Product Review

The 1970s and early 1980s were truly a golden era of boxing in Philadelphia. The fists and personalities of such legends as Smokin’ Joe Frazier and Randy “Tex” Cobb brought an atmosphere of genuine excitement to Philadelphia fans. It was a grand time for the sport of boxing and especially for the City of Brotherly Love.

Philadelphia Fighters tells the story of that golden era. Larry Holmes of Easton, Pennsylvania, ruled the heavyweight ranks. South Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler was about to become the bantamweight champion. And there was a tough, wily group of middleweight contenders—from Bennie Briscoe and Cyclone Hart to Bobby Watts and Curtis Parker—all of them Philadelphians. Matthew Saad Muhammad, a man whose matches always seemed to carry the dramatic punch of a Eugene O’Neill play, owned a piece of the light-heavyweight crown. So did New Jersey’s Mike Rossman. Dwight Braxton—soon to be Dwight Muhammad Qawi—rose up from South Jersey and captured the light-heavyweight prize. These men may have been the greatest group of light-heavyweights to battle at the same time.

More than 30 years have gone by, but the Philadelphia contenders live on in legend and truly come to life in Freedman’s thrilling and eccentric compendium