# Ayub Kalule

Ayub Kalule (born 6 January 1954) is a retired boxer from Uganda, who first came to prominence when he won the Amateur World Welterweight Title at the inaugural 1974 World Championships in Havana, Cuba. As a professional, he held the WBA and The Ring light middleweight titles from 1979 until 1981.

## Boxing career

Born in Kampala, he began his professional boxing career in 1976 when he won a four-round decision over Kurt Hombach in Copenhagen, Denmark. Kalule would be based out of Denmark for the rest of his career. He then won 29 more victories, achieving 30 wins, 0 losses. Included in those victories were defeats of Alipata Korovou for the Commonwealth Middleweight Title and a 10-round decision of former U.S. olympic gold medalist Sugar Ray Seales.
On 24 October 1979, Kalule was in Akita, Japan to take on Masashi Kudo for the Lineal and WBA Junior middleweight titles. Kalule easily outboxed the champion and thus captured the coveted world championship crown. He then successfully defended the title four times before taking on the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard on 25 June 1981 in the Houston Astrodome. A virtual unknown in the United States, Kalule was considered little more than a courier waiting to deliver the belt to Leonard. The fight proved much more difficult for Leonard as Kalule repeatedly landed straight lefts and fought on an almost even ground for the first five or six rounds. Slowly Leonard started to take control and in the 9th round ended the fight and Kalule's reign as WBA Champion.
Kalule fought on until the beginning of 1986 and managed to win the European Middleweight Title and defend it successfully against future world champion Sumbu Kalambay. Prior to that, he received another shot at the WBA Jr Middleweight Title held at that time by Davey Moore. Kalule put up a very good fight, but again was KO'd, this time in the 10th round. Ayub's career ended on 5 February 1986 when he lost the European Middleweight Title to Herol Graham. He finished his career with a very impressive record of 46–4 with 23 KOs.

## Professional boxing record

| 50 fights | 46 wins | 4 losses |
| By knockout | 23 | 4 |
| By decision | 23 | 0 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 50 | Loss | 46–4 | Herol Graham | TKO | 10 (12), 2:10 | Feb 5, 1986 | City Hall, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, UK | Lost European middleweight title |
| 49 | Win | 46–3 | Sumbu Kalambay | SD | 12 | Dec 19, 1985 | Palazzo dello Sport, Ancona, Italy | Retained European middleweight title |
| 48 | Win | 45–3 | Pierre Joly | TKO | 8 (12) | Jun 20, 1985 | Idraetshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark | Won vacant European middleweight title |
| 47 | Win | 44–3 | Mauro Fernandes da Cruz | TKO | 4 (8) | Mar 9, 1985 | K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 46 | Win | 43–3 | Lindell Holmes | PTS | 8 | Nov 9, 1984 | K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 45 | Win | 42–3 | Wayne Caplette | TKO | 3 (8) | Oct 5, 1984 | Randers Hallen, Randers, Denmark | |
| 44 | Win | 41–3 | Jimmy Price | TKO | 1 (10) | Apr 25, 1984 | Alexandra Pavilion, Muswell Hill, London, England, UK | |
| 43 | Loss | 40–3 | Mike McCallum | RTD | 7 (10), 3:00 | Nov 13, 1982 | Sands Casino Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US | |
| 42 | Loss | 40–2 | Davey Moore | TKO | 10 (15), 2:58 | Jul 17, 1982 | Ballys Park Place Hotel Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US | For WBA junior-middleweight title |
| 41 | Win | 40–1 | Oscar Albarado | TKO | 2 (10) | Apr 30, 1982 | Brondby Hallen, Brondby, Denmark | |
| 40 | Win | 39–1 | Jacques Chinon | PTS | 10 | Feb 26, 1982 | K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 39 | Win | 38–1 | O'Dell Leonard | PTS | 8 | Nov 13, 1981 | Randers Hallen, Randers, Denmark | |
| 38 | Win | 37–1 | Andoni Amana | PTS | 10 | Oct 9, 1981 | K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 37 | Loss | 36–1 | Sugar Ray Leonard | KO | 9 (15), 3:06 | Jun 25, 1981 | Astrodome, Houston, Texas, US | Lost WBA and The Ring junior-middleweight titles |
| 36 | Win | 36–0 | Pat Hallacy | PTS | 10 | Mar 5, 1981 | Brondby Hallen, Brondby, Denmark | |
| 35 | Win | 35–0 | Bushy Bester | UD | 15 | Sep 6, 1980 | Aarhus Stadion, Aarhus, Denmark | Retained WBA and The Ring junior-middleweight titles |
| 34 | Win | 34–0 | Marijan Beneš | UD | 15 | Jun 12, 1980 | Randers Hallen, Randers, Denmark | Retained WBA and The Ring junior-middleweight titles |
| 33 | Win | 33–0 | Emiliano Villa | RTD | 11 (15), 3:00 | Apr 17, 1980 | Brondby Hallen, Brondby, Denmark | Retained WBA and The Ring junior-middleweight titles |
| 32 | Win | 32–0 | Steve Gregory | UD | 15 | Dec 6, 1979 | Brondby Hallen, Brondby, Denmark | Retained WBA and The Ring junior-middleweight titles |
| 31 | Win | 31–0 | Masashi Kudo | UD | 15 | Oct 24, 1979 | City Gymnasium, Akita City, Japan | Won WBA and The Ring junior-middleweight titles |
| 30 | Win | 30–0 | David Love | PTS | 10 | Sep 6, 1979 | Randers Hallen, Randers, Denmark | |
| 29 | Win | 29–0 | Ray Hammond | PTS | 8 | Jun 28, 1979 | Randers Hallen, Randers, Denmark | |
| 28 | Win | 28–0 | Obdulio Rogelio Zarza | PTS | 10 | May 27, 1979 | Randers Hallen, Randers, Denmark | |
| 27 | Win | 27–0 | Monty Betham | TKO | 4 (10) | Mar 15, 1979 | Brondby Hallen, Brondby, Denmark | |
| 26 | Win | 26–0 | Ho Joo | KO | 2 (10) | Feb 15, 1979 | Randers Hallen, Randers, Denmark | |
| 25 | Win | 25–0 | Kevin Finnegan | UD | 10 | Dec 7, 1978 | Idraetshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 24 | Win | 24–0 | Sugar Ray Seales | MD | 10 | Nov 9, 1978 | Brondby Hallen, Brondby, Denmark | |
| 23 | Win | 23–0 | Reggie Ford | KO | 5 (15) | Sep 14, 1978 | Randers Hallen, Randers, Denmark | Retained Commonwealth middleweight title |
| 22 | Win | 22–0 | Milton Owens | TKO | 6 (10), 1:00 | Aug 10, 1978 | Glyngoere Hallen, Glyngoere, Denmark | |
| 21 | Win | 21–0 | Al Korovou | TKO | 14 (15), 1:00 | May 25, 1978 | Brondby Hallen, Brondby, Denmark | Won Commonwealth middleweight title |
| 20 | Win | 20–0 | Idrissa Konate | TKO | 7 (12) | Apr 27, 1978 | Randers Hallen, Randers, Denmark | |
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Tsutomu Hagusa | TKO | 3 (10) | Mar 16, 1978 | Idraetshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | Johnny Baldwin | PTS | 10 | Mar 2, 1978 | Vejle, Denmark | |
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Jose Hernandez | TKO | 5 (10) | Feb 9, 1978 | Idraetshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | Rennie Pinder | PTS | 8 | Jan 26, 1978 | Chateau Neuf, Oslo, Norway | |
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Bonifacio Ávila | TKO | 4 (10) | Jan 5, 1978 | Randers Hallen, Randers, Denmark | |
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Ralph Palladin | PTS | 10 | Dec 8, 1977 | Idraetshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Miguel Ángel Castellini | TKO | 3 (10) | Nov 3, 1977 | Randers Hallen, Randers, Denmark | |
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Alvin Anderson | TKO | 9 (10) | Oct 6, 1977 | Idraetshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Rudy Robles | PTS | 10 | Sep 8, 1977 | Idraetshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Elisha Obed | PTS | 10 | Jun 2, 1977 | Randers Hallen, Randers, Denmark | |
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Jose Duran | TKO | 7 (10) | Apr 28, 1977 | Idraetshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Aroldo Olivares | TKO | 6 (10) | Mar 31, 1977 | Idraetshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Mimoun Mohatar | PTS | 10 | Feb 24, 1977 | Idraetshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Damiano Lassandro | TKO | 3 (10) | Jan 20, 1977 | Idraetshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Larry Paul | KO | 2 (10) | Dec 9, 1976 | Idraetshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Gualberto Fernandez | KO | 1 (6) | Nov 19, 1976 | Randers Hallen, Randers, Denmark | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Trevor Francis | PTS | 6 | Oct 9, 1976 | Forum, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Wayne Bennett | KO | 5 (6) | Jun 3, 1976 | Idraetshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Kurt Hombach | PTS | 4 | Apr 8, 1976 | Forum, Copenhagen, Denmark | |