Editing Matthew Saad Muhammad (section)

==Professional boxing career==
Saad Muhammad began to box professionally in 1974, winning his first fight with a second-round [[knockout]] win against Billy Early. He posted seven more wins that year before suffering his first loss at the hands of Wayne McGee by a decision in six rounds.

In 1975, after two wins, he and McGee fought again, in a six-round draw. In 1976, he had two matches each with future world champions [[Marvin Camel]] and [[Mate Parlov]].

His first fight with Parlov, in [[Milan]], was also his first fight abroad. He beat Parlov in an eight-round decision. He then beat Camel in a ten-round decision, but lost the rematch, also in a ten-round decision. He returned to [[Italy]] for a rematch with Parlov, which resulted in a ten-round draw.

Saad Muhammad began 1977 by losing to Mustafa Muhammad (then Edward Lee Gregory), but then defeated the future three-time world champion [[Marvin Johnson (boxer)|Marvin Johnson]] by a knockout in round 12 for the [[United States]] Light-Heavyweight title in his first nationally televised match.

In 1978, he won all four of his bouts, including successful defenses of his title against former world title challenger Richie Kates and against four-time world title challenger [[Yaqui López]]. The Lopez fight, their first of two, was considered a classic by boxing experts, Saad Muhammad surviving a relentless attack by López to score an 11th-round knockout.

In 1979, after Johnson became world champion by defeating Parlov, he and Saad Muhammad met again on April 22 in Johnson's hometown of [[Indianapolis, Indiana|Indianapolis]] for the [[World Boxing Council|WBC]]'s world light heavyweight crown . In a fight considered by many experts as a ''Saad Muhammad classic'', and which subsequently featured on [[ESPN]]'s ''Classic Fights'' show, Saad Muhammad won with an eight-round knockout after staggering Johnson towards the end of the seventh round.  Shortly afterward, he converted to Islam and changed his name to Matthew Saad Muhammad.<ref>{{Citation|title=Matthew Franklin vs Marvin Johnson 2 Classic SLUGFEST Matthew Saad Muhammad|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z94t81BkK0c| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121234718/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z94t81BkK0c| archive-date=2013-01-21 | url-status=dead|language=en|access-date=2019-09-11}}</ref>

In his first title defense, Saad Muhammad met former world champion [[John Conteh]] in [[Atlantic City, New Jersey|Atlantic City]]. He retained the world title with a 15-round decision. The decision, however, was voided and a rematch ordered because Muhammad's cornermen used an illegal substance to stop the bleeding from a cut.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2zsyAAAAIBAJ&pg=1178,5264166|title=Fight declared void |date=1979-12-10 |access-date=2014-06-20}}</ref> Muhammad retained the crown with a knockout in round four in the second bout.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-u5UAAAAIBAJ&pg=5518,7114935 |title=Conteh floored five times in one round |date=1980-03-31 |access-date=2014-06-20}}</ref> After defeating Louis Pergaud, he and López met again, this time, with the world title on the line. Their rematch has also been shown by ESPN's ''classic'' network several times, it was the ''fight of the year'' for 1980, according to ''[[Ring Magazine]]'', and is still written about by boxing aficionados.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Gibson|first1=Paul|title=Great rounds of boxing history: Saad Muhammad v López II, round eight|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/the-balls-of-wrath/2014/nov/05/great-rounds-boxing-history-matthew-saad-muhammad-yaqui-lopez-eight|website=The Guardian|access-date=19 October 2016|date=2014-11-05}}</ref> Saad Muhammad was hit with 20 ''unanswered'' blows in round eight, but he recovered and dropped López five times en route to a 14th-round knockout win. "This was my toughest fight," said Saad Muhammad of the fight, which some consider the closest López ever came to a world title.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Carbert|first1=Michael|title=July 13, 1980: Muhammad vs Lopez II|url=http://www.thefightcity.com/saad-muhammad-vs-lopez-yaqui-lopez-matthew-saad-muhammad-rematch-light-heavyweight-boxing/|website=The Fight City|access-date=19 October 2016|date=2016-07-13}}</ref>

He then went on to defeat [[Lottie Mwale]], Vonzell Johnson, future world Super-Middleweight champion [[Murray Sutherland]] and Jerry Martin, all in defense of his world title, before losing to Dwight Muhammad Qawi in December 1981. In yet another fight that would later be shown on ESPN's classic network, Saad Muhammad lost his title when Qawi knocked him out in 10 rounds.

Saad Muhammad entered 1982 with a rematch against Qawi within his sights, and he defeated Pete McIntyre by a knockout in round two. The rematch between Saad Muhammad and Qawi came off in August, at Saad Muhammad's hometown of [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]]. The second time around, Qawi won by a knockout in round six.

From there on until 1992, Saad Muhammad fought sporadically and with limited success. He had been confronting vision problems, and in 1986, he declared himself in [[bankruptcy]].

After he lost the rematch to Qawi fought in [[Australia]], [[Spain]], [[The Bahamas]] and [[Trinidad and Tobago]].

===MMA career===
Saad Muhammad also took a turn in the forerunner of mixed martial arts in Japan, participating in the first [[UWF International]] (UWFi) event in 1991.  Matched against [[Kiyoshi Tamura]], Saad Muhammad talked a great deal at a lead-in press conference. He declined to say in which round he would knock Tamura out, but guaranteed a victory. Tamura submitted Saad Muhammad 34&nbsp;seconds into the first round.