James Scott vs. Matthew Saad Muhammad

Thanks for you feedback. Before I left Rahway I was working on getting an escorted furlough for James to fight at the Meadowlands stadium. I had boxing commissioner Jerey Joe Walcott's support and it would have been eay for me to convince Murad Muhamma, the schools promoter, to get a title fight scheduled for there. Had I not eft Rahway I would hve pulled it off. I had allmu ducks in a row. You need to listen to the ESPN podcats, the fighter insider, to learn how James had turned his life around and how well hedid working with kids during the time he was on parole. - Bob Hatrak

 

Despite his violent history and lengthy sentence James was someone I could count on never t lie to me. There 100 more than 100 young men participating in our Boxing Vocational Training Program and n did a lot of sparring during boxing school hoursJames kept busy helping as many of the as he had time to. Dwight Braxton's brother was a member of the program and James helped him a lot. He became a world class boxer and eventually wound up in the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame. With Scott's hard work four of our students (boxers) made the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame. Jersey Joe Walcott was a strong supporter of our program. James and Dwight Braxton did a lot of sparring during school hours. When the fought on national TV James was just a shell of the man he was. My bosses had set out to destroy James and the boxing school.

 

Great insights mate.

 

Your prison was also where the original scared straight program was at. And why didn't your bosses like the boxing program or James Scott?

I had heard that many prisons didn't even like the prisoners lifting weights because it made them more physically formidable and thus harder for the guards to control and I'd imagine that attitude would have extended to inmates boxing.

 

Saad, inside or outside!

 

When Matthew Saad Muhammad was on his run starting from the first Marvin Johnson fight in 77' to 81' before he fought Qawi I don't see Scott being able to beat MSM. Muhammad by late KO is most likely imo, I tell you one other thing. I just watched MSM vs Marvin Johnson 1 again the other day, and I don't think I've seen a better chin. I mean MSM would get smashed flush with the other guys best stuff and Matthew wouldn't even blink let alone be shaken. Until his chin finally cracked against Braxton (Qawi) in 1981 after all those wars I've never seen another like it, such a warrior Matthew Saad Muhammad was.

 

I was James' warden at Rahway. I was close to setting up a champioship fight atthe Meadowlands when I left the job. I was going to place James on an escorted furlough like I did the inmate singing group, The Escorts, (you can listen to some of the recordings they made at the prison on youtube). As warden I got to understand James very well. At that time there is no way that he could not have beaten any lightheavyweight around. In my proxing program he sparred with Quawi. He would give Dwight some pretty good beatings in the prison's gym. At that time, another fighter would need to kill James to win - Bob Hatrak, formr Rahway Prison warden

 

Yes, while warden we did Scared Straight and a Boxing Vocayioal Training program atthe same time. My bnosses were paranoid. Theyt thought I was getting too much good publicity and that politically I was becoming a threat to their jobs - even though I didn't want them. Yes its true that boxing was something the correction officers had a problem with. They think that inmates who got good at the skill would uyse that skill to attack them. My corrdction officers did not feel that way and the officers union, silently, supported our program.

James died quietly in a nursing home on May 8, 2018. He was suffering from dimentia and had trouble recognizing anyone. James, a Muslim, was buried after a typical Muslim ceremony.

 

Agreed, this fight would have to turn into a shooting war and Saad , as Xplosive said ,would take him to deep water and drown him. But,,,at great cost.

 

James

James beats Muhammed anyplace and anytime. When sparring James gave Quawi all he could handle!

 

James'

James' heart ws huge

 

Braxton was also green then. He didn't fully develop until he got to Fraziers.

 

Yes! The politics was intense. Jersey Joe Walcott told me he would not sanction a fight for the title in the prision but that he would, for example, sanction the fighgt if it were at the meadowlands for example. I almost has a Meadowloands fight arranged when politics came into play. My bosses at the department of corrd tions level were very concerned thatI was looking tto good and tht I might be after ossne of their jobs so that had a captain set James up. The setup included an allegation that James was involved in the prison's drug business. James was a Muslim and Muslims avoid drugs. Also he was making money fighting and why would he jeopardize that for the peanuts he could earn in prison drug trafficing. Anyway the setup happened and he was transferred to another prison which ended the boxing program. James never lied to me and when he told me, looking me square in my eyes, that he had nothing to do with drugs, I believed him. This is a good example of how prision poliics can ruin an inmates life especially when that inmate was doing everytig humanly possible to turn his life around

 

I liked watching Mr. Scott fight, in his time he beat top light-heavies at least 1 that I believe should be in the HOF. However, at no point in Matthew Saad Muhammad's prime could I see Scott winning this fight. MSM was a granite chined missile slinging monster that had a uncanny knack for knowing when to turn it on, and no one had a better gas tank or was a better finisher at his peak.