Oleg Maskaev Appreciation Thread

Early warning signs that McCall's mental state was unravelling in the aftermath. He could be intense - see Lewis 1 - but still in tune with reality and celebrate a win. But here. He looks on the verge of tears after winning in the first. Dear me, knowing what happened a year later with Lewis, you wonder how he kept on track long enough to even be considered for a title fight. He looks totally - scarily - gone here.

 

Yeah. What a tragedy having both the skill and power to reach the mountaintop, but...that level of resistance.

 

Maskeav was an early eastern Euro fighter, but he not better than the Klitschko's, Povetkin, or Usyk. Not up to Chagaev, or Ibragimov either. At best he's 6th on the list of eastern euro heavyweights. This is not to say he did have career highlights!

 

Underated by many.

He had some good wins.

 

Wasn’t McCall also crying on his way into the ring when he beat Lewis? He was a very emotional fighter.

(That’s not to downplay the state he was in for the Lewis rematch, but he was definitely more emotional than most guys.)

 

Bump

 

Loved his fights with Rahman, especially the 2nd fight when he pulled it out with a last minute stoppage to win a belt.

Just curious though, what comes to mind when you see this...

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Tough dude with solid skills. And “Thumping” is a perfect way to describe his power. Nothing really devastating like a Wlad or Tua but just really heavy handed with a SNEAKY left hook that was underrated.

I would have LOVED it if he had beaten Peter and was the one to fight Vitali instead in his comeback fight. The build up with their amateur history would have been fun. Call me crazy but I think Oleg vs Vitali would have been more competitive. I still think Vitali would have won but there would be No ‘No Mas’ with Oleg.

 

I know this probably isn’t what comes to mind for most here but for myself is The Revenge Sultan got on Whitaker a few years later I believe Oleg and Sultan were friends if I’m not mistaken.

 

I think he could take Briggs