Looking at his record he fought, and beat, some top guys I recognise. Wins over Donald Curry, Milton McCory, Julian Jackson, Herol Graham, Steve Collins, Sumba Kalambay and Ayub Kalule. Also close losses to James Toney and a draw with him. Won numerous world titles through multiple divisions. Depite never getting a fight with the Four Kings, should he be talked about more? He looks to me like he's packing one helluva resume
Greatest 154 lber in my opinion. He does get mentioned a couple times here and there, and he gets underrated and perhaps overrated at the same time. Still, one of my favorite boxer punchers to watch, very well rounded.
He gets lots of love here in Classic, and deservedly so. Rarely will you find a smoother, more fluid attack, and he was very hard to hit cleanly, too.
Mike McCallum 1976 Olympic Representative (Jamaica) at (-67 Kg) Welterweight Division Jamaican Representative, 19 year-old Mike McCallum, was regarded as a 'spoiler' in this Olympic Division. Look who was entered in that Divsion; Jochen Bachfeld... (East Germany) Pedro Gamarro..... (Venezuela) Colin Jones.......... (Great Britain) Carlos Santos....... (Puerto Rico) David Jackson...... (New Zealand) Clinton Jackson.... (USA) Emilio Correa........ (Cuba) Luigi Minchillo....... (Italy) Marijan Benes....... (Yugoslavia) Reinhard Skricek.... (West Germany) Carmen Rinke....... (Canada) Jose Vallejo......... (Dominican Republic) Victor Zilberman... (Romania) Valeri Rachov....... (USSR) Top African Boxers who did not compete; Vitalis B'begge...... (Uganda) Kenny Bristol........ (Guyana) Charles Mutti....... (Zambia) Aman Kotey......... (Ghana) The 'two' pre-fight favorites to win a 'Gold Medal' - * USA.. Clinton Jackson (lost in the Quarter-Finals) * Cuba.. Emilio Correa (lost in the 3rd Round). That my friends, was without a doubt, the 'toughest and most competitive' Division at the 1976 Olympic Games.
Didn't Minchillo put up a good fight against Thomas Hearns at 154? I remember there being some tough Italian Hearns beat, that name sounds familiar?
Mike McCallum got his 'bell rung' a few times in the Amateurs. At age 17, In the March 1974 Central American & Caribbean Games, he was stopped (L KO 3) by Cuba's Emilio Correa in the (Welterweight Division). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Still at age 17 1/2, In the August 1974 World Games, he lost to USA's Clinton Jackson (L Dec 3), in the Quarter-Finals in the (Welterweight Division). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ At age 18 1/2, At the October 1975 Pan Am Games, he was stopped (L KO 2) to USA's Clinton Jackson in the First Round, in the (Welterweight Division). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At age 19 1/2, At the July 1976 Olympics, he lost in the 3rd Round to West Germany's Reinhard Skricek by a (3 - 2; Split-Decision), in the (Welterweight Division). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ One-month before the age of 20, At the November 1976 Central American & Caribbean Games, he won the Gold Medal in the (Welterweight Division).
Tough to say; I'm not huge on lists, but I think most would place him in the lower half of a top-100 list. Some might omit him altogether, which I'm not sure is fair.
The second fight against Toney was a pretty clear for McCallum IMO, so I'd put that on his record as well. McCallum is a fighter that's often referred to as underrated, so often that you'd think he could in fact possibly not be underrated, but I kind of get the feeling he still is. Only had one, later avenged, loss close to his prime against a great fighter and won titles at 154, 160 and 175. Beat punchers, boxers and brawlers. Could do it against any style.
Mike McCallum vs. Ray Leonard I will go with 'The Body Snatcher',,,,,, Now that, would have been a 'Great 154 lb. Battle'
I have McCallum immediately following WSJ in d all time list which is top 20 . Maybe I should revisit it and maybe i should separate between eras 2 negate some of d mafia's influence on fights' outcomes . U forgot 2 Mention n undefeated Michael Watson in d list of McCallum's biggest wins . I think Curry and McCrory were at a better state against McCallum than they were during most of their time @ 147 , as they were less drained @ 154 . So McCallum stopped prime and experienced Curry and McCrory , and of course both were also younger than he was .
It would have been. Wonder if we would have seen it even if Leonard had stuck around at 154 after Kalule (btw was Kalule mentioned among Mike's wins?). Duran and Hearns wanted nothing to do with McCallum at 154, that's for sure. Also, I think that if McCallum got the shot at Hagler instead of Mugabe in 1986 he could well have been undisputed MW champ.
'The Sarge' Clinton Jackson, lost a 3:2 Split-Decision to the eventual Silver Medalist, Venezuelan Pedro Gamarro in the 3rd Round. It was a great boxing match, that could have gone either way. Pedro Gamarro, was an awesome fighter at Welterweight, and was the one fighter in the Division that 'The Sarge' was worried about.