The Best of the Rest: 160lbs Tier II Tournie - Last 16 Fight 2 - Sumbu Kalambay TKO13 Reggie Johnson

What i've done is i've lifted top tiers out of my top fifty at the poundage and organised them into a seeded tournament to uncover "the best of the rest" at the poundage, with you, the denizens of the world's greatest boxing history forum, casting the deciding vote. The difference between this middleweight tournament and the equivalent at 175lbs is that I've left ALL the guys with no footage in this time. I understand that makes things difficult and for some, frustrating but there are just far too many excellent and intriguing fighters from middleweight history. I understand this makes making a pick very hard, but i hope you'll still place a vote and make a post because obviously without your input the whole thing becomes meaningless.

Pick your man! Write however many details you like or don't in a post below. But maybe try to post, to keep things moving a little bit. You have three days.

And let's be nice. No reason for disagreeing over total fantasies after all!

15 Rounds, 1990s rules and ref. 10 points must. I'll only vote where there's a tie.

SUMBU KALAMBAY (57-6-1)
When Sumbu Kalambay dropped a split decision to Ayub Kalule late in 1985 it may have seemed that the Congolese was doomed to the hell of not just a journeyman but a journeyman determined to impersonate Muhammad Ali. All grace of movement and left hand, it can be seen why his adopted countrymen in Italy roared the former heavyweight’s second name at Kalambay as he moved – but having lost two in five, surely a downward spiral beckoned. In reality, of course, Kalambay probably deserved the decision against Kalule, not only dropping him twice but by my count winning no fewer than six rounds. After posting this “loss” in 1985, Kalambay looked something approaching invincible through to 1989 and took some serious bodies on his travels in the second half of that decade.

Rebuilding in his adopted home of Italy against solid if unspectacular opposition it was in Britain he laid down the marker which was to represent the beginning of an impressive run. Herol Graham, ranked among the three best middleweights in the world and an unbeaten 38-0, was seen by many as the living definition of southpaw awkwardness; a defensive specialist par excellence. Kalambay happily crushed him at his own game. He was harder to hit than Graham, drawing the favorite on in a merry dance for the first six rounds before getting down off his toes and beating him straight, too, leaving Graham badly cut and desperately hurt in the final seconds of the 12th. Kalambay hypnotized fighters into following him with buttery movement and a jab that slid off his unerring mobility like bullets from a gun; the rest of his offense crackled with the possibility of the unexpected. He would toss up distant uppercuts timed perfectly on an opponent made to lead in a tricky spot. When they got used to following him, he turned them on to short rights that belied his supposed lack of power.

REGGIE JOHNSON (44-7-1)
"Sweet" Reggie Johnson boxed in a style as difficult as they come on paper, all slick southpaw stylings, quick and slick and hard to pin down. In his fistic prime of the early 90s he was probably beaten only by James Toney who took him to the narrowest of decisions and only after spoiling his way through the second. Johnson hit him with a left hand that troubled him as much as any punch ever would in his journey to heavyweight and the iron-jawed Toney was legitimately hurt. In a close fight full of close rounds, scoring the fight either way is more than reasonable; I had it to Toney by a single point.

Johnson scored his own close decision against Steve Collins to pick up a strap a few months later, but in all honesty this fight was less close, Johnson appearing to have control of the middle section of the fight. Reggie was on the **** end of at least one and arguably both of his battles with Jorge Castro, too, the fights that sent him from the division.

 

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An inspired Sumbu Kalmabay ghosted past Reggie Johnson even more impressively than Mike McCallum did past Emiel Griffiths, hardly dropping a round on the way to a RTD stoppage victory. Reggie Johnson's corner had seen enough after a twelfth round in which Sumbu deployed a double and triple jab with vicious intention, barracking the attack with a screaming right hand that he'd identified as safe to throw such was his control of range and tempo.

Johnson had seemed in the fight very early on but Kalambay began to find him with consistent, hard punches in the fourth and never really let up in what became a one-sided thrashing.