[Ian Lord]

12th - London, England

European middleweight champion, Maurice Hope, put his title on the line against the undefeated Sumbu Kalambay. Kalambay seized control from the opening bell, and didn't let up. There was a gulf in class between the two fighters, and it didn't look as though it would go the distance. To the surprise of most people in the London Arena it did, but it was a one sided beating. Hope to his credit, went the distance, finishing the bout with a badly swollen left eye. He hit the deck for a flash knockdown in the tenth round following a combination to the head.
Scores at the end of this twelve rounder were 119-107, and 120-106 [x2], all for the new champion Kalambay, who improves to 12-0 [6]. Hope drops to 3-4 [1] and has so far had a dissapointing year. After losing a brave world title fight to then champion Marvin Hagler in January, he lost his Commonwealth title to Ayub Kalule on a cuts stoppage in May, and has now lost his European title. He still holds the British title and must defend that against mandatory challenger Alan Minter before the end of the year.

The man who beat Maurice Hope for his Commonwealth title, Ayub Kalule, lost it here tonight in his first defense against Jamaica's Mike 'The Bodysnatcher' McCallum. It was a close bout, as reflected in the scoring of 115-113 [x2], and 114-114. Not much in it, with both men relying on their boxing skills rather than opening up, although McCallum won the ninth andn tenth rounds big, which probably swayed the fight in his favour.
McCallum improves to 7-2 [2], whilst Kalule drops to 5-4-1 [3] and has called the new champ out for a re-match.

Excellent middleweight contender, Michael 'Second To' Nunn met Italian tough guy Vito Antuofermo over ten rounds. It was a risky fight for the Nunn team to take, with Nunn having everything to lose if he suffered a defeat against his opponent. Nunn must surely be due a title fight of some sort, and not many could see the reasoning in him taking on the unranked Antuofermo who has got just the tools to beat Nunn. However, Nunn took the fight comfortably, winning every round by doing everything correctly against an opponent who came forward all night but was forced to eat a lot of leather. The thing is with Nunn at this stage of his career, he has won all his fights easily and not looked very exciting, although in his last bout he had to get up of the canvas to beat Iran Barkley. It will be interesting to see him in against the elite of the division, the likes of world champ Gerald McClellan, Marvin Hagler, and James Toney.
The scores of 100-89 [x2], and 99-90, represented the ease of Nunn's win. He improves to 11-0 [5]. Antuofermo drops to 6-6 [3].

Fight of the night was a ten round lightweight bout between Mexico's Bazooka Limon and Ugandn Cornelius Boza-Edwards. Limon advanced on Boza-Edwards all night, with Cornelius boxing on the back foot and catching Limon as he came in, but not without taking a few himself. Limon hit the deck in the fourth round after walking onto an uppercut. He just managed to beat the count and was thankful to hear the bell as he reagined his feet. He was also down for a five count in the last round. Both men finished the bout bloodied. Scores were 97-90, 97-91, and 97-92, all for Boza-Edwards.

Another good lightweight contest saw Claude Noel win a unanimous decision over Charlie Brown with scores of 97-95, and 98-94 [x2]. It was a close, give and take contest, with Noel pulling away at the end. The winner improves to 4-2 [2], whilst Brown drops to 3-3 [1].

South African heavyweight Gerrie Coetzee improved to 10-10 [3] with a unanimous win over Australia's Colin 'Kid' Wilson. Wilson was down twice in the second, but went on to hear the final bell. Scores were 77-73 on all cards.