I haven't read up on dude for a while now, but how is Jameel big time mccline leaning in the ranks of very good heavyweight contenders but not great? He put Chris Byrd on the canvas with a VERY hard shot albeit he lost the decision to Chris. What about his fight with Wladimir Klitschko? It seemed like if he amped it up a bit the fight was there for the taking. I mean wlad danced around with low amounts of punches thrown. Matter of fact Jameel threw even less. Any way what could he have did differently in the Klitschko fight technically? It seems like that was his biggest opportunity and he didn't show up for it jmo. Yeah, Mccline was a BIG heavyweight matched with SMART matchmaking as dude was literally learning on the job. Matter of fact he admitted "he was learning his trade by the minute" due to the fact that he had a late start in the game, must have been his early twenties. So no amateur experience but a freak of nature, yeah he was a gentle giant but he did have alot of athleticism. If my memory serves me correct the broadcasters at HBO mentioned he went to prison for carrying fire arms across the border illegally... Like I said competitive matchups treated him very well. He seemed to be the gate keeper of the division at one point... He said post fight with Chris nightmare arreola, that Chris was gonna be a world champion, however vitali crushed that dream. Anyway he also was supposed to be lined up for a James Tobey fight. Except James ripped his Achilles heel right open. Lights out even quoted he was crying on the canvas when he was in training when he suffered the tear. This was supposed to be James toneys showcase fight. Like I alluded to, Jameel was a softie, Jane's was a bad man. Despite the size difference this was supposed to be the fight where everybody would say "TONEY COULD BEAT KLITSCHKO. WHEN WILL TONEY FIGHT KLITSCHKO??? I'm serious man Jameel mccline was a serious player in the heavyweight landscape at the time! Im pretty sure he put a good win on his resume vs Michael grant AND he was in studio guest on Friday night fights with Max Kellerman showcasing himself and the young Kirk bubba Johnson as thee two best heavyweights coming up in the game. Another observation was that Jameel big time mccline admitted to max that Chris Byrd would be a tough stylistic matchup (southpaw, slippery etc) which proved itself true over time. So with that all being encapsulated, where does he rank in the who's who of journeymen in the game? And before he gets critiqued by brilliant minds, what could he have done differently in his career to become more of a force of a huge super sized athletically gifted heavyweight?
First fight I ever saw live in attendance was when McCline beat Briggs. He had a pretty good run going into the Wladimir fight.
for several years leading up to and including Byrd he was a very solid top contender. afterwards he fell off a bit but was still dangerous and game until the end.
As I recall he also had a stronger than expected showing against Peter, where I believe he was a replacement for Golota.
I was at the McCline / Wlad fight. Mayweather / Castillo 2 was the undercard. Both fights were a bit boring, tbh. The highlight of the show was when the crowd started buzzing and a spotlight shown on Mike Tyson walking through arena with a girl on each arm.
Broke an unbeaten Szpilkas jaw and dropped an undefeated Mago in his final fight. Not a bad way to wrap a career up asking some serious questions to much younger up and comers.
I remember being shocked he put Peter on his ass a few times. Strong dude and a pretty decent fighter with glaring limitations. I saw recently that he's a successful professional now and seems to be doing really well.
"if he amped it up a bit the fight was there for the taking" Hmm. We're not remembering it the same way, I guess. The standout quote for me of the night was Jameel going to his corner and getting corner advice about what he needs to do and Jameel testily going "Don't you think I'm trying?" and his corner guy sympathetically responding something like "I know you are, baby." Jameel did not seem to me like he could take control during that fight. He was slower, weaker, less coordinated and really just had nothing over Wlad. Inferior athlete with inferior skill set equals a loss, usually. McCline was a good heavyweight. Quality guy, but he was unlikely to ever be much more. He could always have a minor world title holder on his night but he's the type of guy who would float in and out of top ten rankings in a typical era. Enormous man with good skills for his size and adapted a normally punch-at-target style that helped him from burning out but limited his average punch strength because it wasn't a punch-through-target delivery. The way I remember him. Very capable of sitting down on something when he chose though. I don't think if he hurt Wlad he was going to Sanders him because the coordination and physical strength to either get to Wlad moving away with good enough follow-up shots or stop Wlad from wet-blanketing him was not there.
One nice thing to note is that McCline is one of those incredibly rare cases of a boxer finding financial success and happiness after his fighting career. From what I recall from an interview from a year or two back, Jameel said that he invested heavily in the tech/AI and medical space and has now made more money than he ever did in his fighting career. He made something like $8 million by fighting so he would be doing great now.
Big guy, decent skills (But as one poster put it, learning on the job). Just lacked the killer instinct. And he needed to lay down on his punches, as he SHOULD have had more power in his arsenal. Otherwise, seemed like a likeable fellow.
