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SAOUL MAMBY: 1947-2019

The man who FORMER WBC super-lightweight Robert, was from Jamaica. Vietnam War.
titleholder Saoul Mamby, a fighter who Once he found boxing at the age of During his pro career Mamby plied
kept coming
defied the odds to compete until the 16, Mamby went on to compete twice his trade not only in America but also
back passes age of 60, passed away on December in the New York Golden Gloves, first in Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Canada, the
away, writes 19. He was 72. 1965 and then in 1966, and compiled Dominican Republic, France, Curacao,
Born on June 4, 1947 in the Bronx, a 25-5 record. He eventually turned Indonesia, Nigeria, Guyana, Spain,
Elliot Worsell New York, Mamby’s mother, Victoria, professional in June 1969 not long after Zambia, the Cayman Islands, South
was of Spanish descent, while his father, serving in the U.S. Army during the Korea and Thailand.
Indeed, it was in Thailand where
Mamby challenged for his first world
title against WBC super-lightweight
TOP CLASS:
Mamby’s record champion Saensak Muangsurin. That
makes for fight took place in 1977 at the Open-
impressive Air Stadium in Nakhon Ratchasima and
reading resulted in Mamby going home with a
disputed decision loss after 15 rounds.
His next title shot, having won six
fights in a row, would arrive against
Muangsurin’s successor, South Korea’s
Sang Hyun Kim, in Seoul, and this time
Mamby left nothing to chance. To
conclude what was an otherwise close
and hard-to-call fight Mamby finished
Muangsurin in the 14th round.
In his role as world champion,
Mamby defended his belt against
the likes of Esteban De Jesus, whom
he stopped inside 13 rounds, and
Maurice Watkins and Jo Kimpuani,
both of whom he outpointed over 15
rounds. In 1981, Mamby also took his
title overseas, successfully defending it
against Thomas Americo in Indonesia
and Obisia Nwankpa in Nigeria.
His run came to an end the following
year, however, when, back in America,
Mamby lost a 15-round split-decision
against Leroy Haley. He then lost a
rematch against Haley in ’83, this time
over 12 rounds, before a final title shot
against Billy Costello, with his old belt
up for grabs, saw him fall short over the
same distance.
Although this defeat would signal
the end of Mamby as a world title
contender, he continued to fight on
until May 2000 when, at the age of 52,
he dropped an eight-round decision
against Kent Hardee. But even that
wouldn’t stop him returning.
Incredibly, some eight years after
losing to Hardee, Mamby, then 60,
made a comeback. Weighing 149 and
a half pounds, a mere nine and a half
pounds more than he weighed when
becoming a world champion, Mamby
lost an eight-round unanimous decision
against journeyman Anthony Osborne
in Georgetown, Guyana on March 8,
2008.
That loss marked the end, the proper
end, of Saoul Mamby’s incredible
boxing career, leaving him with a record
of 45-34-6 (18) and a remarkable body
of work stretching 39 years.

12 O BOXING NEWS O JANUARY 9, 2020 w w w . b o x i n g n e w s o n l i n e . n e t