Who are the best 5 fighters to come out of africa

Azumah Nelson, John Mugaby, Ike Quartay, Dick Tiger, Sombu Kalambay...
whatabout... Andrew "6-head" Lewis

 

1) Azumah Nelson (no brainer)
2) Dick Tiger (also a no brainer)
3) Brian Mitchell
4) Ike Quartey
5) I'll go with Vic Toweel

After that, it's a toss-up between a bunch of guys (Toweel, David Kotey, Sumbu Kalambay, Harry Simon, Kid Bassey, John Mugabi, etc.). I'm not counting Cerdan as African - he was a Frenchman who was born in Africa, but he was French IMO. If you count Cerdan, he's #3.

And to the best of my knowledge, Beau Jack wasn't African at all, or at least no more African than, say, Sugar Ray Robinson.

Also, Six Heads Lewis is Guyanan - that's in South America.

 

Ahh ****. I surely was going to make a big mistake at some point when forming a top 5 P4P on Africa.

 

Time Man of the Year? There was Anwar Sadat for one.

 

whatabout... Andrew "6-head" Lewis[/quote]


Andrew "6-head" Lewis is from Guyana, South America and is a Guyanese, not Guyanan.

 

:good Thanks for the correction, I though he was from Guinea.

 

Brian Mitchell deserves mention

 

I can't really see the argument for Toweel, Quartey, or Mitchell rating above Sumbu Kalambay. Not with the array of boxing skills he displayed, his better list of victories, and the fact that he holds by far the best win when he put on a masterclass against an undefeated Mike McCallum.

 

Does Battling Seki deserve consideration i wonder ?

 

Well said, I totally agree.
"Patrizio" Kalambay was a master technician with a great record. He beat some of the best middleweight of his time: 2 time Graham (the first in England and Graham was undefeated), Barkley, undefeated McCallum, Simms, DeWitt and Steve Collins.

Surely he deserves a place among the top 5... maybe top 3

 

No love for Ayub Kalule?

 

In all fairness, I don't think it has to do with skin color. Since when is a fighter chastised for their skin color in boxing, honestly? Most people have a pretty eclectic mix of favourite fighters.

I think Kalambay goes under the radar mainly because of the Nunn fight. Most casual fans don't seem to know much about him apart from that. I've heard otherwise solid posters (by General Forum standards, anyway) refer to him as B-level based on their lack of knowledge.

 

:roll: