Michael Watson = Underated as hell

a Beautiful Boxer and the Best of the Brit Fab Four...

Paul, John, George and Ringo...

Benn, Eubank, Watson and Collins.

 

This was my scorecard when i watched it last year.

Mike McCallum vs Michael Watson

1 McCallum
2 McCallum
3 Watson
4 Watson
5 McCallum
6 Watson
7 Watson
8 McCallum
9 McCallum
10 McCallum
11 McCallum wins by KO

96-94 McCallum

I have to say this fight was alot more competitive than i remembered i always remembered it as Watson being brave but McCallum mostly dominating but that wasn't quite the case. Watson was able to win his fair share of rounds on pure effort alone he tried so hard in this fight. The problem was Watson seemed like he was giving it every ounce to stay with McCallum where as McCallum was totally relaxed and going about his business.

Surprisingly i did have Watson ahead after 7 rounds but McCallum never looked in trouble or that he was going to lose. McCallum's skill level was just a level above Watson and his class was just a bit too much overall too smooth too clever.

Watson took some hellacious shots in this fight i was actually wincing at some of the body shots he took he showed tremendous heart and a great chin until finally his body gave out in the 11th round. But my goodness the amount of punches Watson took in the 11th ? McCallum literally had to nail him to the floor i give Watson alot of credit for the bravery he showed.

Overall a good high paced technical fight with plenty of skills on display from McCallum and plenty of heart and desire from Watson.

Finally one judge had it the same as me 96-94 the other judge had it 97-93 which is also a reasonable score but 99-91 ? i thought that was very harsh on Watson TBH.

 

For me Watson was better than Benn and Eubank i think Watson would beat any version of Benn just a bad style match up for him. I thought Watson beat Eubank in their 1st fight although it was close, and he was definitely a mile ahead vs Eubank in their 2nd encounter until that unfortunate moment in the 11th round.

 

Big fan of Watson. He was the quiet man of the British middleweights from that era. Lost an early fight on points to unknown (and future British and European Super middle champ James Cook) and no one was talking about him at all.

Everything was Nigel Benn and Eubank.

Suddenly he´s thrown in with big punching "Dangerous" Don Lee who had previously destroyed iron chinned Tony Sibson and held future WBO champ Dough DeWitt to a draw. He had recently lost to young upstart Michael Olajide but most have been considered the favourtie.

Watson took the fight to his big punching rival and was really doing a number on him before stopping him on cuts.

6 ko wins later he beats Benn in a classic before the McCallum defeat.

Personally I wrote him off (at World level) but when he fought Eubank the 1st time there is no doubt in my mind he was clearly robbed that night.

Nothing new to say about the rematch except I was gutted but Michael showed his championship heart in the subsequent years.

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I believe Watson at his best would outpoint Collins the Super Middleweight division seemed to suit Watson he was far better against Eubank in their rematch at that weight. In all honesty Watson looked like a H2H demon vs Eubank that night he was on fire it was just very unfortunate when he got knocked down that he got a whiplash off the ropes that caused the injury.

But yeah for my money the Watson of the 2nd Eubank fight would outpoint Collins.

 

Watson looked amazing in the Eubank rematch until tragedy struck with the final punch. I it hadn't been for that it would have been very interesting to see how he would have done going forward. 168 was to become boxing's probably most exciting division in the coming years and Watson could really have made a splash there.

 

Count me amongst those that feel that Mike is underrated. Top notch fighter.

 

Michael was one of the best to have come out of Britain. Good skills and tough as teak.

 

I’d edge it for Collins being better able to sustain a heavy pace down the stretch.
I know styles make fights, but as pretty much a part time fighter at the time, he made a better showing against McCallum at MW. Michael took a severe beating that night.

 

Watson is interesting, I felt his injury was sustained though his weight cutting… which must’ve been quite extreme when you put Eubank and Watson side by side… both Benn and Eubank commented on just how big he was, I came away thinking that McCallum did dominate personally.

 

I would’ve liked to have seen “G-man” vs Watson… would’ve been great at 175lbs.