Their first assembly, in July of 1977, was an exhilarating warfare, referred to as one of the vital sensational fights within the historical past of the Philadelphia Spectrum. As any educated boxing fan is aware of, there isn’t a greater reward than that. After eleven rounds of livid motion, an exhausted Marvin Johnson collapsed following a chronic battering in spherical twelve and Matthew Franklin was the brand new proprietor of the North American Boxing Federation mild heavyweight championship.
Johnson wasted no time returning to the ring, going 6-1 and scoring main victories over Eddie Davis and Jerry Celestine earlier than buying a brand new title belt, this time of the world championship selection, from Mate Parlov in December of 1978. Over the identical stretch Franklin had scored huge wins over Richie Kates and Yaqui Lopez. And so the stage was set: a Johnson vs Franklin rematch, this time for a world championship, the conflict held in Johnson’s residence metropolis of Indianapolis and broadcast on reside nationwide tv. However might the second assembly reside as much as the superb motion of the primary?
In brief, sure, it might. And it did. In reality, one suspects Marvin Johnson and Matthew Franklin (who would later change his title to Matthew Saad Muhammad) might have been matched up any variety of instances and the outcome would have been the identical: a grueling, crowd-pleasing, continuous slugfest, each warriors very happy to commerce huge pictures at shut quarters.
On the opening bell, the southpaw champion chased after Franklin, trying to impose his will and put the challenger on the defensive as he unloaded huge left fingers and uppercuts on the within. For his half, Franklin, identified for being a gradual starter, took his time and waited for openings to throw his highly effective proper. In spherical two Johnson shook Franklin with a giant left cross and the hometown crowd roared, however a minute later a robust uppercut buckled the champion’s legs, earlier than Johnson landed a collection of heavy lefts. And so it went: toe-to-toe slugging between two sport and highly effective warriors.
The motion solely intensified in spherical three, neither man keen to again down, each comfortable to carry their floor and commerce and see who might face up to the higher punishment. Johnson labored to search out the correct distance for his harmful left uppercut and mid-way via the spherical he hit pay dust, gorgeous Franklin with one of the best punch of the match to date. Extra uppercuts and massive left fingers adopted and regardless of a final second rally from the Franklin, spherical three clearly belonged to the champion.
The irrepressible Johnson bought his proper hook going to each physique and head within the fourth, and whereas there was nonetheless a protracted method to go on this fifteen spherical battle, more and more it appeared that Johnson merely had Franklin’s quantity. Faster, extra aggressive and extra correct, the champion was having issues his approach and punishing Franklin with a gentle barrage of heavy blows. Johnson regarded sharp and was combating with confidence, whereas the person from Philadelphia appeared listless and straightforward to hit.
However Franklin got here alive within the fifth behind his left hook and a decided, two-fisted physique assault. Johnson instantly couldn’t discover the vary for his uppercut because the challenger, for the primary time, compelled Marvin to provide floor. This led to a change in techniques for the champion, utilizing his southpaw jab to maintain Franklin at a distance, but when that nullified Franklin’s physique assault, it additionally created openings for Matthew’s most harmful weapon: the correct hand. A minute into spherical six he nailed Johnson with it and adopted up with two huge proper uppercuts and instantly the tables have been formally turned: now it was the champion who was wilting as the challenger took command with left hooks to the physique and proper fingers to the pinnacle.
Johnson tried to reassert himself in spherical seven by being the busier fighter, choosing up the tempo and snapping residence his proper jab with the left behind it. Nevertheless it was all for naught as simply seconds earlier than spherical’s finish Franklin struck with a vicious proper hand to the chin that took all of the battle out of the champion and nearly put him down. The challenger unloaded with each fingers, however the bell saved Johnson from sure doom, his cornermen grabbing him earlier than administering smelling salts and dousing him with water as he nearly fell off his stool in his nook.
To start out spherical eight Franklin confirmed extra snap in his jab than he had in any of the earlier rounds as he regarded to arrange the large proper hand once more, however amazingly it was Johnson who struck as a substitute along with his overhand left: as soon as, twice, thrice, the group cheering him on as he knocked Matthew again on his heels. What adopted was an amazingly intense toe-to-toe change as Franklin, his face lined in blood, unloaded every part he had, whereas Johnson stored throwing the large left, however the challenger was simply too robust, too highly effective, too decided. A collection of heavy blows drove the champion to the canvas. He beat the depend however the referee took a tough have a look at the extremely courageous however wounded warrior in entrance of him and waved his arms. The ferocious battle was over.
Matthew Franklin was the brand new WBC mild heavyweight champion of the world. He would quickly change his title to Matthew Saad Muhammad, and within the span of some quick years depart an indelible mark on the brutal sport of pugilism. His thrilling clashes with Johnson, Yaqui Lopez, John Conteh, Dwight Braxton, amongst others, would cement his legacy as one of many bravest and most enjoyable champions in boxing historical past. However his inspiring triumphs in his two violent wars with Marvin Johnson will at all times be amongst his biggest performances.      — Neil CraneÂ
