Dwight Braxton retained his WBC and The Ring light heavyweight titles by stopping Matthew Saad Muhammad in the sixth round at Philadelphia’s Spectrum. The victory ended their rivalry following an earlier tenth-round stoppage, cementing Braxton’s status at the top of the division.
Billed as “The Liberty Brawl”, the rematch took place before a hometown crowd of 6,871 spectators in Philadelphia. Saad Muhammad entered the ring looking to regain his lost belts seven months after losing them in Atlantic City. Following that initial defeat, the 28-year-old challenger replaced his long-time trainer Sam Solomon with Steve Traitz. However, the corner change did little to alter the dynamic inside the ring. Giving away a considerable height and reach advantage, the 29-year-old champion systematically controlled his taller opponent. Braxton neutralised the physical disparity by working his way inside behind a disciplined jab, consistently forcing Saad Muhammad onto his back foot.
Braxton bloodied Saad Muhammad’s nose in the second round before scoring a heavy knockdown in the third.
There would be no trademark comeback from Saad Muhammad, whose prime years had been defined by remarkable recoveries. Instead, Braxton maintained unrelenting pressure with compact hooks, direct right hands, and heavy body work. Control was absolute, reflected on the scorecards after five rounds where judges Tony Castellano, Tony Perez, and Dick Young scored the bout 50-43, 50-42, and 50-41 for the champion. The stoppage came early in the sixth round. Braxton pushed Saad Muhammad toward the ropes with a crisp left-right combination and kept firing until referee Carlos Padilla intervened at 1:23.
This second consecutive stoppage victory solidified Braxton, who would later be known as Dwight Muhammad Qawi, as a premier force at 175 pounds alongside rival Michael Spinks. Braxton defended his crown against Eddie Davis before falling to Spinks in a 1983 light heavyweight unification match. For Saad Muhammad, the night effectively brought an end to his reign among the division’s elite. Although he fought on for years and eventually earned induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, the punishment sustained across his historic wars proved insurmountable against Braxton’s unrelenting inside attack.
