Top 100 list? Does he make it? Incredible skills, resume... Maybe the most underrated fighter of the last 25 years to boot. Could he of shined even brighter if he had gotten a big fight or two?
At least Top3 at 154, possibly numero uno. Beltholder at mw and lhw. Good resume, longevity, skills. Everything there for a great fighter. What hurts him a bit that he never got in the mix with the Fab4. He should definitly rank ahead guys like Joe C., Winky and so on. He´s top100 for sure imo.
Easily top 100. Probably in the top 70-75 or so. His resume is quite overlooked by those who claim he was chronically ducked was never able to face top notch opposition because of it. He fought and beat a fair deal of the top fighters of the era from 154 to 160. I honestly don't think he was as avoided as is made out, and IMO he beat the fighters he was capable of beating. Had he taken on Hagler, Leonard, Hearns, etc he'd likely be rated in the same vicinity or lower than he is now IMO, as he wouldn't be favored in any of them (best chance being against Hearns). In other words, I don't really consider him underrated these days. People seem to know the deal.
Best light-middleweight ever, better than Hearns or anyone else there IMO. Most definitely a top 100 OAT fighter, and certainly higher than the 90-100 bracket. Very good resume by recent standards. I like him. A lot.
Top 100 easily. He was a great fighter and he's missing only a few from his resume all around he's pretty complete.
Fantastic fighter, he definitely rates in the top100 for me although I have no idea where exactly. Just watched the Herol Grayham and Michael Watson fights, highly educative as a boxer.
I don't have a top 100 ... Mike was a terrific, underated, highly avoided fighter in the 80's ... on the right night he would have been hell for Leonard, Hearns, Duran or Hagler ... he is often forgotten or over looked today but those of us who saw him at his best at 154 know he was a very special fighter ..
Susceptible to a good boxer, as Kalambay showed (almost played with him). Curry was also handling him comfortably until he got caught with a lucky one. Solid technician and great body puncher. Get's a bit overated IMHO.
Great fighter, one of my favorites. Even though he fought some class fighters at JM,M, most remember him as a later middleweight-light heavyweight fighter. It's a shame he never got matched up with some of the greats.
Timing in boxing is everything. McCallum was at his best at the end of the fab 4's reign. In this sense by 87 I'd have favoured him against all of them. The problem was that he was a huge talent but not a marquee name. So the same money in fights with LaLonde and Andries than there was in McCallum. By the time the next generation came along, Toney-Jones etc... he was slipping and way above his best weight. I do feel that had he been American he'd have got more of the top fights at the time when it mattered.
Yeah, he's hard to fully assess IMO. Two of his titles were won in "vacant" title fights rather than from real champions, and he fell short in many of his biggest fights (ie: Kalambay, Toney twice - though I thought he should've won the rematch with Toney). His wins over Jackson and Collins look better in retrospect than they did at the time.
good solid pro. i saw him fight once on the undercard of Hagler-Hamsho but didnt excite me. I wasnt the only one. Very few people seemed to care about his fights. About the only fight I ever paid to see him in was the first Toney fight (and worth it)
A top 100 fighter. Probably second only to Tommy at 154lbs. A little overrated because he was underrated for a long time, as the boxing fancy have an awful habit of over compensating for past errors. Very impressive form Kalule onwards at 154 beating the tough Italian Minchillo in a fight that pretty much ruined the Italian. And of course dismantled the then undefeated (but inexperienced) Julian Jackson. His finest victory though was probably beating the still very dangerous Milton McCrory, who although losing kudos against Curry, went into the McCallum fight in form and with something to prove. When he did finally get mainstream recognition he did choke a bit, looking very ordinary for long periods against Curry and blowing the first Kalambay fight. But came back well, beating Graham and then hitting that fine run of form that included the dismantling of Watson, which was a sometimes over looked mighty fine performance. After the second Toney bout, he did win alphabet crap at 175, he was not really the same fighter he was at lower weights.