The Night Sumbu Kalambay Outfoxed the Body-Snatcher
Photo by: The Ring Magazine via Getty Images
When ‘Marvelous’ Marvin Hagler vacated the middleweight division’s throne, you could say there was some disappointment for a few involved. Even though Hagler’s iron grip over his title was well established and respected, it wouldn’t keep the likes of Mike McCallum satisfied. McCallum, known as one of the more underrated technicians of his generation, felt he had never gotten a big fight with Hagler or other contemporaries such as Thomas Hearns. Despite that, McCallum did carve his place as a defining fighter in his division for the next decade, garnering the respect of his rivals and spectators alike for his class and gamesmanship.
And he certainly was quite a fighter too: On the outside, McCallum’s jab was a rapier and, when it wasn’t reading the distance, it was intercepting the opponent, or setting up McCallum’s next form of attack - sometimes all together. Where McCallum was at his best though lay in his nom-de-guerre, “The Bodysnatcher”. There’s no mincing words: if you left your midsection open, McCallum would rip his most debilitating blows there.
And even if you didn’t - you can consult Donald Curry and Milton McCrory, recipients of McCallum’s surgical dissection - the best body operators knew how to alternate body and head punches to craft openings. McCallum’s handiwork there was as good a dedication to that principle as you could find.
Unfortunately for his opponents, McCallum was as game as they came too: Even the most infamous puncher of that era, Julian Jackson, found himself outmatched in a firefight by the ironclad fortitude of the Jamacian-born great.
McCallum’s resume and momentum were at its peak by the time he challenged then-WBA middleweight champion Sumbu Kalambay. Despite not having the attention, he was unbeaten, unperturbed, and undeniable in the ring - and it was obvious that was his feeling once he stepped under the bright lights.
Less than one hour later, he had lost for the first time in his professional career and it had not been close whatsoever.
If McCallum owns some distinction of being an underappreciated boxing genius, then Sumbu Kalambay might as well be one of the more forgotten. Somewhat understandably, Kalambay’s records reflected that he was good, but he never got the chance to really show what he was actually worth. An amateur record of 90-5 in his home country of the Democratic Republic of Congo simply did not give any names. Even after dedicating himself to a professional career once he moved to Italy, Kalambay struggled to find many fighters with the accolades or name value - at least, at first.
He quickly proved himself to be quite the talent when he lost a controversial decision to a rugged Ayub Kalule, but quickly found his way into title contention again, dropping an extremely talented Herol Graham late for a clear decision win, and then putting on a masterclass of defensive jabbing and counter rights to keep savvy power-puncher Iran Barkley playing catch-up for an entire forty-five minutes to take the belt.
Throughout all of these bouts, by all accounts, Kalambay was considered the underdog - yet he never boxed like he was. Now, Mike McCallum was, by reputation, the toughest opponent yet. This time, Kalambay didn’t just beat the odds given to him - he embarrassed everyone who failed to give him a chance by giving one of the finest boxers of their generation an actual boxing lesson.
The cornerstone to Kalambay’s entire game is his jab. I have already explained in other works what the finest jabs accomplish; however, I will need to reiterate how a jab simply isn’t just the most accessible punch - it’s a tool that opens up a wide variety of opportunities and purposes:
1) Distance measurement or to distance establishment.
2) A building block for longer and more potent combinations.
3) A method of breaking or establishing rhythm.
If a jab is maximizing the above, then a fighter can control the offensive and defensive portions of the fight. This is enhanced by their understanding of rhythm and ringcraft - that is, they know when to use their punches, how to use their punches, and where to use their punches. A fighter with an excellent jab, therefore, understands that there is a balance between being efficient and unpredictable.
Mike McCallum is not afraid to jab himself and he’s unafraid of any range. Because standing in front of someone known for wearing his opponents down would not be the best idea, Kalambay, already skilled at playing the matador game, committed himself to outfighting for the entire contest.
I’ve already mentioned what a good jab accomplishes on its own, but, when paired with ancillary tools, the fighter in question accomplishes so much more. In a closed-stance matchup, two fighters who plant their feet in one spot will have an engagement. The one who typically wins that engagement has some characteristic advantage, such as power, speed, superior combination work, durability, et cetera. The fighter who has the disadvantage then asks themselves: Why would I stay there if the risks outweigh the rewards? In the case of Sumbu Kalambay, he commits to lateral steps to his left, resulting in a different dynamic: The closed-stance directional battle.
When two fighters share the same stance, in this case orthodox, they might end up circling another. In this situation, the jab’s utility becomes a necessity. If you’re jabbing first, you can lead the dance and set up a superior position for better offense.
And, if you're not first, it’s invaluable to keep jabbing so that you aren’t lured into your opponent’s rhythm - something Kalambay did by using his rear hand as a parry to catch the jab and trigger to know when to counter back.
Kalambay, however, realized that McCallum’s own jab was extremely competent and that just jabbing while circling wasn’t enough. At some point, someone with McCallum’s urgency was going to try and time him with the right.
To recontextualize outfighting in layman’s terms: An outfighter has to lead how a fight goes very differently than someone on the frontfoot simply because being on the backfoot means they risk having to react more. The fighter on the frontfoot has the luxury of already coming forward, which means they’re already pressing initiative inherently. On the backfoot, the fighter has to create ways to make their opponent follow and react to them instead.
This rule is why mixups matter and Sumbu Kalambay’s effectiveness in this fight lived and died through his feints and footwork. In an interplay of upper body-feints and misdirections. Kalambay committed to moving left the whole fight, but he would fake level changes or take slight steps to his right to make McCallum reconsider the next move.
Consequently, Kalambay identified a major problem of Mike McCallum’s game: that the latter was not an efficient ringcutter - and that gave Kalambay more freedom than anything else could have. In a boxing ring, limiting an outfighter’s space means to limit their movement and cut them off. The most effective ringcutters are those who pursue, but know to step laterally at distance to meet the outfighter’s own lateral step. The onus is on the outfighter to want more room and less space forces engagements to start happening. In this contest though, McCallum came forward or was following Kalambay linearly.
Note: It isn’t to say McCallum can’t cut the ring off - he is trying in the above footage. It just isn’t enough to completely prevent Kalambay from having room to work because he keeps trying to force the actual exchanges and isn’t considering how his feet matter.
This issue was reinforced by how Kalambay’s mixups on the outside started building and played havoc on McCallum’s expectations of when it was safe to step in or counter. Kalambay proceeded to show a masterclass as far as using the jab as a foundation.
Faking lateral steps while jabbing dulls McCallum’s sense of positioning. Kalambay also messes with the timing between his jabs. Just as McCallum has a bead on how to read it, a lateral step and dipping jab feint draws McCallum’s guard - it’s a trap for Kalambay to hook off the jab. And immediately the jab is back in play.
Eventually, McCallum found himself trapped with a twofold problem:
First, if McCallum jabs, he’s able to stay with Kalambay, but he can never outposition him and ends up running into counters whilst struggling to establish any momentum. When McCallum does this, it’s easy for Kalambay to keep forcing the closed-stance directional battle that he took control of from the beginning.
Second, if McCallum decides to wait on Kalambay and not jab, he lets Kalambay’s offense freeflow. In these situations, McCallum may recognize that whether the counters are bothersome or not, optically, they keep scoring and he has to take chances or Kalambay will keep scoring with his jab.
And together, both issues compound and force McCallum to stay thinking only for Kalambay to give him a new look or attack him for being passive, which resets the whole process over again as he reads any and every single one of McCallum’s moves.
And even when McCallum could corner Kalambay, he found himself undone by Kalambay’s cross arm guard and upper body movement. As soon as McCallum stepped in, Kalamaby dipped behind his lead shoulder, catching shots on his forearms and keeping them pinned just in case McCallum shifted to his patented body attack. And if McCallum just attempted to pin him, Kalambay took that passivity as an invitation to blast him in the face.
Although he proved that he was still every bit a world class champion by having a few moments, McCallum fought with a desperate frustration that could only have been formulated through the machinations of a sensational performance. Nothing Kalambay did would be impossible to replicate - it’s the fact that he did it to a competitor as versatile as Mike McCallum is what makes this one of the most impressive performances on tape.
It remains difficult, between a lack of notoriety or circumstances, to know how to place Sumbu Kalambay amongst a pantheon of his contemporaries. To call him an all-time great is probably too hyperbolic, especially when you consider how much repertoire historical middleweights hold in boxing’s storied history. Having said that, I think this performance underlines that Kalambay was one of the most gifted fighters that any generation could have ever had.
Over the course of thirty-six minutes, the Congolese-Italian made his contemporary look like he was not a championship-caliber technician. That night, McCallum was taught a lesson that he would absolutely never forget.
Two years later, now armed with the legendary coach Eddie Futch at his side, McCallum found himself the champion of Kalambay’s belt. He had reestablished his foothold on the crown, with impressive contenders Herol Graham, Steve Collins and Michael Watson, in his wake. For his fourth defense, he was met with his very own demon, Kalambay again. This time, however, McCallum went into that rematch with a vengeance - and what followed was something special.
Stay tuned for my breakdown of Mike McCallum vs Sumbu Kalambay II.