Larry Hazzard still remembers how much confidence Dwight Muhammad Qawi had when he begrudgingly returned to Rahway State Prison in September 1981.

Born Dwight Braxton, Qawi was an inmate at the notorious New Jersey penitentiary when he learned to box in the 1970s. The Camden native changed his surname and completely committed to turning his life around, but Qawi came back because his light heavyweight fight with incarcerated contender James Scott was nationally televised from inside the same Rahway walls Qawi wanted to forget.

The 5-foot-6 Qawi, nicknamed “The Camden Buzzsaw,” and Scott trained in prison together. Qawi, who served five years for armed robbery, knew beating Scott could fast-track him to a title shot.

“He rarely took a backward step against Scott,” Hazzard, who was the referee for the Qawi-Scott bout, told The Ring on Sunday. “I don’t know if that was because they had sparred, being in the prison together for several years. But he had an overwhelming amount of confidence in that fight and came through. He was in total control of that fight from the beginning bell to the end.”

The rehabilitated Qawi’s win over Scott earned him a shot at WBC 175-pound champion Matthew Saad Muhammad in his following fight. Qawi, who died Friday at the age of 72, beat Muhammad by 10th-round technical knockout in December 1981 to complete one of boxing’s most memorable stories of redemption.

“What I admired the most about Qawi was the fact that he had spent those years in the prison and turned his life around through boxing,” Hazzard, New Jersey’s longtime boxing commissioner, said. “He was a perfect example of someone who makes their mind up that they’re gonna walk the straight path. He used the sport of boxing. He realized that he had some skills and that he could make something of himself through the sport.”

Qawi successfully defended the WBC light heavyweight title three times before then-unbeaten Michael Spinks beat him by unanimous decision in March 1983. He later won the WBA cruiserweight title by beating Piet Crous, whom Qawi knocked out in the 11th round in July 1985.

The following year, Qawi and Evander Holyfield engaged in an unforgettable slugfest The Ring named the best cruiserweight fight of the 1980s. Holyfield won that 15-round bout by split decision in July 1986.

Holyfield knocked out Qawi in the fourth round of their rematch in December 1987, a fight for the IBF cruiserweight title. George Foreman also stopped Qawi in the seventh round of their heavyweight bout in March 1988.

Qawi retired with a record of 41-11-1, including 25 knockouts. Nineteen years after he began his career 1-1-1, Qawi was inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997 and then the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004.

“He always reminded me of a fire hydrant,” Henry Hascup, president of the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame, told The Ring. “He was short, stocky and hard as nails. I don’t think I would’ve wanted to meet him in an alley. They used to say he was like Joe Frazier and actually trained at Joe’s gym for a while. Evander Holyfield stated that he was his toughest opponent. That’s really saying something.”

Wanda Marvey King, Qawi’s sister, told bmorenews.com, which first reported Qawi’s death, that her brother suffered from dementia in recent years.

King also said that after he retired from boxing Qawi became a drug and alcohol counselor at The Lighthouse, a recovery center in Mays Landing, New Jersey.

“He told them to stay off drugs and alcohol and stay out of trouble,” King said. “He was full of love.”

King added that Qawi fought dementia with the same determination he showed in the ring. That didn’t surprise Hazzard in the least.

“He was a very good fighter,” said Hazzard, also the referee for Qawi’s loss to Spinks. “What I remember the most about him was he was one of those guys who mastered that bobbing and weaving style, coming forward. He was already a short fighter, but it was very hard for fighters to land a good clean, shot on him. Most of the fights he lost he would tire or wasn’t in the best of shape.

“But I don’t ever recall him getting caught with a real good shot because he had that old bob-and-weave style, constantly staying low and moving forward. And especially in his early years, when he was on the rise, he was always in excellent condition. He was just a tough, talented fighter.”