Between 2 brilliant master boxers @ 160 who do you favor in this intriguing chess match? Might have to favor Rodriguez, he’d be able to out hustle Kalambay with his better inside work and body attacks in a very close fight.
I don’t know. Kalambay defeated a rather excellent body puncher and technician in Mike McCallum. Fought him twice in two close fights.
First McCallum fight was a complete dominant performance by Kalambay while the second fight was extremely close with Kalambay having been KO’d in 1 by Nunn a few fights prior. Rodriguez would make it highly competitive against Kalambay since he was much faster on his feet than McCallum was.
Would like to hear more opinions on this match up. Both guys are highly underrated fighters, great technicians that still don't get enough attention. I have no doubt that this would have been a beautiful chess match.
How do you mean? Rodriguez was one of the most high energy, high volume fighters I’ve ever seen. I have a hard time picking Kalambay myself. Unless he can hurt Rodriguez. His reputation wouldn’t suggest it, but his KO record may suggest that his one punch KTFO of the tough Doug DeWitt wasn’t exactly a fluke. It’s the only time I’ve seen him show that kind of power, but with his style he rarely required it, as he could dominate a fight round after round with his left hand and footwork alone. And, we did see Rodriguez get one shotted at MW in a fight he was well ahead in. Could the stars align for this one? Or am I just talking pure shite and the reality is that the fight would come down to the quantity of Rodriguez’s attack vs the quality of Kalambay’s counters.
If you think that Kalambay's going to have to get a KO to win, then you should probably avoid betting on him for that one. That said, I generally agree with your point about his power. He's underrated in that regard. In addition to the DeWitt stoppage, he also had Herol Graham out on his feet in each of their two fights, stung Steve Collins enough to push him back at one point, knocked Ayub Kalule down a couple of times. Precise puncher as well.
