Matthew Saad Muhammad

CTL-E-7096 · Person · other · 1954–2014

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07968 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-7096.

Matthew Saad Muhammad was born Maxwell Antonio Loach on June 16, 1954, in Philadelphia. The International Boxing Hall of Fame tells the story the sport knows him by: abandoned as a child — left, as a small boy, on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway — he was taken to Catholic Social Services, where the nuns named him Matthew, after the saint, and Franklin, after the parkway where he was found. He turned professional in his native Philadelphia in 1974 under that given name, Matthew Franklin, and fought an aggressive path to the top. He knocked out Marvin Johnson in twelve rounds for the NABF title in 1977, then knocked Johnson out again, in the eighth round in Indianapolis on April 22, 1979, to win the WBC light heavyweight title; shortly after becoming champion he converted to Islam and changed his name to Matthew Saad Muhammad. His recuperative powers made him 'Miracle Matthew': in his 1980 title defense against Yaqui López, named The Ring's Fight of the Year, López pinned him in a corner in the eighth round and landed, the Hall records, twenty consecutive blows — after which Saad Muhammad dominated the rest of the fight and scored a fourteenth-round knockout. He made eight successful title defenses, seven by knockout, before losing the crown to Dwight Muhammad Qawi on December 19, 1981, and the rematch eight months later. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998 and died in Philadelphia on May 25, 2014, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The record

• Also known as: Maxwell Antonio Loach, Matthew Franklin, Miracle Matthew

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0477. Totals disposition — SHOWN SPLIT, never blended: the International Boxing Hall of Fame / Cyber Boxing Zone line gives 39-16-3 with 29 knockouts; BoxRec lists 49-16-3 with 35 knockouts. The New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame states the reason: the Hall-line record excludes ten bouts from 1986-1991. The description therefore carries no single totals figure, and any future AAES entry must print both lines with their sources. Identity/variance, stated plainly: born Maxwell Antonio Loach; the name Matthew Franklin was given him by the Catholic Social Services nuns (Matthew for the saint, Franklin for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway where he was found), and Matthew Saad Muhammad is the name he took on converting to Islam after winning the title in 1979 (IBHOF). He is a different man from Dwight Muhammad Qawi (S8-14): Qawi took his title in 1981-82, and Qawi's name change, prison start and cruiserweight reign belong to Qawi's record, not this one. A stray 2001 induction date in one secondary listing is an error against the Hall's and the New Jersey Hall's 1998; 1998 governs. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Saad Muhammad's is a survival record twice over — an abandoned child who became champion, and a champion whose legend is the fights he refused to lose, above all López in 1980. Photo: CLEARED, Public domain, Bill Apter photograph published December 1981 whose Commons description names Matthew Saad Muhammad; a 1979 magazine-cover file also depicting Muhammad Ali was passed over so the cleared file depicts Saad Muhammad alone.

Referenced by

• Dwight Muhammad Qawi — related to → this record

Sources

• International Boxing Hall of Fame. "Matthew Saad Muhammad." IBHOF.com. Accessed 2026-11-03. (primary source · build store)
• New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame. "Matthew Saad Muhammad." NJBoxingHOF.org. Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)
• The Sweet Science. "Sad Final Chapter for a Great Action Hero" (Matthew Saad Muhammad obituary). TSS.ib.tv. Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)

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Record CTL-E-7096 · Combined Graph record U-07968 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
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