Qawi isn't getting pot shotted by right hands. In both his fights against Saad Muhammad, he was countering Saad's main weapon the right hand beautifully. Even Spinks was told to keep the Jinx under wraps against Qawi. Many people think Qawi was a Joe Frazier style brawler, but he was an aggressive counter puncher and very hard to hit clean in his prime and one of the greatest fighters of all time.
Qawi lesser schooled? Ha! At his peak, his defence was compared to that of the great Mantequilla Napoles, and this was a 5'7 Buzzsaw. Qawi would TKO Hopkins. Interesting excerpt from Qawi interview While I was fighting I liked watching Salvador Sanchez. He was the most complete fighter that I've ever seen, kind of like watching an artist paint, you'd watch him and think there was nothing in the sport of boxing that he couldn't do. I loved watching little guys in Philadelphia fight, like Meldrick Taylor and his brothers. I liked some punchers before my time as well, like Sonny Liston, he had that killer instinct he'd come right after you and go to work he was aggressive for sure but he also had a plan to his attack, and the pressure he'd put on you would make you fold and that's how I did, I'd apply the pressure on you keep it on you and hell pressure if you do it long enough will bust a pipe so you already know what it will do to a person. Another Pressure guy was Roberto Duran, as a lightweight boy he was on it he'd be on you butt from ding-ding till the final dong. Again I took that from him I'd be right next to you making you miss and making you pay.
Yeah, although fading, Saad still had a very good right hand and Dwight slipped or blocked it almost every time. And, he survived the few that landed. Saad hit way harder than Hopkins at 175 lbs.
I like BHOP a lot. He was ATG at middleweight, but not at lightheavyweight. I can't see him keeping Qawi off of him, he didn't have the power at 175. Qawi stops him late.
Never saw the best of Qawi at CW apart from the first Holyfield fight as he started drinking after this. Like Marvin Johnson even when past his prime he showed what a golden era the late 70 's early eighties was for LHW.
