[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwdR6HtQozU[/ame] That fight was originally scheduled for Nov '89 but Watson broke his nose in sparring. McCallum took a warm-up fight with Steve Collins, a great workout. Watson had been out of the ring nearly a year and it showed as his timing was off, rights falling short; McCallum countered to the body, broke him up. I still think McCallum would have beaten him though.
I remember nearly crying that night...I was a huge fan of Watson and he took punishment that night...it also made me realise just how good mccallum was...
a moron of a ref to even count. you got to wonder if beatings like this had anything to do with what happened in the eubank rematch.
If your referring to what caused the damage I believe it was his head hitting the bottom rope, I dont think this had anything to do with it.
What they say about boxing not being a body beautiful contest is true. McCallum didn't look powerful at all compared to Watson but boy he could dig.
Mike Mc was just a bad stylistic match-up for Watson, the snatcher could fight in a booth or from across the street, great left counters, one of the best set ups i've ever seen, amazing how often he hit clean and went to the body without getting clipped...what a shame he never got to face the best of his generation...him vs Hearns at light middle woud've been awesome, he got shafted by Manny S and the fact he couldn't draw as well as the fab four really hurt him.
McCallum didn't look at his best against Graham or Collins, but rolled back the years against Watson. It may even his best-ever display that night. Watson of course looked brilliant against Benn, who was supposed to be an invincible destroyer - that's all the Yanks had heard about Benn. Benn-Watson was to showcase Benn to America, on NBC, but Watson - such a smooth-looking boxer against American journeymen on BBC - stepped up to the plate. He was about 10 years younger than McCallum. And Watson was seen as a much better boxer than Steve Collins back then, who had given McCallum a tougher-than-expected bout (had him running away in the last few rounds).
The most remarkable thing about McCallum to me way that he was not the most physically gifted in terms of reflexes & speed but he made up for that with tremendous timing and a terrific Boxing brain.