James Toney vs Sumbu Kalambay At MW

At his best I think Kalambay, by the time it could have happened probably Toney

 

I watched Toney vs McCallum 2 the other night, and I was blown away. I'd go with James.

 

You should check out Kalambay-McCallum.

 

Blown away by how average Toney looked?


I'd favour the other guy.More often than not - especially at middleweight - I don't think fat Toney could deal with the other guys movement.Those skilled mover types always gave him the most trouble,and the other guy seemed pretty decent at that.

 

Fighting at their best at 160; I struggle to think of something good that Kalambay could do better than Toney.

Toney at his best at 160 was considered with Whitaker the best pound for pound fighter in the world. Although there was respect to a point for Kalambay after beating the Bodysnatcher, when Sambu got his chance to make an impression he was crushed by Nunn.

A horrible match up for Kalambay, Toney by very easy decision.

 

He moves better than Toney.

This is a horrible match up for Toney.

Even if he manages to win it most probably would be a razor-close controversial fight.

 

Toney's lack of footwork would be decisive, this fight would be similar to Toney-Jones Jr

Kalambay would just box & move, I dont think Toney would catch him with much or be able to cope with his speed & mobility

Kalambay by comfortable decision

 

Kalambay would give him fits just by sticking and moving.

Toney shines when opponents come to him.

When the opponent moves he looks average.

Winnable fight for Sumbu if he applies the right strategy.

 

That's how I see it.

At his best, Kalambay was just as slick and precise as Toney, but with better movement and workrate. He was also a more mature and experienced fighter at MW, while Toney still was a bit green at that weight.

This is strange reasoning to me. Kalambay did much better against a younger McCallum in their first fight. And Toney's second fight against Mike is his least convincing performance of the three.

 

You think? Toney was that cutie who had subtleties in defence that always caused classic upright style fighters like Kalambay real problems. Maybe Kalambay was artistically, a more beautiful a fighter, but that is not going to be an issue.

If it was in Italy or Monaco, but in the States, I think Kalambay is struggling to make it even competitve. At best for Kalambay, I see Toney winning 8/4.

 

Kalambay got caught with a picture perfect shot, which can happen to anyone if the punch lands right, if he fought Nunn another 10 times that probably wouldn't happen again. You could also say that if Sanderline Williams could give Toney problems why couldn't Kalambay.

My prediction is Kalambay close decision.

 

I think people tend to overexaggerate Toney's movement problems.
Kalambay isn't going to win a Jones-like decision.


The closest comparable fight is Toney-Reggie Johnson, in my opinion.

Reggie (southpaw, I know) gave Toney all kinds of trouble with his solid textbook counterpunching approach and good educated movement.

Toney's power and Johnson's lack of top-notch stamina is what helped Toney escaped with controversial decision.

 

Could of, should of, didn't. There is no need for probabilities, the history book says Nunn KO1 Kalambay, they did not fight ten times, they fought once.

Now overall Kalambay's resume shows he is a better fighter than that one result. But that one result did happen.

 

Johnson was no mug, but as you mentioned the southpaw stance, certainly did not help Toney. An issue that did not matter for a Toney bout with Kalambay.

Toney's power certainly needs to be considered by the Kalambay team in devising tactics, as would finding a way to beat someone as cute as Toney, something Kalambay had an issue with (Kalule, Nunn and to a point; Thomas).