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{{Short description|American boxer (1947–2019)}}
{{Infobox boxer
|name        = Saoul Mamby
|image       = 
|imagesize   = 
|realname    = Saoul Paul Mamby
|nickname    = 
|weight      = {{plainlist|
*[[Light welterweight]]
*[[Welterweight]]
}}
|height      = 5 ft 8 in
|reach       = 70 in
|birth_date  = {{birth date|1947|06|04}}
|birth_place = [[Bronx, New York]], U.S
| death_date = {{death date and age|2019|12|19|1947|6|4}}
|death_place = 
|style       = Orthodox
|total       = 85
|wins        = 45
|losses      = 34 
|draws       = 6
|no contests = 
|KO          = 18
}}

'''Saoul Paul Mamby''' (June 4, 1947 – December 19, 2019)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldboxingnews.com/saoul-mamby-dies-aged-72/|title= Former WBC champion Saoul Mamby passes away aged 72|last=Jay|first=Phil|date=2019-12-19|website=WBN|access-date=2019-12-27}}</ref> was an American [[professional boxer]] who fought between 1969 and 2008.  He held the [[World Boxing Council|WBC]] [[super lightweight]] title from 1980 to 1982.

== Personal ==
Mamby was born in South [[Bronx, New York]], to Victoria, of Spanish descent, and father, Robert, from [[Jamaica]]. He converted to Judaism at age 4,<ref>{{cite web | title=RSR Looks Back at Saoul Mamby | publisher=Ring Side Report | date=January 19, 2005 | accessdate=July 6, 2011 | author=Smith, George Diaz | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080313193554/http://www.ringsidereport.com/Smith1192005.htm | archivedate=March 13, 2008| url=http://www.ringsidereport.com/Smith1192005.htm }}</ref> and went to Hebrew School at the Bronx's Mount Horeb Synagogue.

Mamby became interested in boxing while on vacation in Jamaica. He began his boxing career in 1963 at the age of sixteen, fighting in the [[Golden Gloves]] in 1965 and 1966. He compiled an amateur record of 25–5 before turning pro in 1969.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

Mamby was a soldier in the U.S. Army and served in [[Vietnam]] during the [[Vietnam War]] in 1968.<ref>''The Jewish Boxer's Hall of Fame'', Blady, Ken, (1988) Shapolsky Publishers, Inc., New York, New York, pp. 298-9</ref>

== Boxing career ==

He held the [[World Boxing Council|WBC]] [[super lightweight]] title once, starting his {{fraction|2|1|2}}-year reign in February 1980 by going to South Korea to stop titlist [[Kim Sang-hyun (boxer)|Kim Sang-Hyun]] in the 14th round. After that, he made five successful defenses, travelling to Indonesia and Nigeria in the process. He stopped former WBC [[lightweight]] champion [[Esteban De Jesús]] in the 13th round in July 1980 on the [[Larry Holmes|Holmes]]-LeDoux undercard and decisioned [[Maurice Watkins (boxer)|Termite Watkins]] over 15 on the Holmes-[[Muhammad Ali|Ali]] undercard. He won a 15-round nod over Jo Kimpuani on yet another undercard for a Larry Holmes fight against [[Leon Spinks]]. He then went to Indonesia to decision [[Thomas Americo]].

In his last bout leaving the ring as champion, he decisioned [[Obisia Nwankpa]] in Nigeria.

He was to fight [[World Boxing Association|WBA]] champion [[Aaron Pryor]] in the summer of 1982 for a unification bout in the super lightweight division, but instead fought and lost his WBC title by [[split decision]] to [[Leroy Haley]] in June of that year.

He would play the role of world title challenger twice more, once in a rematch with Haley in February 1983 which he lost in a 12-round unanimous decision. He then challenged new champion [[Billy Costello (boxer)|Billy Costello]] in November 1984 but lost another 12-round [[unanimous decision]].

Other boxers Mamby fought include [[Roberto Durán]] to whom he lost by points in a non-title fight in 1976, and [[Saensak Muangsurin]] to whom he lost in a 15-round decision in [[Thailand]] in 1977 in an attempt to win Muangsurin's WBC {{convert|140|lb|abbr=on}} title.

Mamby continued to fight into his 50s, and was forced to retire by the California State athletic commission following his last loss in 2000.

=== Comeback at 60 ===
At the age of 60, Mamby announced a comeback which was to have taken place in [[Lapwai, Idaho]] at the Pi-Nee-Waus Community Center of the [[Nez Perce Indian Reservation|Nez Perce Tribe]],<ref>{{cite web | title=Barkley, Mamby fight tomorrow! | publisher=Fightnews.com | date=February 22, 2008 | accessdate=July 6, 2011 | author=Richardson, Matt | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009065948/http://www.fightnews.com/richardson257.htm | archivedate=October 9, 2008| url=http://www.fightnews.com/richardson257.htm }}</ref> in a card that was subsequently canceled.<ref>{{cite web | title=Barkley, Mamby fights off! | publisher=Fightnews.com | date=February 23, 2008 | accessdate=July 6, 2011 | author=Richardson, Matt | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430165444/http://www.fightnews.com/fightnews_2/headlines//EkpFlkpFlZKpFDmDTM.html | archivedate=April 30, 2008| url=http://www.fightnews.com/fightnews_2/headlines//EkpFlkpFlZKpFDmDTM.html }}</ref>

Mamby fought several weeks later, weighing 149{{frac|1|2}} pounds (67 kilograms) and lost a ten-round decision to journeyman fighter Anthony Osbourne in the Cayman Islands. As a result, Mamby became one of the oldest boxers to appear in an officially sanctioned bout.  It was Mamby's eleventh loss in his last 14 fights.

Mamby was known for his ability to take punches well; in 85 professional bouts, he was stopped only once, that by an opponent who was several years younger, Derell Coley, in 1993.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://boxrec.com/boxer/3472|title = BoxRec: Derrell Coley}}</ref> On June 23, 2024 Mamby was inducted into the Florida Boxing Hall of Fame.

== See also ==

* [[List of WBC world champions]]
*[[List of Jews in sports#Boxing|List of select Jewish boxers]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Boxrec|id=000235}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-sport}}
{{s-text|style=background:#C1D8FF; font-weight: bold;|text=World boxing titles}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Kim Sang-hyun (boxer)|Kim Sang-hyun]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of WBC world champions#Super lightweight|WBC {{nowrap|super lightweight}} champion]]
|years=February 23, 1980 – June 26, 1982}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Leroy Haley]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mamby, Saoul}}
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:2019 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from New York City]]
[[Category:Converts to Judaism]]
[[Category:African-American Jews]]
[[Category:Jewish American boxers]]
[[Category:Jews from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Light-welterweight boxers]]
[[Category:Welterweight boxers]]
[[Category:World light-welterweight boxing champions]]
[[Category:World Boxing Council champions]]
[[Category:Boxers from the Bronx]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:American people of Spanish descent]]
[[Category:American people of Jamaican descent]]
[[Category:Sportspeople of Jamaican descent]]
[[Category:American male boxers]]
[[Category:United States Army soldiers]]
[[Category:Jewish American military personnel]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American sportsmen]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]