What's keeping Sumbu Kalambay from the IBHOF?

He beat Barkley. Beat Graham. Beat !ccallum SOUNDLY.
Beat contender Dewitt who was soild.
Beat former champ Buster Drayton.
Beat former champion Steve Collins.

Thats a pretty soild resume.

 

Robbie Sims too. Didn't know he beat Drayton?

 

Early in both of their careers he beat Drayton.
Also dropped a decision to Kronk Duane Thomas.

 

Wish I was a fly on the wall in 1983 KRONK with Duane Thomas, Milton McCrory, Tommy Hearns, Mike McCallum, Caveman Lee, Lindell Holmes, Mickey Goodwin, Mark Breland, Frank Tate, Errol Christie, Ricky Womac, Hilmer Kenty, Dwight Braxton and so on

The sparring wars every day!

 

Because it's a popularity contest

 

Well that’s what fame is, isn’t it? It’s not the Hall of Skill or the Hall of Craftsmanship.

It’s true of most any Hall of Fame you can think of — the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame isn’t set up to pick out the very best technical musicians, it’s for the acts that were the most famous, had the most hits, had the most influence, etc.

The Nunn loss certainly hurts Kalambay because that was his real chance to show his stuff to the widest audience ... and instead he became known as the only guy Nunn ever sparked out like that.

I’d like to see him in and I think he probably will be one day ... he has some nice wins ... but when you get past McCallum and the next thing people mention is Bomber Graham — Herol was a Euro-level fighter who never won a world championship and who repeatedly came up short against top opposition, so I don’t get why that is some kind of marquee win for Kalumbay. If it is, it only underscores where Sumbu’s resume comes up short.

 

Herol Graham was world class.

 

No, his vacant title fight with Iran Barkley was televised on ESPN. So were his title defenses against Doug DeWitt (ESPN), Mike McCallum (ABC), Robbie Sims (NBC) and, finally, Michael Nunn (HBO).

I think the problem was that was about the extent of his world-title run.

He fought for a long time. But he was only in the title picture for about two years.

 

I’d say he was Euro level. He never broke through on the world class tier.

He was a good opponent who could compete with the best but not beat them.

 

Kalambay beat Steve Collins right after Collins had a very close title fight against Reggie Johnson. Beat him more convincingly than Johnson did, too, IMO.

Graham lost a very close SD to Mike McCallum in one of his shots at a world title. I think that the decision was just, but to me that's clearly above Euro level. A Euro-level fighter is one who would be badly outclassed if you put him in with someone who's world class. Graham lost all of his world championship fights but he was never outclassed. Even in his comeback he was pushing 40 and gave Charles Brewer a hard fight for a world belt.

Not that this has much to do with Kalambay, though. He has a stretch of about a year and a half when he looks like a hall of famer, but not a whole lot before or after that would really sway voters. I'd like to see him get in, but I can't see many people getting excited when I tell them about the time he lost to Ayub Kalule but really should have won.

 

Euro level is not an insult. It doesn’t mean you can’t be competitive on the world level just that you can’t win on the world level.

Herol was a fine fighter and a difficult night’s work for anyone, but he didn’t win when he stepped up above Euro level ... so that’s the level he was at.

World-class fighters win world-class fights. Especially in the age of belt proliferation, it means winning a championship instead of coming up short every time.

 

I am not sure Nunn should go in the hall of fame. He had a good few years but no really a great great career. Maybe I am being unfair. He had a name and he was big on HBO for a time.

 

I could see that either way I suppose, but I guess if Donald Curry got in, Nunn should qualify.

 

Donald Curry shouldn't be in.

I feel like these types of inductions start the dominos falling to less worthy fighters.

I don't think Terry Norris deserved to be inducted. I feel like they only added him because of his win over Leonard. Since Norris got in, they had to add some more people Norris beat. So they added Curry. Curry never beat anyone Hall of Fame worthy. If Curry was so deserving, he should've been added in the mid 90s before he even returned briefly. Didn't matter. Now, if Curry's in, guys who were as good or better should get in. Which, frankly, opens the door for fighters like Danny Garcia, who has had a better career than Curry did. It would be nice if only the very best got in. But we passed that point a long time ago. Still ... it's annoying.