PESARO, Italy -- Sumbu Kalambay of Italy retained his World Boxing Association middleweight title Saturday night with a unanimous decision over American challenger Mike McCallum.
Kalambay, 31, took the fight by margins of 116-115, 118-114 and 115-114 on the judges's cards to hand McCallum his first loss in a career that began in 1981.
Pandemonium broke loose among the 5,000 spectators when the decision was announced in favor of Kalambay, born in Zaire but an Italian citizen.
Kalambay's cornermen poured into the ring and the champion's Italian wife and young son were lifted in as well to celebrate the first successful defense of the title he won last autumn.
The victory ran Kalambay's career record to 43-3-1. McCallum fell to 32-1.
'I'm the greatest champion,' Kalambay said as his supporters hoisted him onto their shoulders. 'All the predictions were against me, but I proved them wrong.'
Kalambay started out slowly against McCallum, dubbed 'The Bodysnatcher,' as the challenger did most of the early attacking.
McCallum couldn't penetrate Kalambay's tight defense and drew four warnings for low blows during the bout from British referee John Coyle.
The pace quickened from the fourth round on, as McCallum sent a flurry of punches to the champion. Kalambay launched a potent attack of his own in the sixth, connecting with a pair of hard rights and keeping up the pressure for the rest of the hard-fought bout.
Kalambay began his big push in the 10th, coming back from a neutral corner hammering by McCallum to score with a left-left-right combination that stunned the challenger.
Both men finished the bout on their feet in the 12th as the Kalambay supporters flooded into the ring.
McCallum's last loss came in 1979 as an amateur. He had a string of 13 consecutive knockouts entering the fight.
