Eubank against Kalambay, the high volume, European boxing machine? At Middle weight 12 rounds? I go with Kalambay getting him self a decision, maybe getting hurt or dropped along the way.
Eubank can win, but the consistency of Kalambay says that he likely wins on most occasions. But at their absolute bests, this is a much closer fight than people realise, Eubank was elite at his best.
I don't think so Fergy I think Eubank is a tad overrated myself. Kalambay beat Herol Graham clearly in their 1st fight. Kalambay schooled a prime Mike McCallum in their 1st fight. Kalambay comfortably beat a prime Iran Barkley. Kalambay clearly beat Steve Collins whilst past his prime. I think Kalambay was performing at a higher level overall and in his prime he'd clearly beat Eubank. Put it this way if Eubank fought the names above how many wins would he get ? I know Eubank weren't too keen on facing Graham.
Could be wrong mate, but wasn't the first Graham v Kalambay fight a split decision. I remember it being a shock at the time that Graham lost.
Yep I think Sumbu was the more skilled fighter, I do think Eubank had it in him to give some top guys hard fight s tho.
Nah the 1st fight was a unanimous decision for Kalambay. Graham got badly hurt in the 12th round and the ropes help him up and Kalambay got a 10-8 round which gave him the clear decision. It was silly for Graham and his team to fight Kalambay especially when he was waiting for a shot at Hagler I believe he was the mandatory challenger at that time.
Kalambay all day. (By decision). While Eubank was posing and posturing, Sumbu would be going to work and landing punches.
Kalambay would win at middleweight. Eubank best wins are his wins over Benn and Watson I. His win over Benn was magnificent but the Dark Destroyer was a face first slugger and Eubank was so lucky against Watson that night. Thought Watson won clearly. Chris also did not look impressive against Dan Sherry either. Kalambay on another level, consecutive wins over undefeated Graham and McCallum. Barkley win seems to be underrated, Iran went on to 3 world titles including 2 wins over Hearns. The only chink in his armour is his chin, we have the knockout against Nunn and he was dropped by an ancient Ayub Kalule, Del ´Aquilla, John Ashton and twice (I think) by Herol Graham in the return. Eubank has a warrior spirit, iron chin and a good right hand. My money would be on Kalambay to pile up the points but sometime in the 10th or 11th Eubank lands a big punch like he did in the Collins I and Ray Close I. Sumbu would probably survive (Eubank was a sloppy finisher) and take a deserved decision. If they fought at Super-middle I think Chris would take a close (and controversial no doubt) decision.
Definitely,Fergy. Herol should have been given the nod in the second Kalambay bout. I've met him a couple of times. Lovely bloke.
Eubank was quite weak-legged at 160lb (fighting the same day as weigh-in back then), though his feet were like lightning because of this. Very impressive reflexes! Definitely frustrates the technically sound Kalambay, though ultimately over 12 rounds Sumbu makes so few mistakes and maintains that consistent pace. He edges the cards, close but clear.
Like most, I favor Sumbu to outslick and outbox Eubank for a decision, with one caveat: If the fight is held in the UK, Sumbu better win a lot of rounds by wide margins or he gets robbed. Eubank was a bit of a protected commodity (at least when not facing fellow UK fighters, in which case it was probably a wash) in England and Kalumbay didn’t carry enough heft as a name on the world scale (as splendid as he was) to overcome that … and didn’t have the right $$$ people behind him to make sure he got a fair shake. But Sumbu’s jab would play hell for Eubank. Kalumbay was one of the best jabbers I’ve ever seen. Against McCallum in the first fight, he was throwing a tab-jab to the chest to set up the split jab to the face, and Mike really couldn’t solve it. Eubank wouldn’t either.
At the time Graham, Sumbu, Curry and McCallum were all circling… Hagler made the right choice retiring after Leonard, despite what he said and his reasonings he’d probably go 0-4 over that lot at that time.
