every beating. They all chip away at you until the best current version of you is a fraction of what you once were.

 

Isn't that the way all the brawlers go? They deteriorate differently than other boxing styles.