Oliver McCall vs Ingemar Johansson

I’m with you. McCall could absolutely sleepwalk his way to a loss here. I’d almost favour it.

Is, “The Atomic Bull” the greatest waste of a nickname ever seen!? That should belong to Sonny Liston or something. McCall isn’t worthy.

 

I wouldn't favor him to flatten McCall but he could easily outbox him.

Their's zero issue with anyone picking McCall here, but this whole "Ingo wouldn't last three round lolz" is non-sense.

 

Well said. Johansson’s chances are being undersold here big time.

 

The thing about us giving Johansson the benefit of the doubt here, is that even during certain sleepwalking performances, McCall could still be VERY dangerous to any man in the ring. He nearly took out Bruno despite being unfocused for the whole match, and we know that Johansson is a much smaller man, in weight, size, and reach to him- I don't think that Ingo stays around very long if Oliver gets serious in the middle or later rounds of a match.

 

The “flattening” McCall was definitely tongue in cheek.

 

I get it, & I’m not picking Johansson to be clear. He will rarely beat anyone he can’t knock out (& I doubt very much he can put McCall away), but McCall had what someone mentioned as sparring partner syndrome, he was just as likely to do nothing all fight or completely break down mentally & hand his enemy a victory. Who knows for sure but I wouldn’t be confident of a McCall win just on the strength he can take Johansson’s best punch.

 

Johnny ‘The Entertainer’ Nelson has entered the chat.

 

I think that the chance that McCall breaks down during the fight is a very non factor, as the only true time we've seen it happen be against Lewis- When he was pulled straight out of rehab and straight into the ring. Even if he is just playing it out like a spar and doesn't get inspired until late, like the Bruno affair, he will take it. McCall was more than just a man with a strong chin, he was also a man with a strong punch, and I'm sure that it hurt a hell of a lot more than Patterson's did.

Even if we just take a look at McCall's losses at or near his prime, he only lost six times during that span, and I think it's safe to say that Johansson doesn't have any of the given skills to replicate those performances. Hunter, Douglas, Norris, Tucker, Bruno, and Lewis- Johansson is sure as hell not slick enough to avoid being caught (Douglas almost got taken away in his fight with McCall, and he's no primate when it comes to boxing), and he doesn't have the kind of jab to fend McCall off with, especially not with a reach akin to Tyson's. Maybe I'd say that Johansson had a chance if McCall dropped decisions left and right in the 90s, but he still ended the decade at 34 (23 KO) - 7!

 

That might be less fitting, but it’s just a generic alias. The Atomic Bull is something special. Completely wasted on McCall.

 

He should have been nicknamed ‘Atomic Bunker Chin’ because it would take an A-bomb to crack that mandible.

Say what you will about Oliver, he was as sturdy as anyone I’ve ever seen as far as ability to take a punch.

 

It's impressive that it just had something to do with his genetics, you still see his neck snap back from certain punches, but he just doesn't seem phased. Very cool that we can visibly tell the differences between godly made chins and ones made through exercise (Not that one is lesser than the other).

 

I think as it pertains to this fantasy matchup, Ingo breaks his right hand hitting McCall square on the jaw (like hitting a brick wall, smashing every bone in his hand to dust) and then does the same when he tries to just use the left.

McCall sleepwalks to a decision and Ingo has to retire due to having no bone matter left in either hand.

 

"Goodbye toonder... Goodbye lightning..."

 

That McCall fella wasn't so tough. I know big guys from my neighborhood that would have clobbered him in 1 punch

 

Kidding aside, I brought this up before some time ago:

How does one distinguish between toughness and having a good chin?

Were Randall Cobb, George Chuvalo, LaMotta and McCall super-tough guys or did they just have the capacity to still be standing when others would have fallen?

If the above guys had had glass jaws, would we still consider them tough? Somehow I don’t think so.

Like Joe Frazier is TOUGH: George Foreman put him down, what, like eight times in two fights and he kept getting up like Jason Vorhees in the Friday the 13th movies … just couldn’t keep him down. But he didn’t have the iron in his mandible to not get knocked down again and again by Big George. And he certainly waded through a paper shredder vs. Ali in Manilla in particular.