McCallum vs fab 4.... the ducks

McCallum probably suffers that lack of a true "signature win," but I actually like his resume. Curry, McCrory, a young Jackson, the magnificent showing against a really strong middleweight in Watson, the underrated victory over Collins, the revenge win over the superb Kalambay........good stuff. Graham too.

I agree that his power is a bit overplayed, but I always thought his power suffered upon moving up to 160. His punches seemed to carry more weight at 154, though I suppose that's to be expected to some extent.

 

I don't think anyone ran scared from him and I think they would have faced him if the money was right.

But with that said it's also a myth that the opportunity wasn't there.

He was Duran's mandatory and Hearns could possibly have met him in a unification instead of defending against Hutchings.

Hagler didn't have anything against defending against fighters who had done nothing at MW, so it's not like the fight couldn't have been made. McCallum just wasn't nearly as good money as Duran, Leonard or Hearns. That's the difference.

Leonard is trickier to say, because he first retired when Mike just had turned pro and after he came back and beat Hagler he was a bit all over the place. I saw him quoted sometime saying that he thought Mike wasn't worth the risk, but I don't know if that was a true quote or not. But of course the fight could have been made. It's not like Mike wouldn't have made a catchweight at 163 to meet Ray, but Hearns and Duran just made more sense financially.

 

Would have been nice to see McCallum vs Iran Barkley. They were both middleweights
at the same time.

Would have been a War!

 

Very good, however by his 21st fight, McCallum was a world champion and in his physical prime at age 27.

Never a fancy Dan boxer type, how much better did he really get after this?

Regarding the by the time he hit his stride comment around 1990, I don't see any fights with Mike Nunn, Julian Jackson, Hopkins, or Benn.

 

I like McCallum, but he annoys me with the whining about being ducked. Hagler was ducked but made himself great by becoming a more exciting fighter.

 

McCallum was Duran's mandatory when McCallum fought Sean Mannion. McCallum had about 20 fights at the time. Watch the fight with Mannion. He wasn't ready to beat the very best.

There are a lot of guys who have 20 fights and are mandatories. David Avenesyan is currently Keith Thurman's mandatory. If Thurman got a chance to unify with Danny Garcia, and Thurman chose Garcia, I wouldn't consider it a duck of Avenesyan.

And NOBODY considered Duran fighting Hearns over McCallum a "duck" at that time.

You guys are thinking of the McCallum who beat Michael Watson in 1989, Steve Collins in 1990 and James Toney in 1991. Mike McCallum wasn't that guy in 1983/1984.

Duran-Hearns was a superfight. It generated millions. Most magazines had Hearns number-one in the division at that time. Duran was either #2 or #3. Some pubs still rated Benitez ahead of Duran after Duran beat Moore. Most pubs had John Mugabi up there in the top five, too. Davey Moore, even after he lost to Duran, was still rated above McCallum by World Boxing magazine when the WBA rated McCallum and Sean Mannion their top contenders.

That was no duck. If he'd decided not to fight Hearns and fight the 20-fight pro McCallum instead, that would've been a duck.

People calling it a duck are looking at it knowing what McCallum would eventually become and likely weren't even following the sport at the time. At the time, it was no duck. Duran-Hearns was a unification superfight.

 

McCallum was definitely ducked. You can't say the money isn't right to avoid a mandatory. Get it out of the way and move on . Thats how its done. Duran chose to give up his WBA belt or was stripped of it.

Hearns wanted no part/ or was steered away after Mike took care of the Kronk based Manny Steward trained Dave Braxton in 1985.
A good boxer Braxton was , but was a yeyo fiend too . Unreached potential like a lot of 80's perenials.

Leonard wanted no part of Nunn. No doubt about that.

 

Here is a video of Hearns and McCallum sparring at Kronk. The only person being protected here is McCallum. Hearns couldn't miss Mike with the jab. Hearns turns it on briefly in the second and hits McCallum with everything he threw and then backs off. When Hearns moved and jab, McCallum was lost.

This content is protected

 

I agree...all this crap i keep reading about McCallum owning Hearns here is idiotic.
Hearns in control at all times

 

Watch Hearns and McCallum actually spar. McCallum wasn't beating up Hearns AT ALL.

And I'm sure Hearns "wanted no part" of McCallum ... so he decided to fight MARVIN HAGLER that year instead. Much easier opponent. (LOL. Jesus Christ.)

 

Sparring is further from a real fight than an amateur fight is.
Look how many guys easily beat the guys they lost to in the ams when they met in the pros. I don't need to look at no sparring footage.
And are you the poster I exposed as a filthy liar in Mendozas Sanders thread earlier this year?

 

Yeah, why look at them actually in the ring against each other when you can just believe stories you heard.

 

So would you also say McCallum DEFINITELY DUCKED Steve Collins, his mandatory, when he opted instead to fight James Toney? The WBA stripped him for agreeing to fight Toney.

 

It's about what you define as a duck. I think not facing your mandatory is probably the best definition we have. But, as I stated in the post you quoted, I understand Roberto's reasons and don't think it casts any real shadow on him. But you can't the say the timing isn't right when he's mandatory.

Likewise, Hearns could have faced him for an unification before moving up to face Hagler. There's reason to believe Steward just didn't want that fight.

And you're forgetting that Mike already two years earlier had dispatched of Kalule more emphatically than SRL did.

When he met Watson and Toney he was already slightly past his best imo. His best was probably around 1986-1987.

 

Now you're really overstating it. This is a quite even feeling out session. Let's not make it into something it is not.