Was Qawi really a greater 175lber than Franklin?

Franklin/Saad was both shot and weight drained against Braxton/Qawi. The best Saad may have found a way out. Very close. I give edge to Braxton/Qawi simply coz he won twice.

 

I follow this view,Fleaman. Qawi had Saad's number.

 

saad's post qawi, career nose dive unfortunately taints his resume at first glance

you ignore the tail spin at the end where he lost every other fight, and his legacy at 175 is impressive. tough call but saad certainly gets sold short quite a bit

 

I think Qawi has it over Saad in just about every way. For starters, he didn't just beat Saad in both their fights, but he completely outclassed him (and I question the notion that Saad was also "weight drained" in their 2nd fight, and I think the extent to which he was supposedly "shot" in general gets overblown based on how decisively he lost). Even disregarding those fights, Qawi also outclassed guys like James Scott, Mike Rossman, and Bull Martin, who were the kind of fighters that Saad and the other top '70s/'80s LHWs routinely struggled with. He also had more longevity, more success above his weight class, and less embarrassing losses. On top of that, he was a better and more polished technician.

I know people will say the issue is more complicated, but I think the reason Spinks and Qawi toppled all the other top LHWs of their era is simply because they were better.

 

We can't take too much into account with their wars against each other as Saad was faded in the first and shot in the second. Not taking anything away from Qawi but I was more impressed by the first fight because at least Saad was more competitive there, the rematch was just a complete beating. I think Saad gets forgotten because of his short reign(79-81) but in those times he was vulnerable but still dominant. Qawi just had his number. At lt hvy maybe Saad ranks higher(Lopez, Conteh, Johnson wins) but PFP Qawi is higher of course.

 

I wouldn't say he outclassed Scott, and Yaqui Lopez put a more thorough beating on Rossman than did Qawi.

I'd say Franklin had the most successful run of any of the Muhammads. He simply had more drive than either of the others, although he may've been less talented.

 

But was the rematch really a beating because Saad was so "shot," or because Qawi was just that good on that night? I think just dismissing Saad as shot really sells Qawi short, as he executed a helluva gameplan and looked like an absolute demon on that night, right from the opening bell. I think only the very best LHWs would've beaten Qawi on that night.

 

It's debatable. I didn't feel like editing my post but you may be right. Qawi was a beast in the first fight too TBH but I don't think he would have that easy a time on Saad of 79-80 though I think he would've won. Who knows, maybe he would've but I feel Qawi beats him everytime but I feel those two fights don't highlight that enough. I didn't expect the rematch to be so one-sided and I may have unintentionally discredited Qawi's performance. One person that should've been shot is the ref that night as the fight should've been stopped much sooner.

 

You've got to ask the question of how much Saad really had left at that point though when he was losing to the likes of Eric Winbush just months later.

Qawi was trendemous but limited by his height. I think he could have been outmaneuvered by more than just the very greatest of them, but he would get the better of most who fought him at his own game.

 

You only need to watch stuff like the Sutherland and to a lesser extent Bull MArtin fights to see Saad was fading.His defensive reflexes(never his strong point) had entirely gone for the standards of a world class fighter.

How good he still was and if qawi had his number/was outright better is arguable of course.I'd strongly disagree he was still in his prime though.Not having a hugely long prime is probably one of the main criticisms you could level at Saad,but with his willingness to get involved in wars it's not that surprising.

One of the main things i don't like about Qawi is that after losing to spinks the vast majority of his career was one of Michael Nunn-esque underachieving.Moving out of his natural divison and getting fat rather than knuckle down and really try to come back.

We really should have had a series of fights between Qawi and Spinks imo.I expect the outcome would have been that Qawi was too narrowly focused in the things he did well/physically limited to do much different, but thats beside the point.It would have endeared him more to me than punking out to irrelevanceweight

 

:good

 

I think Qawi is a H2H monster at 175lbs and would have beaten any version of Saad.

 

If he hadn't fought Spinks you wouldn't give a ****.:yep