I did a search and didn't see this matchup posted before. This fight could have happened around the mid 90's but with both men being trained by Eddie Futch, it simply wasn't in the cards. This would have been a highly technical affair between two very cagey dudes. McCallum around 40 at the time but still had enough teeth to beat Jeff Harding. Montell was a ascending fighter at the time that dispute his short stature, was really good on the outside and slicker than snake ****. Who do you have?
McCallum himself says hat his fight with Toney made lights out better,I guess McCallum skill wise. Don't underestimate old mens in a profession where men die young.
I think a pre-Tiozzo McCallum would've still had enough left to beat Griffin either on points or perhaps late stoppage. Post-Tiozzo, Griffin would have the upper hand IMO.
It's definitely an interesting fight. On one hand, McCallum could still bring the pressure and while he didn't have a ton of pop at 175, he still could break guys down and knew how to steal rounds. Montell on the other hand was smart and loved to fight on the outside. Would he be able to keep McCallum outside? Montell would know his best chance would be to fight a similar fight to what Kalambay did but I think Montell was as fast as Kalambay. One common opponent was Toney who they both fought on pretty even terms. Of course the Toney/McCallum fights were far more enjoyable, Montell showed that he could compete at the highest level. I lean towards Montell over McCallum mostly because Montell was ascending at that point while McCallum was definitely slowing down. I kind of feel like Griffin would have ecked out a decision in a close fight.
I’m slightly leaning towards McCallum but not with any confidence or conviction. Griffin despite his shortcomings managed to beat James Toney twice and McCallum was already well past his prime by the time he ascended to 175. In fact I’m actually thinking that this is 50/50 given the circumstances
