Mike McCallum vs John Mugabi

A lot of this comes from McCallum himself, who can be seen on YouTube complaining that the Fab Four were all scared of him. The only real case he had to fight any of them was when he was Duran's mandatory at 154 and Duran opted for the big money fight with Hearns instead. In the brief timeframe that his prime coincided with Hagler's career, he wasn't even a blip on Hagler's radar. McCallum didn't move up to middleweight until after Hagler's retirement.

 

Mugabi prior to Hagler was a much better, tougher fighter than given credit for. He could fight from behind a very good stiff jab, and of course his power in both hands was legendary.
Look at the history of boxing, for whatever reason quite a few big punchers lost that special something after the 1st loss ( Confidence?) From Foreman's ridiculous fighting 5 men in one night, too Liston looking at the lights and wallowing around like a beached whale the 2nd Ali fight.
Cuevas after Hearns was never the same.
Same with Garza after Meza.
McCallum though was just and all around better fighter than Mugabi. McCallum's chin was legendary, and his skill level was great ( But not as great as he thought he was. Fighters like Hearns, Robinson, and Leonard beat him convincingly, probably Benitez would too because McCallum had issues with fighters that could move in my opinion. Look at how easily Curry beat him to the punch most of their fight.)
McCallum beats Mugabi though by Dec. I don't see McCallum ko'ing Mugabi especially since it took Hagler at a heavier weight, 11rds to finally wear him down, and stop him in a very fast paced and hard hitting fight, Hagler hit harder than McCallum.
McCallum by unanimous Dec after some tough moments.

 

What myth is this? You seem to think I said Hagler ducked McCallum. I didn't. I said they would have had a great series of fights around that time.

If they were close fights they absolutely could have had a series of bouts.

 

I dont think JT said Hagler ducked him rather that their careers at middleweight didn't cross. Hagler had retired before McCallum had even fought Curry at Jnr middle. Mike had done nothing prior to that to earn a a shot at the middleweight title; he was racking up fairly uninspiring defences at 154lbs. There'd have been no call for the fight. McCallum didn't move up until Hagler had been retired for a year so, yes, I see JT's point that there was no call for one fight let alone three.

If it didn't happen, I'd be more inclined to put that down to McCallum. He was not much younger than Hagler, same age as Leonard, older than Hearns. He just didn't put his foot down and get going careerwise until the fab four were winding up but he was the right age and size to have been right there in the mix from the get go. He just didn't.

For what it's worth I don't see this as being an easy night for Mike either. Don't judge Mugabi on his post-Hagler career. Before that fight he looked good, very good. At the time he was more highly regarded than McCallum; partly due to misjudgement on the part of pundits but also down to the levels of ability each man was showing. They weren't the light years apart that some posts in this thread would suggest.

 

I said nothing about you thinking Hagler ducked McCallum. I simply showed you why the fight was never on the cards and was never going to be. We were never going to get McCallum vs Hagler instead of Mugabi as the timeline makes it virtually impossible. McCallum was a virtual nobody in the big picture at that point. If Hagler fought him he would have been lambasted and i'm not even sure he technically could have without losing titles. There would have been zero recognition for beating a guy that had not yet made a name for himself. It's a really simple scenario.

 

Hard to be completely sure but i do like Leonard's speed and boxing class in this one. Leonard had great stamina and if he say moved up around the time of his break he would have been one helluva Junior Middle imo. He'd outslick McCallum comfortably early on and even as McCallum got closer Leonard would present his own problems. Leonard's not getting suddenly whacked out like Curry and he certainly has the power to worry McCallum as seen by Curry buzzing him a couple of times.

Intriguing fight.

 

Fine post Eddie.

 

McCallum by KO in 13. He would wear down John methodically.