80s light heavyweight fights recommendations

I think the era you’re looking for is late 1970s (even mid) to early 1980s.

I’d recommend the following:

James Scott-Eddie Mustafa Muhammad (Gregory at the time)

Matthew Saad Muhammad-Yaqui Lopez I and II

Matthew Saad Muhammad-Marvin Johnson I and II

Marvin Johnson-Victor Galindez

Michael Spinks-Marvin Johnson

Michael Spinks-Yaqui Lopez

James Scott-Yaqui Lopez

Mike Rossman-Victor Galindez I

Spinks vs. EMM and Dwight Qawi are good but not particularly exciting.

There’s tons more — you can mix and match these guys just about any way you want, and they did — but that’s a starter set to get you the feel for the era.

 

To see Eddie Mustafa Muhammad at his best tune into his fight against Marvin Johnson. He absolutely dominates him and you can feel those body shots thru the screen. Clinical dismantling of a southpaw.

 

The first Andries vs Harding fight was in 1989 and was a great one. The next two fights of the trilogy happened in the early 90s but were also good

 

There’s a period of time where the light heavyweight rankings had:

Matthew Saad Muhammad

Marvin Johnson

Eddie Mustafa Muhammad

Michael Spinks

James Scott

Yaqui Lopez

Victor Galindez

Mike Rossman

John Conteh

Dwight Qawi

It’s not a complete overlap as Qawi kind of arrived as many of those guys were tapering off but it’s as deep as any division over a period of a few years as any in boxing history IMO, especially considering how many of them fought each other.

 

John Conteh vs Matthew Saad Muhammad no1 was a great contest.
Conteh vs Muhammad no2 was another superb fight but in a different way.

 

The first Bobby Czyz v Prince Charles Williams fight is worth a watch. It's like a Rocky film at times.

 

The 2nd fight is also good I watched it recently.

As for the thread as @Saintpat said your looking for late 70s early 80s specifically.

Overall watch any of Matthew Saad Muhammad's title fights their all entertaining, and his fights before he become champion against Johnson 1, Kates, are must watch fights aswell.

Apart from Marvin Johnson's famous fights vs Matthew Saad Muhammad, his other fights vs Jean Marie Emebe is a must watch, and the 1st meeting vs Leslie Stewart, both FOTY candidates and incredible slugfests. I'd also check out his dominant performance vs Galindez, which for me was a career best performance from him.

Dwight Muhammad Qawi I'd definitely watch his short prime, when he went out on absolute terror vs Muhammad twice, Martin, and his underrated slugfest vs Eddie Davis was amazing aswell. And even though his fight vs Michael Spinks wasn't a barnburner, for historical purposes it's a must watch. And it's still an entertaining fight for me anyway.

Michael Spinks is also a must watch for me a top 5 Light Heavyweight of all time, his KO vs Marvin Johnson was scary. His jabbing exhibition vs Qawi in the first 7 rounds was amazing, and his acid test vs Yaqui Lopez before he become champion was an amazing slugfest aswell.

Eddie Mustafa Muhammad wasn't a fan of his personally, had alot of talent but was very lazy in the ring. But his fight vs Marvin Johnson is a must see, for the body punching exhibition and it's one of the rare fights where he puts it all together.

James Scott I think is worth watching just for the story of a prisoner, fighting world class fighters in a prison and beating them it's like a Hollywood movie. Unfortunately he was never allowed to fight for the title, but still worth watching for the unique atmosphere and story.

Overall I could talk all day about this era, but I've covered most of the basis for this era. I wish I could erase my memory and watch them again for the 1st time, but all I'll say is your in for a special treat watching this amazing era.

 

Good stuff.

I’ll throw in another one since you mentioned Michael Spinks’ jab — his fight vs. Ramon Ranquillo is mostly forgotten. Ranquillo was basically a tough club fighter (think what a real Rocky Balboa might look and fight like, minus the southpaw and supernatural punching power) who cracked the rankings when he upset Mike Rossman shortly after Rossman lost his title.

So he fought Spinks and Michael did such a job on him with that jab … just a jackhammer that never missed, landing flush and with power every single time as he kept pumping it and pumping it. Ramon kept coming and kept trying but it was like running into a telephone pole each time.

 

The second fight is a strange one. Conteh boxed a beautiful fight the first time but MSM did what he does — come on strong at the end and pulled it out (this time with late knockdowns but not a stoppage).

The rematch, Conteh looked like he was resigned to his fate. And Matthew wasn’t messing around, getting off to a rare for him fast start.

There’s one knockdown where I swear Conteh went down on a punch that missed — like he braced himself for it and it missed him by a hair and he was already expecting to go down. He didn’t show much heart in that one … I think he already had one foot in retirement.

 

I definitely remember Conteh being very disappointing in the second fight, as if he gave everything in the first contest, and had nothing left to give second time around. I’ll watch it again though, and look out for that phantom punch.

 

Here’s my review from the What Fights Did You Watch Today/Scorecard thread a couple years ago:

John Conteh vs. Matthew Saad Muhammad II, scheduled for 15 rounds for the WBC light heavyweight championship at Resorts International in Atlantic City, N.J., on March 29, 1980.

This is a rematch. Champion Muhammad turned it late to pull out their first fight about 7 1/2 months earlier at the same venue, knocking Conteh down twice in the 14th to punctuate his rally.

Conteh brings a 33-3-1 record, while MSM was 24-3-1. Neither had fought since their initial encounter. Both weigh in at 175.

Round 1 — 10-9 Muhammad: The champ is more busy working behind the jab, lands a pretty good right that seems to shake Conteh momentarily and a couple hooks; the challenger lands a couple of double jabs and that’s about it.

Round 2 — 10-9 Muhammad: More of the same, Conteh very low punch output and MSM just plugs away.

Round 3 — 10-9 Muhammad: Again, Conteh does little, certainly not mimicking his masterful boxing exhibition of the first fight and Saad is simply busier.

Round 4 — Muhammad knocks down Conteh five times to force the stoppage at 2:27 of the round. Matthew lands almost everything but Conteh goes down easily from what appear to be glancing blows. It may be that the first knockdown caused an equilibrium issue leaving JC unable to stay steady on his feet.

I think Saad wrecked him in the first fight and John simply didn’t have confidence that he could keep the much stronger champion off of him and wanted no part of Muhammad’s power game.

 

Thanks for that, Pat…a totally one sided beat down from your analysis. Even worse for Conteh than what I remember, but its been a long, long time since I saw it.

 

Look at the skill these two combatants exhibit. Busters jab is as good as any ever thrown. He almost had the Boogeyman outta there in round 1.
Jessie came back with a skillful attack to the body

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