Oliver McCall 1994 v Lennox Lewis 1997

I think that an improved Lennox under the instruction of Manny would have taken a comfortable decision.. I can't see a fully trained and motivated McCall being stopped, but he'd probably take a pretty good beating.. On a sidenote, their 1997 meeting was probably the most bizarre moment that I had ever witnessed in boxing.. To see McCall break down and begin sobbing in the ring was just mind boggling.. I don't know what was going on in the man's head, but needless to say, he was in no condition to be fighting that night... I'm surprised that his handlers even allowed him to go out there....

 

Lewis lost the fight because of Mcall taking advantage of his blatant mistakes. Those mistakes were corrected by Emanuel Steward. No version of Mcall beats that version of Lewis.

 

I agree and to be honest, i wouldn't be surprised to see McCall crying in 1994 if the fight goes like it did in 1997. He was already crazy back then and crying in the locker room before the fight.

 

Pretty messed up wasn't it?

Greg Page was working McCall's corner evening, and I can remember him cutting the tape off McCall's gloves when it was announced that it was over.. If memory serves, McCall was not supposed to receive his purse as a result of " failure to compete " or something like that.. That must have really sucked.. Imagine going into a championship fight with the best man in the world, getting humiliated, and then not even getting paid for it.. I don't know if the penalty ever stood, but that was the word at the time.

 

Maybe Greg would still be alive and well if that hadn't happened? (Didn't this episode have a major bearing on his fatal decision to come back?)

 

I honestly don't have a clue, but I'm thinking probably not... Boxrec has Pages' career resuming in 1996 and going through 2001.. McCall and Lewis had their rematch in 1997, when Page was already active again.. Therefore, I doubt that McCall's encounter with Lewis had any bearing on it. I think Page and McCall were fairly close though. They had spent a number of years working in many of the same camps including Mike Tyson's as sparring partners, and even helped each other out with their own careers. I don't know who showed up for Greg's funeral, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Oliver was one of the men who carried his casket.

 

As a sidenote, I've just watched the rematch on youtube complete with British commentary, and if I thought before that Jim Watt sometimes errs towards being an incompetent **** in the commentary box, then this fight only reaffirms and deepens that impression.

It might be easier in retrospect than it was at the time to see that something was visibly wrong with McCall, but even with this taken into account, Watt's sheer insensitivity and idiocy is staggering. ****ing rattling on about how he thought McCall was a fighter's fighter instead of a quitter and how Lewis was robbed of an impressive victory because of it. What a ****ing ****button....

I'm cutting this short before it makes me irretrievably ****ing batshite loopy.

 

He did cry in 1994! Ollie was like that, his emotions would just overflow and he had a few fights where he'd cry in the locker room or even out there. Just his own little 'pressure valve' I guess.

I'd like this fight just for the image of two Emmanuel Stewards in the corners

 

:huh

 

Is this any more necessary than it was unnecessary for me to go off on one?

And if you've ever heard some of the statements that Watt has come out with over the years, regardless of how respected he is, I would've thought that even bad terminology such as mine might be understandable, even if somewhat weird.

But making light of a fighter in mental distress isn't something I'd expect of any analyst. Especially when said analyst was once a champion himself.

 

This. :good
Great trainers make a great deal of difference.

 

Its all good.