Saad Muhammad vs Yaqui López II, 1980: The Eighth-Round Barrage and the Fourteenth-Round Comeback

On a Sunday afternoon in July 1980, at a resort hotel in the hills of northern New Jersey, Yaqui López spent most of an eighth round hitting Matthew Saad Muhammad without reply. The WBC light heavyweight champion stayed upright, took the fight back, and stopped the challenger in the fourteenth. The Ring named it the Fight of the Year, and it is still the night most often mentioned when either man's name comes up.

A Rematch Promised in Philadelphia

The two men already knew each other well. On 24 October 1978, at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, a contender then still fighting as Matthew Franklin stopped López in the eleventh round to keep his NABF light heavyweight belt. According to The Fight City, the referee ended it out of concern for a deep cut over López's left eye. That account adds that neither camp was fully happy with how it finished, and that Franklin told López he would get a rematch if Franklin ever became champion.

Franklin got there quickly. On 22 April 1979 in Indianapolis he knocked out Marvin Johnson in the eighth round to win the WBC title. He became a Muslim that year and took the name Matthew Saad Muhammad. His habit of getting hurt and then rallying had already earned him the nickname "Miracle Matthew." His life outside the ring, from being abandoned as a small child on Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway to his death in 2014, is covered in our separate biography. This article stays with one afternoon.

Yaqui López and His Fourth Title Shot

Álvaro López was born in Zacatecas, Mexico, on 21 May 1951 and built his career out of Stockton, California. He stood 6 feet 3 inches and was known for throwing punches in bunches. By 1980 he had three world title fights behind him and no belt to show for them. He lost a decision to WBC champion John Conteh in Copenhagen in October 1976, then lost twice on points to WBA champion Víctor Galíndez in Italy, in Rome in 1977 and in Viareggio in 1978. The Fight City notes that a later loss to the prison-based fighter James Scott nearly pushed him out of contention.

Saad Muhammad kept his word anyway. The rematch came about 21 months after the first fight. It was the champion's fourth defense of the WBC title, and it was held at the Great Gorge Playboy Club in McAfee, a community in Vernon Township, Sussex County, and shown live on national television.

Rounds One to Seven: López Takes the Lead

The Fight City's round-by-round account has López, the challenger, starting as the sharper man. He shook the champion with a right hand early, followed up with hooks and opened a small cut over Saad Muhammad's right eye. Through the opening rounds he worked behind his jab, used feints of hand and foot to make openings, and leaned on his left hook while holding the middle of the ring. Saad Muhammad stalked him, looking to land his heavier punches, and had some success late in the third, but by that account López won the first five rounds.

In the sixth and seventh the fight turned into a close-range brawl. López was still landing the cleaner punches, and the champion looked like he was tiring.

The Eighth Round

Saad Muhammad came out for the eighth and pressed hard, landing several heavy right hands and widening a cut on López's nose. For a moment it seemed the momentum was swinging his way. Then López, backed onto the ropes, found his openings. He stunned the champion with a one-two, turned him, pinned him against the ropes, and kept throwing with both hands.

Nobody agrees on how many punches landed in that sequence. Wikipedia and a 2007 profile of López by Robert Mladinich for The Sweet Science put it at 20 unanswered blows. A 2005 piece on the same site says more than 20. Michael Carbert of The Fight City estimates about thirty. The Philadelphia Inquirer's 2014 obituary of Saad Muhammad went much further, saying he took roughly 70 straight punches without throwing back. All of them agree on what came next. The champion's legs buckled but he did not go down, and once López, arm-weary, eased off, Saad Muhammad did not hold on or try to rest. He walked forward and hit back before the bell.

The round became famous on its own. The Philly Boxing History site credits The Ring's Round of the Year for 1980 to this fight but names the seventh round, while nearly every account of the famous barrage places it in the eighth.

The Champion Takes Over

From the ninth round on, the fight belonged more and more to Saad Muhammad. The Fight City describes him using his greater strength on a challenger who had emptied himself in the eighth, steadily walking López down over the following rounds. López had one more good spell and won the eleventh, but he was fading. In the thirteenth a clean right hand staggered him, and by the end of that round his legs were gone, and the champion was landing first in most exchanges.

Four Knockdowns in the Fourteenth

Seconds into the fourteenth, Saad Muhammad landed a heavy right to the temple, and a left hook followed by an uppercut put López on the canvas. He got up. A right and a left hook dropped him again. A right hand put him down a third time. He was allowed to continue once more, but a clean right to the chin dropped him to his knees, and the referee stopped the fight. The Philly Boxing History account counts four knockdowns in total, which matches that sequence. Wikipedia's biography of Saad Muhammad says López was dropped five times on the way to the stoppage. The sources consulted here do not settle the difference. The Inquirer singled out a quick right cross as the punch that finished it.

What Both Men Said

Afterward López did not complain. The Fight City quotes him as saying the result was "less about me losing, and more about him winning." Saad Muhammad admitted he had been in danger in the eighth. Interviewed by The Sweet Science in 2007, López explained the outcome in one line: "He got his second wind and I didn't."

Fight of the Year and After

The Ring named Saad Muhammad's fourteenth-round win over López its Fight of the Year for 1980. Wikipedia notes that ESPN's classic sports network went on to rerun the bout many times, which introduced it to viewers born after it happened.

For López it was as close as he ever came to a world title. He moved up to cruiserweight and had one more chance on 21 September 1983 in San Jose, California, where WBC champion Carlos De León stopped him in four rounds. That made five world title fights without a win. Later honors included the California Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame, which inducted him in October 2007. Wikipedia describes him as one of the best light heavyweights never to win a world title.

Saad Muhammad made nine defenses of the WBC title, according to the Inquirer, before losing it to Dwight Braxton. He kept boxing until 1992 but never won a world title again. Of all his comebacks, the one at Great Gorge, where he survived the eighth round and won in the fourteenth, is the fight people bring up first.

Sources

• Matthew Saad Muhammad, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Yaqui López, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• The Ring magazine Fight of the Year, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• McAfee, New Jersey, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Saad Muhammad vs Lopez II: So Close, Yet So Far For Yaqui, Michael Carbert, The Fight City, accessed October 2026
• Ex-champ Matthew Saad Muhammad dies at 59, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 26 May 2014
• Yaqui Lopez Finally Gets His Due, Robert Mladinich, The Sweet Science, 10 October 2007
• Yaqui Lopez Never Took a Backwards Step, The Sweet Science, 10 February 2005
• This Day in Philly Boxing History: July 13, Philly Boxing History, accessed October 2026