Ayub Kalule : 3 best wins?

[Woldemar]

IMO

Sumbu Kalambay
Masashi Kudo
Lindell Holmes

Honorable mentions : Sugar Ray Seales,Marijan Benes,Emiliano Villa,Steve Gregory.

[scartissue]

IMO

Sumbu Kalambay
Masashi Kudo
Lindell Holmes

Honorable mentions : Sugar Ray Seales,Marijan Benes,Emiliano Villa,Steve Gregory.

I would agree with your 3, but also mention he held some really good wins over Kevin Finnegan, David Love, Johnny Baldwin, Miguel Castellani, Elisha Obed, Alvin Anderson, Rudy Robles and Ralph Palladin as well. He also beat Mimoun Mihoutar a year before he received his title shot against Carlos Palomino. Kalule really should have stayed at middleweight. His manager sweated him down to 154 for greater opportunities. But before he fought Kudo he was the Commonwealth middleweight champ and doing quite well at 160 against guys like Seales and Finnegan. i think he would have slotted in real well and would have really enhanced the era of Hagler, Antuofermo, Minter, Hamsho, Sibson, etc. (as if that era needed enhancing).

[Woller]

Yes, certainly the victories over Sumbu Kalambay and Masashi Kudo. (I took a day off from work to watch that fight on live Danish TV)
The victories over Miguel Castellini and Elisha Obed were considered big wins at that time, and also the surprise two round knock out of Ho Joo. Ho Jo was comming from a split decision loss to Kudo in Japan, so it was a big surprise that the soft punching Kalule could floor Joo for a 10 count.

[AntonioMartin]

Yes, certainly the victories over Sumbu Kalambay and Masashi Kudo. (I took a day off from work to watch that fight on live Danish TV)
The victories over Miguel Castellini and Elisha Obed were considered big wins at that time, and also the surprise two round knock out of Ho Joo. Ho Jo was comming from a split decision loss to Kudo in Japan, so it was a big surprise that the soft punching Kalule could floor Joo for a 10 count.

Maybe the Kudo fight softened Ho Jo for Kalule..

[AntonioMartin]

I dont remember many of his wins, just that he was a crafty fighter who could beat you in many ways, including by ko and out boxing you. He and Dennis Andries are similar to me in that way.

That said, his victories over Kudo, Olisha Obed and Bushy Bester are impressive.

[Woller]

You could be right. The Kudo v Ho Joo fight was a split decision, but Joo was thrown to the wolves afterwards and was knocked out in his next two fights and then retired. I have to go back and watch the Kudo v. Joo fight again to see if there is a clue there.

[Petu v.d. Pajm]

3 best opponents beaten :

1) Sumbu Kalambay
2) Lindell Holmes
3) Sugar Ray Seales

None of Kalule's world title opponents nor ex-world champions Obed, Castellini, Albarado even make this Top3. Pretty dang impressive.


3 best opponents as rated on the day of the fight :

1) Masashi Kudo
2) Sugar Ray Seales
3) so many options for this spot - and no, Lindell Holmes / Sumbu Kalambay do not feature in.... I would say that at the day of the fight, almost 10 other Kalule-victims have had equal or better footing. This could be Obed (greatest history), Rudy Robles, Castellini, Ralph Palladin, Johnny Baldwin (best record), Kevin Finnegan (most proven), David Love (best recent form), Emiliano Villa or Jimmy Price. My selection goes for Baldwin as Kalule gets extra points for going against a light heavy there.

Sidenote : Kalule's early opposition is absolutely remarkable. Beating all these in your 1st 10 fights is IMPRESSIVE :

Fight #3 : W6 over Trevor Francis. Francis coming off a ½-point loss in British welterweight title 15-rounder.
Fight #5 : KO2 over Larry Paul. Paul an ex-British champion, 33-fight experience (27 wins) incl. fights with Alan Minter & Maurice Hope. Would go on for one more British title shot through an official eliminator few months later.
Fight #6 : TKO3 over Damiano Lassandro. Lassandro a reigning Italian champion with a record 21-2-1 and would later fight to a draw as an European title challenger.
Fight #7 : W10 over Mimoun Mohatar. Mohatar a world welterweight title challenger 13 months later.
Fight #9 : TKO7 over Jose Luis Duran. Italo-Argentino Duran had wins over afore-mentioned Lassandro, Emile Griffith, Matt Donovan & Domenico Tiberia (last two both world title challenger) in his 20-5-2 record.
Fight #10 : W10 over Elisha Obed. Obed of course a fresh ex-world champion with a record of 68-2-4.

You seldom see that kind of an early challenge. Mogens Palle sure weren't padding Kalule's record with no-hopers.

[drunkenpiper36]

I agree with those top three wins. Kalule is an underrated fighter