Greater/Better fighter: Ike Quartey or Sumbu Kalambay

Quartey has one of my favorite jabs. One of the best I've ever seen but Kalambay is the better of the two IMO

 

Kalambay would probably win if they fought and is better H2H.

But Quartey wins the other stuff and hes better P4P whatever that means. Quarteys greater at WW then Kalambay is at MW, hes a more dominant champion, more consistent and he had more fights at the world level. McCallums the best guy either beat and/or fought but Quarteys got a better group of top opponents. If I had a vote I would probably vote Quartey over Kalambay. They both belong and neither is borderline for me.

A key question is how to weigh Kalambays regional career. Kalambay is 4-3 in world title fights but 7-1 in EBU title fights. Kalambay did better in his regional title fights and has more of them but 5 of his 9 EBU title opponents were world champions and contenders.

 

It’s probably closer than people think, but definite edge to Kalambay. Just more multi-faceted.

 

For me it's Kalambay quite clearly.

I consider Kalambay to be one of the finest Middleweights of the last 50 years.

I don't hold Quartey in that same regard even though he was a very good fighter with an awesome jab.

The schooling over McCallum is probably one of the few examples where a great fighter at their actual peak getting absolutely befuddled and outboxed.

It's probably one of the most underrated wins of the last 50 years that doesn't get talked about enough.

Quartey doesn't even come close to having any win remotely on the same level as that. And the 3 extra world title wins he has is not enough to overcome a win of that magnitude.

Unfortunately for Quartey he lost close decisions to ODLH, Forrest, Vargas. The ODLH loss especially will be what he's remembered for mostly.

He doesn't have enough stand out wins and the small quantity edge he has over Kalambay is not enough to sway the argument in his favour.

 

Kalambay.

 

Beating Graham, Barkley and McCallum back to back to back puts Kalambay in pretty rarefied air.

Loved watching Quartey and no shame he wasn't quite the fighter that Sumbu was.

 

I agree with most of what's been said, however, Kalambay did get iced in 1, and I thought Quartey beat De La Hoya.

 

Quartey needed that unification fight with Trinidad around 1996 or 1997 to really elevate his profile. He was such a dangerous fighter in the mid-1990s and it’s one of my favourite what-ifs from that decade.

I’d fancy Trinidad to win but had Quartey won, he’d be considered a greater fighter than Kalambay, who lost his pseudo-unification fight with Nunn in devastating fashion. Or beating Oscar might give him a slight edge.

As it is, Kalambay’s win over McCallum in 1988 is the standout performance that lifts him clearly above Quartey.

 

Kalambay clearly.

 

Another vote for Kalambay. Great run in 1987-1989 just ran into peak Nunn.

 

In pure skill levels, Kalambay is better, he's close to FMJ skillwise and his stamina is up there

I thought Quartey beat Oscar, but that doesn't rank over wins against McCallum or Grahamx2 for my money. Then you have wins over Steve Collins, Barkley, DeWitt, Simms - all champions except Simms. Then there is the SD loss against Kalule who could have gone the other way.

The Nunn fight happened but it is kind of an abhoration. Kalambay was also avoided by much of the top champions of his day

 

He's better.

 

We'll disagree on that 1 buddy