I watch certain fights of Mustafa Muhammad's and I find it hard to believe he ever lost ... the man was so gifted, had such a combination of speed and power, such a variety of punches, I just don't get how he lost to Galindez, Scott and why he never got a rematch with Michael Spinks .. talk about under achieving wastes of talent, Mustafa is high on my list ...
To put it short: he was just too damn lazy. An excellent talent, though, for sure. Perhaps the most so of the Muhammads and, along with Conteh, the Lt. Heavyweight era as a whole.
E.M. Muhammad was an enigma with skill...... However, yes, he was often lazy and unfocused... And his whine that 175 was too hard to make by 1981 was due to his lust for KFC and biscuits.... When he scaled above 179 in some non-title fights after he blew his belt to Spinks in July '81, he looked like a pork belly... Also, E.M. Muhammad was a counter-puncher who often waited too long in a fight to get moving.... MR.BILL
If he had Saad Muhammad's heart and dedication he could have ruled for many years. Even after having to lose 25 pounds to fight Spinks in '81, he still fought a competitive fight. His laziness and/or unprofessionalism was highlighed in '83 when he failed to make weight for the Spinks rematch, then claimed the scales were rigged, so he didn't even try to lose the few pounds so the fight would happen. I think he was too cocky and thought he could do it on talent alone. He also had a stupid idea that he could fight for the heavyweight title, but after only a couple of light heavyweight defenses. So he balooned up to 200 to fight Renaldo Snipes, lost, then had to lose 25 pounds in a very short time to fight Michael Spinks. Then, he had no light heavyweight title and no prospects to win the heavyweight title. If he was smart, he would have forgotten about Snipes, trained his ass off, beaten Spinks, won, then used a nutritionist to gradually build into a heavyweight, kind of what Spinks did later. He did it ass backwards and it cost him.
A frustrating fighter to watch, because he seemed to do too little in his fights, and you could see the blown potential right there in front of your eyes. It offends in a way. I watched the Galindez fight awhile back, and thought he could have won that fight handilt had he just worked a bit in the early rounds, but he did almost nothing. He came on late, but Galindez had just built up too big a lead. He did have one of the great right hands to the body, though. It just sapped guys, sometimes immediately. It was short and viciously hard.
mustafa showed what he waqs capable of vs Marvin Johnson...and he could have been at that same level vs Spinks & all the others he performed dismally against...yes he was lazy...and a tragic waste of talent.
The guy was a Light Welterweight as an amateur. Should have never changed his name from Eddie Gregory. Blew it against James Scott (The convict). Eddie liked pizza and potato chips.
Because he spent too long just staring at them while they moved inside and outworked him. He did actually, but he suddenly had "weight problems" again (even though he'd made the weight fine against Lottie Mwale, and would make it again years later against Kacar) and suddenly "couldn't" make the weight, so the fight was cancelled. After that nonsense, Spinks didn't want to be bothered with Mustafa again, and Mustafa basically became shut out of big fights at 175 until Spinks moved up and the title became vacated. Mustafa got a shot at one of the vacant titles against Kacar, and fought very well, but Kacar just managed to outhustle him in a very close, all-action battle. After that Mustafa just seemed to disappear.
IMO if he had always trained properly and didn't have his "between the ears" issues, he would have to be on any of the short lists of ATG's; I mean that sincerely; he had it all boxer/puncher/solid jaw/ring savvy, everything. If he'd been in shape and ready to fight I don't think Spinks could have defeated him.. My $0.02
EMM wasnt the only one to say the scales were wrong. The commission hadnt even had them calibrated and in fact and undercard fighter Vinnie Curto also claimed he weighed in 2 1/2 lbs heavier on the prehistoric Fairbanks scales that were used. Bert Sugar placed 36lb sack consisting of 18 x 2lb bags of flour on the scales and it weighed 39 1/2lbs. Even with all the extra packaging the total weight should have been just under 37 1/2lbs. EMM was given two hours to lose the 2 1/2lbs he probably shouldnt have had to
Easy Eddie isn't all that hard to figure out. It's a common story with anybody that specially gifted in a particular respect. Those who don't have to apply themselves that much for what they actualize commonly underachieve in all fields. It had to drive his former Olympic teammate Marvin Johnson nuts to work his ass off while Eddie only had to cruise. But Marvin did get an Olympic medal, did make history as the first three time champion at 175, and is a far stronger candidate for eventual induction at Canastota than Mr. Ed (who really could be a horse's ass at times).
