[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj6cmxrsApM[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmdPZLu8uMs[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJvaCM15YPY[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVe9Q9wYNFU[/ame] totally out of place among the latest flurry of Heavyweight threads, but still...
I never saw the fight when it occurred, but Graham was prolly just too fresh and slick for the rugged, tuff and slower Kalule.... Kalule was strong and hit rather well, but, he was slower than **** after his TKO loss to SRL in 1981... Graham was a speedster.... MR.BILL
NOTE: I still feel the referee dicked Kalule hard when he waived the fight with SRL off after the 9th bell sounded... Kalule was not given a chance to recover in the corner during the break period... Though I realize Leonard was way ahead on the cards.... MR.BILL
Well....that was a pretty thorough shellacking. Obviously not the best Kalule in there, but not far enough gone for me to believe he'd have fared too much better against Graham in his prime. He just never had the style for it, nor especially the punch to gain his respect. Graham treated him with relative disdain in there.
I don't think any of those things accurately describe Kalule. He built his entire style around finesse and smooth technical precision, not ruggedness or power. Rather, it was his total lack of power that didn't see him to more success against many of the top guys he faced.
I remember watching this fight live (I think) on Sportsnight on the BBC and Graham boxed excellently, although my recollection at the time was that Kalule was slightly over the hill, or at least not the same force he was at light middleweight. A fight between Kalule & Mo Hope would have been interesting. Graham was a brilliant boxer, for me on a very short list for the best British boxer never to have won a world title. Ran the excellent McCallum very close (Graham being docked a point prevented a draw!), was coldcocked by the devastating punching of Jackson (I think that was the only second of the fight Jackson won!!), and a bit long in the tooth by the time he boxed Brewer. At his best, I have no doubt he would have beaten any of Benn, Eubank and Watson. Although he lost his unbeaten record to Kalambay (a class fighter in his own right), I think his peak lasted up to "that" punch from Jackson. Someone on this thread may come up with evidence to the contrary, but I always had the feeling that Benn, Eubank & Watson never really fancied fighting The Bomber - I reckon that it was the Hatton-Witter syndrome, where the ticket-sellers, (for Hatton read Benn, Eubank & Watson) felt the risk of boxing Witter or Graham outweighed the potential reward.
I think mainly Kalule had lost a great deal offensively here.Just entirely unable to get his punches off, or string combinations together anymore.Balance and legs not the same either, but still okay and defensively still capable. Graham should have fought like this against McCallum.He was capable of being much more disciplined and reigned in defensively(though still with the same Ali influenced style of course) than he was against McCallum, and that's what cost him the fight in the end.Odd as he usually reserved the more extavagant proto Hamed type stuff for the occasional outmatched journeyman or Brit title opponent.Didn't show McCallum enough respect imo.
Look. Ayub Kalule was simply too ripped / buffed at 154 to be technical and slippery....... I can see him wanting to be a boxer on the whole, but, with his build and chin, he was better suited to be aggressive and pressuring... Kalule was not very graceful in a technical sense.... Yet, I LIKED Ayub...... WORD! MR.BILL:bbb:hat
He doesn't look much to me like the man who was able to track down Kalambay and put his shots together so well, and Kalambay was a bit slicker and more elusive than Graham as well as a better counterpuncher, although Graham was obviously rangier and more awkward (which might be the problem in a way). I think Kalule in his prime might have matched up ok with Graham, or at least better than what he did here. He just couldn't track him down and pull the trigger nearly often enough; something that he might've found a fair degree easier at his best even without good power to aid him. Herol looks good here though.
Both Graham and Kalambay had styles and the savvy to box circles around Kalule. I can see a prime Kalule trying to keep up in a time machine, but also falling way short on his punches and losing nearly every round... Kalule was not fast, agile or very slick at all... MR.BILL
You're the man bill, but your ability to assess fighters technically is downright appalling sometimes. ah, and Kalule does hold a win over Kalambay you know.His handspeed was ok when he wasn't dried out at junoir middle.
Kalule was good---for the umpteenth time, but not close to being great... He was crafty to a degree but, also slow and not very mobile... He was strong at 154 pounds, too... Kalule had skills, but his speed and finess was not all that impressive... Kalule's best wins were over "Ray Seales, Masashi Kudo, Lindy Holmes and a split dec. over Kalambay in 1985 when Sambu K. was green and unheard of in the USA... But losses to "Leonard, Davey Moore, McCallum and Graham" really hurt his legacy... I never saw the '85 fight with Kalambay, but I'd like to review it some day and score it myself... Kalule got the nod by split decision... MR.BILLbbb