Sumbu Kalambay vs Rodrigo Valdez at 160lbs

Kalambay on points unless Valdez gets a lucky punch.

 

Kalambay was the master.

 

Kalambay was no Hugo Corro. Not that it would’ve mattered if he was, because Valdez couldn’t even beat him.

 

Valdez was ancient in those fights I thought.

 

Rodrigo Valdez was ancient in both losses to Hugo Corro in 1978. On May 25 1974 in Monte Carlo, Monaco, he knocked out Bad Bennie Briscoe in round 7 to win the vacant WBC middleweight title. He had title defenses against Nessim Max Cohen, Ramon Mendez, Gratien Tonna, and Rudy Robles. He was beaten on points by WBA middleweight champion Carlos Monzon on June 26 1976 in Monte Carlo, Monzon decked Valdez in round 14, to win a unanimous decision, They fought again on July 30 1977 in Monzon's last title defense, decked Carlos in round 2, but Monzon went on to win a unanimous 15 round decision, then retired as champion. On Nov 5 1977 Valdez beat Bennie Briscoe again in Italy by decision to win the vacant undisputed middleweight title, only to lose it to Corro by decision in San Remo, Italy on April 22 1978. A peak 1974 Valdez would have counter punched Sumbu Kalambay for 15 rounds to gain a points win, Rodrigo's boxing ability were no joke, neither was his right hand in his prime.

 

Valdez

 

Valdez loses some rounds until he lands one on Kalambay...that's lands

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...cause that's all it would take. What Nunn landed was closer to being defined as a "lucky punch"...what Valdez would put on Sumbu would have crushed him....the Nunn shot would have seemed like a love tap.

 

Kalambay UD.....he was so hard to hit

 

He lost to Corro 9 months after the Monzon rematch, which some actually felt he won (albeit a small minority). He won the third and final matchup with Briscoe in the interim, just 4 months prior. His best days might’ve been behind him, but calling him ancient or acting like he was shot is overstating it. I think it was much more likely that he simply found a stylistic foil. He was always more comfortable as a counter fighter. Corro didn’t give him those opportunities. Neither would Kalambay, who was a better version of that same dilemma.

 

With all due respect, he did take a beating from Monzon, both times. He did look lackluster in beating Briscoe on Nov 5 1977, his better days were past him. Kalambay lost to Michael Nunn, who was not around for a long length of time like Valdez or Monzon was. Both Kalambay and Nunn were a flash in the pan.

 

Eh? I’m thinking your memory may be playing tricks on you in this instance, Richard. No disrespect. Kalambay was a world class fighter for every bit as long as Valdez was, if not longer. He also beat a better cast of Middleweights than Valdez did. I’ll give a brief rundown to explain.

His breakout win came when he beat Graham for the European title in ‘87. He won the vacant world title against Barkley later that same year and defended it 3 times. His last major win came against Steve Collins in ‘92 for the same European title he won over 5 years prior.

By comparison, Valdez beat Briscoe for his breakout win in ‘73 and then won the vacant title against him the following year. He defended it 4 times before losing to Monzon twice and then regaining the vacant title, once again, against an old Bennie Briscoe in late ‘77. He then promptly lost it to Corro the following year.

Valdez holds 3 wins over Briscoe. Outside of that his resume is pretty thin. His close battles against an aging Monzon are his other claims to fame. Not bad, still.

Kalambay, on the other hand beat a prime Mike McCallum by near shutout, gave Herol Graham his first loss, gave a prime Iran Barkley a boxing lesson, and beat an undefeated Steve Collins as a 36 year old man nearing retirement. I also scored the Kalule fight to him, as did many others.

The KO loss to Nunn is one of the biggest anomalies in boxing history, in my opinion. It’s a shame that’s how so many remember him, because he was a truly great fighter. The best Middleweight in the period between Hagler and Hopkins, if you ask me. A half step above Valdez.

 

Not too bad for a 62 year old to remember all the details relating to Rodrigo Valdez

 

Not at all. Again, no disrespect intended. I was more referring to your views on Kalambay, anyway. He might be a fighter for you to revisit in the future. Beautiful technician.

 

That was a good win, but Collins had already been beaten before. In fact Kalambay was the last man to beat him. Collins was coming off the title fight with Reggie Johnson earlier that year.