McCallum's KO over Curry: Perfect setup or lucky punch?

Take a look at Mike McCallum's knockout record at 154. It is VERY impressive. Guy had beautiful head movement, was wonderful at countering and flowing punches off his defensive moves, threw every punch in the book, worked the body and head, could hurt guys with one shot or an accumulation of blows, and could break you down. McCallum earned that victory by staying in range and working his head movement and punches. Was bound to land a good one somewhere, sometime on the straight up Curry. In fact, McCallum went undefeated at junior middleweight. His only losses were at middle and above. And Mike McCallum was never once stopped in his entire career. Guy had a punch, defense, and a chin. Allowed him to stay in your range and work and catch you. Just ask the hard-punching Julian Jackson.

 

Well, if he hadn't landed it flush, but the effect was still enough to put a bit of caution in Curry, Mike wouldn't have won the fight. I'll just say that.

 

There were still 10 more rounds to go. And believe it or not, two of the judges only had Curry one point ahead McCallum.

 

I don't know if the crowd nor the analysts at ringside shared the sentiments of the judges though. From memory, Curry seemed to be pretty well in control of that bout from the start, until McCallum launched that missile. That said, I still have my doubts about Curry winning regardless. Even if that shot had missed in that round, I think McCallum would have gotten him later. Mike was a dangerous hitter at 154, and Donald just didn't have the durability.

 

Yeah, but what people seem to forget is that Curry was actually coming on stronger and stronger prior to that one big outta-nowhere bomb. It's not as if Curry won the first couple of rounds before McCallum started to land his shots with more regularity or anything. If anything the first two rounds were more or less even, with Curry becoming more and more in control as the fight progressed. I think that's a large part of why he got complacent enough to allow himself to be caught with that shot.

 

I'm not necessarily with the judges either but it is a possibility that McCallum comes on strong late considering the fight was scheduled for 15 rounds, and on the scorecards McCallum was not in as big of a "hole" as it may have appeared.

Can't count out McCallum for losing the first four and a half rounds though. Well, we saw why he shouldn't be counted out. But in the case of the left hand bomb never landing, McCallum is still known to have strong finishes and Curry may have faded against the bigger man.

 

You throw hard counter hooks to land. Calling that lucky is idiocy; They're boxers, they throw punches to hit and hurt eachother. McCallum was never a blind haymaker throwing hack, he was a classy boxer-puncher who caught Curry at the perfect moment. Don never saw it coming, and didn't have a prayer of taking a shot that hard and sharp on the jaw without serious consequences.

 

Perfectly setup, Curry didn't even see it coming.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFYKe0CxmqA[/ame]

 

I don't know if it was a setup as much as McCallum says, but it was Donald making a big mistake and a good fighter who was quick and experienced seeing an opening and letting his left hook go. The fact Donald backed up with his hands down and stared at Mike opened him up. Also the swelling on Donald's eye distracted Donald a little Either way Donald made a huge mistake and Mike being such a good fighter didn't let the opportunity pass.

 

I saw Curry landing more punches as the rounds went on, but his eye was swelling and he was slowing down a little also and doing a little posing after landing, and Mike was not tiring at all. What is evident when you watch the fight in retrospect is how much stronger Mike was than Curry. He was the much bigger man.

 

I didn't see Curry slowing down at all, and I just watched the fight literally an hour ago. If anything Curry was having more and more success, looking more and more in control of the fight. That punch came out of nowhere.

 

As the rounds went by, he was landing more and figuring Mike out in someway, but I think Mike was figuring him out also. Donald was doing more of his in and out thing of moving in to land his punches and then stepping back to survey, which is what caused his whole problem in round 5. Both guys figuring each other out was like most fights were both guys start landing after a few rounds, but it was evident with the swelling (maybe in retrospect) that Donald might not last the full 15 rounds. Mike was a all around better rounded fighter than Donald and you could almost tell he was a little frustrated with getting hit by some combinations, but he knew it was a 15 round fight and that he knew his time would come. He almost seemed anxious in a way that he knew he was going to get to Donald. This is all said in retrospect, but it was really only the 5th round. I talked about the size of Mike in comparison to Donald-now I have not seen the fight in a year or two, but right before Donald hit Mike with that right which almost dropped Mike, Donald was hit with punches by Mike where he tried riding with the punch and his head almost stuck in position. It was odd, almost like Mike was hitting him hard and Donald just couldn't adjust or get his rhythm. And that is why Mike was hit clean by Donald, he wanted to keep hitting Donald clean which left him in position for Donald to hit him.

 

It certainly didn't appear that way. McCallum can say anything he wants to, and there likely was some truth to it, but he's been known to spew out bitter bull**** ad nauseam, so I tend to take his words with a grain of salt.

I agree with that.

Possibly, but the swelling really seemed to come out of nowhere. Curry's eyes puffed up easily, as a result of nothing more than glancing jabs it seemed.

I disagree. Not in a technical sense. Maybe when you throw in things like durability, mental fortitude, etc.

I agree with some of that. McCallum seemed anxious to get to him, sure. He was swinging big and missing pretty regularly by the 4th and 5th rounds. I'd say that had something to do with desperation as well. But then the one that happens to land is made out to be some kind of perfectly set up shot that he'd been baiting him for all along.

I'll be honest, I have no clue what you're on about here.

 

I am answering the last one comment but I don't know how to separe them believe it or not. Sorry. In round two I remember Mike and Donald were exchanging punches on the inside. Mike started to land and Donald was trying to ride with the punch up close and I remember he turned with the punch thrown by Mike and his head stayed bent back longer than it should have since Mike hit him with a grazing punch and it still seemed to stun Donald. That is why I think Donald's head stayed back longer. Donald was not fluid when Mike landed, just that Mike had a hard time landing.

That reaction by Donald told me that Donald would have a hard time taking Mike's punch if he landed clean, and in a 15 round fight it was bound to happen eventually. At that point in round 2 after stunning Donald, Mike was a little careless since he was landing on Donald, and Mike was in Donald's punching range and that is when Donald hit Mike with that right hand which made Mike's legs bend almost all the way down. After that Mike was aware of the possible counter by Donald and he had to set up the punches rather than just stand there in Donald's path. Honestly, that was a very good fight. In just 5 rounds there were a lot of changes in momentum. In the end size and Mike's stronger mental aspect helped him win.

 

in an all around sense when it mattered, Mike was the tougher fighter is what I meant. Most top fighters have to eventually get in brawls and fight and win. Donald never had a great ability to do that, and that little flaw became magnified with Honeyghan and then Mike. He adjusted well after and could beat guys like Rosi for another title, but he never really could deal with the tough aspect of boxing in a way Mike could and which most fighters have to.