It is interesting that McCall picks Douglas over Lewis. If he was self serving he would build up Lennox Lewis, as his crowning win.
It's really apparent after reading "The Last Great Fight" by Joe Layden. It would have been interesting to see Buster stick around. I think he would have had some decent fights with Holyfield, Bowe, and Lewis. He had the movement, the reach, decent combo speed with his straight punches, a jab, etc, etc. It was mentioned somewhere in the book that his father, Billy "Dynamite" Douglas, had all the guts and Buster had all the athleticism between the two. Shame is, what the other lacked is exactly what kept them away from true success. I'm also interested in what McCall would have done again Tyson in place of Douglas. I wonder that with a lot of fighters though for that night in history.
I always thought that version of Lewis (Pre-Steward) was a little unpolished and could get himself in trouble. Steward helped McCall realize that by getting Oliver to trade with Lennox and leading with a punch that attacked Lewis' jaw in the right area. Also, I thought Frank Bruno was doing a great job of competing with Lewis till he gassed (as was his nature). As soon as Steward took control he helped Lewis fight safer while developing a nasty right uppercut. Manny seems to have done that with Wlad, unfortunately Wlad seems to go against his trainer's wishes to "go for the KO" to safely finish out. A win's a win.
I think that if Lewis had the balls (which he never had) to fight Douglas a sufficient number of times then the more common outcome would have been more similar to Lewis-Bruno , Lewis-Rahman #2 & Tucker-Douglas than to Rahman-Lewis #1. I really doubt that Douglas could have had a 2(1):0 over Rahman let alone 2(2):0 over him. Don King should have paid for the sparing partner and that he didn't showed he was bad for McCall , the fact that McCall got his "shot" at Lewis @ 1997 is just another example to it. King was/is bad for some of his fighters , McCall in particular. Having watched the fight (Douglas vs McCall) it was not such a lopsided win for Douglas although it was not a robbery either . If McCall was well enough prepared to that fight he may have very well beaten Douglas.
Not really, the fight was at altitude, Rahman was acclimatised, Lewis flew in a few days before and wasn't and hence was gasping for air early in the fight, fooled around and got clocked by a big right. Rahman wasn't as good as Douglas
Douglas was a highly skilled fighter no doubt, but he lacked the most important intangible in boxing, the one thats more important than skills and talent.
Interesting to note that Mcall says, the Douglas loss wasnt a fluke (in respect to Tyson). He said if/when Douglas trained properly he could beat anyone. Douglas vs Lewis would have been a good fight. Unless he gets Pole-Axed like Golota (no pun intended)
Douglas versus "pre-Steward" Lewis would be fun to see. "Post-Steward" would probably be a bit of a stinker.