Thoughts on Dwight Muhammad Qawi

Dwight was at about 75% of his powers against Holyfield, and still ran him kind of close.

It took the best performance of Spinks' career (imo) to edge him out at 175.

I think he would maul the **** out of just about any boxer type at 175 unless they bring some artillery to at least ward him off in spots. And even them they'll need an at least very good chin as well to absorb some bombs.

I'd probably favour him against the likes of Harold Johnson, Billy Conn, Gene Tunney, Tommy Loughran.

Somoene like Jones could outbox him, but even there I think Dwight would spark him AT LEAST once in 3 attempts.

 

See those are the styles I'd see him doing badly against. I suppose we'd never know, but it's whether he can edge forward and time that counter overhand right and continually get past the jab. I think fleetfooted boxers make this more difficult although he did it against Muhammed

Loughran would circle to the right like he did against Walker and jab and grab all night. Is Qawi better than Walker? I think he probably is but similar to an extent

Tunney, he managed to pull off the moving, jabbing and counter right strategy against Dempsey and probably against Greb. If Qawi gets inside he'd have a field day because of Tunney's low hands

Johnson technically the best of all those a good puncher in his own right, beat Charles/Moore although maybe not as great a mover and was KO'd by Moore. Could Qawi pull off what Moore managed? I don't think so, Charles couldn't do that either

Conn may have the best footwork of the fighters mentioned thus far, he was quick on the inside and outside. However he is smaller and doesn't seem as strong as the other fighters. Qawi if he can time his shots and get inside will hurt him/bully him. But it's a question of if he can

Jones, footspeed, handspeed and reactions should be too quick at whatever range, but you'd expect him to be boxing in and out rather than forcing a fight. Occasionally he could be timed so Qawi certainly has the punchers chance. I think it takes more than punch though as personally I'm of the opinion his durability declined after his first concussion

So you can favour the puncher getting through or the boxer lasting the pace, I tend to go for the latter

I also think Qawi being past his best and Holyfield being green sort of levels out. He fought Qawi at his own game and beat him at it

 

Terrific post ... add to that that it was an amazing, defensive performance by Spinks .. he wanted no part of trading .... Qwai was a hell of a light heavyweight ..

 

Whilst he can be outboxed, I don't think movement and a good jab are enough to beat him. Obviously Spinks used good herky-jerky movement and a nice long jab, but he just won that fight, and he also had a pulverizing right hand to rely on. Not many other boxer types at 175 have that mix. There are better movers, but I think you have to keep Dwight honest to stop him lunging in (which he is quite good at).

At light heavy, Dwight is better than Micky. Micky got kind of close against Loughran, probably lost by a point or two. I think Dwight has better power and strength at the weight, and over 15 would catch up with Loughran.

Tunney is a smart fighter, and will try and clutch as much as possible, but I still think Dwight can get to him in a long fight.

An insipid, older Charles couldn't do it, but Oakland Billy Smith could. Qawi would land eventually imo and either ruffle Johnson to the point where he starts bullying him around, or takes him out. Again, over 15, it's a massive task to survive Qawi.

I think he can. Joe Louis was more of a plodder than Qawi.

Maybe. I think Jones at least has the punching power and sharpness to buy him some room. I don't think the others here do.

Holyfield may have been green as far as experience goes, but I don't think he's ever been physically better. Obviously he got stronger, punched harder as he moved up, but relative to the weight class he was in imo the cruiserweight Holyfield that beat Qawi was the best Holyfield there ever was.

Holyfield is very overrated as a heavyweight. Not his fault of course, he was simply a blown up cruiser.

 

Meh, he didn't change noticeably for me in the rematch or the De Leon fight.

Of course, the result changed becuase Qawi declined further.

 

Perfectly put:good!!!

 

I like this one too:good

 

I thought he clearly showed far better lateral movement and alternated directions far more in the rematch - as opposed to backing straight up or standing flatfooted, as he had in the first fight. He also appeared to be getting better placement on his punches, whereas he had been throwing a lot of "pity pat" combos in the first fight.

 

Agree.

Holyfield showed a lot of improvement after Qawi 1.

 

Porky Flyn, Burns, Galento, Qawi... who else?

surely he IS the Best of the little Bigmen!

 

Best counter jab of his generation. Brilliant at keeping his lead foot between his opponent's feet to cut the ring in half. Quenzell McCall and Wesley Mouzon developed him brilliantly.

How good was he defensively? Well consider this. By the time McCall and Mouzon began working with him, he already had a mouth breathing habit too deeply ingrained to be corrected. Boxing with an open mouth is an invitation to getting your jaw fractured. [Ali was talking to Norton with his mouth open at the instant Ken unloaded the overhand right which broke Muhammad's jaw in the second round, aided by the presence of Ali's neglected impacted wisdom tooth.] Despite taking on some heavy hitters, Qawi never sustained any injuries facilitated by breathing through an open mouth. Flash Gordon compared the Buzzsaw's defensive skills favorably to Mantequilla's.

To this day, Dwight is adamant that Holyfield was using PEDs for their rematch, and that this accounts for the ease of Evander's knockout win after their sensational first match. [I don't know what to make of the veracity of his accusation, as Saad Muhammad similarly declined from their first match to their second.] If he could have stayed under 175, he'd have been a nightmare for years and years. I too believe Michael Spinks produced the most nearly perfect distance performance of his career to UD Qawi. At the time, I thought he did enough to win the first match against Holyfield despite Evander's stunning work rate.

Stylistically, he might have given peak Ali a lot of headaches, considerably more than Bob Foster, although BF was obviously far greater at 175. Did not turn professional until he was 25, so he didn't outgrow the LHWs through the maturation process, he ate himself out of that weight class. At least seven of his 11 official defeats were to world champions, while he posted at least six such wins himself.

Was already 30 when Michael Spinks decisioned him. Showed his power in the opening round against Eddie Davis, nearly knocking him out with 30 seconds to go in the opening round. Eddie would later be the most competitive opponent Michael would have at 175 aside from Qawi himself.
Like Jeff Chandler, became a champion and got to Canastota without much of an official amateur background, extremely unusual for that era.

 

It's a bit of a double-edged sword, Style-wise Qawi hated runners, Johnny Davis showed this in his early years, so many a Mobile Boxer could propably beat Qwai on points, Virgil Hill would probably of beaten Qawi Chris Finnegan would of had a shout in my opinion, and Sacrilege time, Maybe even guys like Len Hutchins Ray anderson or Mark Tessman, Herscel Jacobs simply through their Mobile Non-Confrontational styles, However....HOWEVER...Come Looking for Qawi and you have Problems in the 1st Degree, and may find yourself Listed on the Misery Index pretty soon thereafter,
For a guy of such small dimensions, his ability to Dip-Slip-And Rip on the inside made him a very difficult target, on the way in, with Gumshield bared, he would outjab bigger opponents before filleting them against the ropes , He walked through Rossman, he turned the feared Superman Scott into a Nervy backfoot boxer, and the man who also beat Scott, Jerry "The Bull" Martin was well and truely gored ! so aggressors beware...

I would have to take the Top Boxers and a share of Adept speedsters to cope with Qawi's aggression, But Fighters like Dick Tiger, Freddie Mills, Gus Lesnovich Marv Johnsaon Galindez, etc etc... The Camden Buzzsaw may just of turned them into a Splinter pile. So maybe lacked the versatility of the true great 175lbérs of all time, but for me he certainly is in the next wave of excellant performers.

 

^^^^ Qawi would beat the **** outta Virgil Hill. Hill had NOTHING to hold Qawi off with. That's the main reason Spinks beat him. Qawi had to be wary of Spinks' power. He'd laugh at everything Hill throws at him, and would walk Hill down and hammer him.