Goddamn RIP Big George.
That said Dwight Buzzsaw was the man, very clever and crafty hard hitting smaller heavyweight.
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Yea Buzzsaw looked awesome. Gotta hand it to “little” guys like that getting in with monsters of human beings like Foreman.
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Dwight Muhammad Qawi was a top 10 all-time great light heavyweight as well as one of the better cruiserweight champions. He was an offensive force that very few opponents could survive & an excellent defensive fighter as well. My good friend & boxing mentor, Pat Cuillo ( who was a light heavy & cruiserweight contender with wins over top heavyweights like Jimmy Young ) fought Qawi in his final fight & was shut out over 10 rounds & took such a beating that he hung up his gloves.
As a heavyweight, Qawi was past his best & pretty much a .500 fighter but other than Evander Holyfield & Foreman no one KO’d him. Foreman was able to KO short walk-in bangers like Joe Frazier & Bert Cooper early but Qawi lasted into the 7th round with him which is a testament to his toughness & elusiveness.
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Who would you place in you top 10 for LHW?
Great stories, anecdotes and insights as always btw.
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Thanks, man. I appreciate you saying so.
As for the top 10 light heavies of all time, I hate trying to put them in order, but such a list would include ( in no specific order ):
Bob Foster
Michael Spinks
Archie Moore
Qawi
Matthew Saad Muhammad
Billy Conn
RJJ
Eddie Mustafa Muhammad
Victor Galindez
Marvin Johnson
There are probably others who could fit in too like Harold Johnson, John Conteh, Yaqui Lopez ( even though he never won a title ) & several others I’m not remembering off the top of my head.
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Not a bad fucking top 10 at all. Not much I would argue to change about it lol.
I would also put Bob Foster in my 10 ten hardest punchers ever list as well lol.
My best friends uncle fought him for the belt in 69, during the middle of his career after a crazy come back from being blasted with a shotgun and losing his appendix and a good chunk of his intestines in 1967 lol.
Made a hell of a run of it and made it a fight, but Bob was too long and too much for him.
He said Bob punched like “someone throw a brick off a roof” but he still thought “if he could stop him from killing him he could put him down” lol.
Still dont know how Andy got up from that left hook of doom Bob landed in round three or four lol.
Bob is quoted saying he was one of the toughest guys he ever fought.
“That was the hardest I ever hit a man. I don’t know how he stayed up so long”
I wish I had a chance to pick more of his brain from the 60s and early 70s, being a sparring partner for Sonny Liston etc.
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Small world, a long-time friend & mentor of mine from my hometown, Tommy Hicks fought Foster for the title in Scranton, PA & gave a decent effort over the first few rounds ( he was a tricky southpaw with an iron chin ), but then Foster busted his eyes up & he was stopped on cuts in the 8th round.
As for Andy Kendall, from what I remember of him he was teak tough & besides Foster, he fought contenders like Mike Quarry, Yaqui Lopez & a plethora of others ( I haven’t checked boxrec, so I’m drawing a blank on just who at the moment ).
I love how Andy snuck in those elbows after his left hook in the 3rd round. He was a rough & rugged guy. I like that. Lol.
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