By Bill Tibbs From Max Boxing

The former champion was 72

Born in the Bronx, New York, legendary boxing champion Saoul Mamby has passed away at age 72.

That is only a dozen years out of the ring from his last sanctioned bout which he competed in back in 2008 at age 60. Why? Because that is what Saoul did – he fought, and he was very good.

Mamby turned pro back in 1969 after coming back from doing a tour in Vietnam in the U.S. Army. He competed in 85 fights (45-34-6, 18 KO’s) as a professional with his career highlight being his WBC super lightweight title win in 1980, 3 years after his first try.

He would defend the title 5 times before losing it to Leroy Haley in 1982. He would fight two more times for the belt, a rematch with Haley and a shot at then champion Billy Costello, but came up short both times in distance losses.

Although he wasn’t a puncher, Mamby was tall, lean, had a concrete chin and could compete with any world class fighter.

Mamby fought in 5-decades as a professional from 1969-2000 before returning for 1 bout in 2008.

By the time he retired, Mamby had amassed a resume that boasted, (along with Haley and Costello), bouts against Edwin Viruet, Roberto Duran, Antonio Cervantes, Esteban DeJesus, Ronnie Shields, Buddy McGirt, Jorge Vaca, Glenwood Brown, John Wesley Meekins, Maurice Blocker, Gary Hinton and Javier Castillejo to name a few.

Mamby was also truly a world class traveler as he boxed in Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Canada, the Dominican Republic, France, Curacao, Indonesia, Nigeria, Guyana, Spain, Zambia, the Cayman Islands, Thailand and South Korea, along with the United States.

Mamby was an old school boxer who would fight anywhere, anytime against anyone – in short he was a real pro.

Thank you for a great career.

Rest in peace, Champ!

For more on this story go to; https://www.maxboxing.com/news/news/remembering-a-true-champion-former-titleholder-saoul-mamby