At the end of each year, the prestigious American magazine The Ring awards the most spectacular fight of the last twelve months with the Fight of the Year recognition. Fortyfour years ago, the award deservedly went to the epic battle between then WBC light heavyweight world champion Matthew Saad Muhammad and the fierce challenger Yaqui “Indian” Lopez. It was July 13, 1980, and the two warriors engaged in a breathless contest, resolved by the champion only in the fourteenth of the scheduled fifteen rounds, at the end of a thrilling comeback. Let’s take a dive into the past and return in our minds to the Great Gorge Playboy Club in McAfee where the fight took place.
Yaqui Lopez: The “Fake Indian” Who Wanted to Be a Matador
Born in the Mexican city of Zacatecas, Lopez spent his childhood near an arena where local matadors tamed raging bulls and grew up dreaming of becoming one of them. At 12, young Alvaro – his real name – borrowed a muleta, the traditional red cloth of bullfighters, snuck into the arena, and challenged one of the bulls housed there. A pierced shin and a rushed hospital visit convinced his family to move to California, where Alvaro learned the basics of boxing after a few years. Although his appearance and nickname might be misleading, “Indian” Lopez is not a descendant of Native Americans. His manager concocted the fake story to please the local audience, which included many Native Americans. When asked by onlookers about his fighter’s origins, he invented that he descended from the Yaqui people, the first that came to mind. Immediately, the chant “Yaqui! Yaqui! Yaqui!” erupted, and Alvaro’s name was stored away ever since.
Matthew Saad Muhammad: The Man of Many Transformations
The champion also entered the ring with a different name from his original. Born Maxwell Antonio Loach, he became an orphan and was abandoned by his brother on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. The truth emerged only many years later, thanks to a private investigator: his aunt had made the decision, unable to support both nephews. The nuns at the Catholic center where he was taken renamed the boy Matthew Franklin because Matthew means “the chosen one,” and Franklin connected him to the place of discovery. However, when the boy grew up and became a champion, his conversion to Islam finally made him Matthew Saad Muhammad. The name change wasn’t the only transformation for this athlete who dominated the light heavyweight division in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Italian journalists who saw him perform in Trieste in 1976 against Mate Parlov described him as an elegant boxer but lacking in punch, a description that starkly contrasts with the Saad Muhammad the world would admire in later years.
Eight Rounds of Hope: The Challenger’s Sprint Start
Yaqui Lopez had already attempted three times to win the world title and was defeated each time. While the British John Conteh exposed his inexperience, Argentine Victor Galindez had to sweat bullets to tame him twice, winning narrowly both times. Lopez, still convinced he was the victim of unfair decisions against the strong South American, entered the ring with fierce determination for his fourth world title attempt. Saad Muhammad had already defeated him two years earlier due to an cut in a violent clash and promised him a rematch when he became world champion. His rival had kept the promise, and Yaqui knew he had to offer a superlative performance to overturn the odds and dethrone the king. For eight rounds, he seemed capable of accomplishing the feat: alternating between saber and foil and with a sublime control of distance, the challenger was leading the perfect fight and was clearly ahead on points.
The Champion Never Dies: The Great Comeback
Many times in his career, Saad Muhammad gave the impression of being on the verge of collapse only to rise from the ashes and snatch victory with sheer grit. That night 44 years ago, the script was the same: overwhelmed for half the fight by his rival, the champion began his slow but inexorable comeback precisely when the situation seemed to be at its worst, during the dramatic and unforgettable eighth round. A Lopez in full competitive trance had unleashed his entire arsenal on him but in doing so had expended a great amount of energy, and Saad Muhammad took advantage. Round after round, exchange after exchange, the Philadelphia boxer clawed back on the scorecards and wore down an increasingly tired challenger who could only “ignite” in spurts. As the championship rounds approached, the contest had returned to equilibrium, but the champion, not content with relying on the judges’ verdict, produced the final decisive acceleration: four knockdowns in quick succession in the fourteenth round ended the dreams of glory for the “fake Indian” from Zacatecas.
Such wars often leave indelible marks on the bodies of the fighters who endure them. Yaqui Lopez was never the same indomitable warrior again; Saad Muhammad, however, managed for another year and a half to deliver breathtaking encounters, stringing together four more victorious defenses before collapsing sharply against Dwight Muhammad Qawi.