How highly do you rate Mike McCallum?

Guys , I disagree .. the man was supremely gifted, the best body puncher by far of his era, had serious KO power, an exceptional chin and fought up to his competition .. low ring IQ ? Interesting for a man who lost one close decision in his career till after he was 35 years old .. a classic example of a fighter no one would touch unless they had to .. James Toney flat out called him far and away the best he ever fought. Emanuel Steward refused to match Hearns with him .. Hagler fought blown up lightweights, welter weights and super middleweights while champion but wouldn't entertain McCallum even when he was crying for world attention ...

https://www.ringtv.com/121861-james-toney-the-best-i-faced/

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He was a card carrying member of the "who needs this guy" club. guys like that never seem to get the optimal matches & we the boxing fans are the one's that suffer for it.

 

I always liked his fight with Milton McCrory. From late in his career, the Randall Yonkers fight; Mike was older but still the Bodysnatcher

 

Also, I've heard he had/has a really massive wanger.

 

Re: Hagler avoiding him et al, that's pish revisionism. Marv was all but retired before Mike had even moved to middleweight, and he wasn't the type of crowd-pulling superstar in a legitimate classic weight division ala Leonard who could just command a fight with the champion in the above division without having beaten any ranked contenders first. McCallum cheated himself by not fighting at middle right from the off, he was physically huge at 154 and should've jumped to 160 sooner to put himself in the mix rather than fighting the likes of Mannion and Skouma in a pointless b*****d division. By the time he'd iced Curry it was too late.

 

McCallum was a true craftsman. And a total badass. He feared no man in the ring.

 

Hagler " ducking him" nonsense is revisionism.

Mugabi was rated higher than McCallum at the time, he moved up, and got the Hagler fight no problem. Mugabi worked his way to a #1 contender spot in both divisions, when Hearns wouldnt face him, Hagler would.

Mugabi behaved like a fighter who wanted the big fights, McCallum didnt until Hagler retired.

 

Hagler only fought the real #1 Junior Middle who was the most feared puncher of the time, and unlike McCallum also earned a MW rating.

But lets not let the facts get in the way of a good fish story.

 

Are you attempting irony?

You have it a$$ backwards. He had a high ring IQ and was not susceptible to big punchers.

 

Yeah, but he's lame

He purposely says the opposite of reality just to get attention and show how "ironic" he can be.

He should just analyze a given fighter or fight like a normal person.

 

Correct. He wasn't necessarily "ducked." He just was much risk at too little $$ reward.

I'd favor him to outlast Hearns at 154 lbs.

He had the chin to survive any early Hearns attacks, apply a body attack in the mid rounds and utilize his superb stamina to apply late pressure and test Hearn's legs and chin.

I can envision a late rounds tko over Hearns.

 

Mugabi had the 160 lb rating based on the 1 round ko of Curtis Parker and a few wins after that. McCallum had really done nothing at 160 lb. So, I agree Mugabi was more qualified, at least on paper, for a Hagler fight. I would say that you can argue Hearns ducked, or at least avoided, McCallum pre Duran and Hagler fights (more $$ to face those guys) and Mugabi post April '85 (after he lost to Hagler). Hagler didn't duck either.

 

midlevel ATG.

 

Walker was one of his weakest opponents McCallum faced post 1984. He was a club fighter.

His best win is probably the one punch KO of Donald Curry or the easy 2nd round TKO of a rising Julian Jackson.