revisionist myths series 1: mike mccallum fab 4

Bump. This myth does not seem to go away, despite being disproven.

 

None of us can say for sure but it is logical that the fab four would fight each over Mike because there was simply more money to be made fighting each other. I think we can all say with confidence that no one viewed him as an easy fight and he never did have the sizzle of the fab four guys as for as generating revenue.

I do agree that losing to Kalambay cost him a payday but to me Kalambay was another guy that no one was lining up to fight do to the risk vs reward. Both guys deserved to make more money than they did and are bitter because of it.

Bottom line we will never know for certain how McCallum would have done against the fab four but I personally rate him very highly and he is undoubtedly one of my favorites to watch and was a HUGE influence on me when I was competing.

 

Is this myth still being perpetuated, though?

Hagler and Leonard certainly can't be accused of ducking Mike. Duran did have Mike as his mandatory, but vacated to face Hearns instead. Personally I don't see this as a duck. He just took the fight everyone wanted to see, and Hearns was perceived as a much more dangerous opponent at the time. And that Hearns never tried to unify isn't really a duck either I'd say.

 

Could you imagine what people would have said about Duran had he fought McCallum instead of Hearns? For 1/6th of the $. Duran probably didnt know who he was.
Hearns knew the most about McCallum from the Kronk. They spared each other. He knew Mike was good but Hearns didnt duck him.

 

I don't know what Hearns motivations was, but he kept defending his JMW title and going up to challenge Hagler, so there's not much to critisize there. Don't know if a unification at 154 was something the orgs even wanted and don't think it was in much demand since the other belt holders were unknown at the time.

I have some recollection of Steward hinting at McCallum being too much risk to be worth the trouble, though, but that's just a vague recollection.

 

McCallum only has a case with Ray Leonard. Ray ducked everyone for a few years in the heart of his prime..
He was just another belt holder in '84. Conqueror of Sean Manion. Those guys weren't worried about him. They all would have had a good shot at beating him.

 

I mean McCallum obviously wanted fights with Duran, Hagler, Hearns and Leonard at the time. They all fought lesser guys outside the Fab 4. He was too much risk for too little reward

Why didn't Hearns try to make a unification fight with McCallum after the Hagler loss? Why not make it later when both are clearly the best from 154-160?

Why does Duran A) Not face McCallum as his mandatory and how long was McCAllum mandatory for? B) Not try to get a title shot after losing to McCallum.

Why does Leonard not defend his MW title against the best contenders, see McCallum?

The Hagler thing is a tad different, as he wasn't in the division at the time and Mugabi was ranked number. However you are allowed to defend your titles more than once a year and McCallum is certainly a better fight than a Hamsho rematch.

The managers simply realised, there was too much risk for too little reward.

 

He doesn't have a case for Leonard. They were never in the same division.

 

Leonard made clear from the off that he'd retire after the Hagler fight, win or lose. And so he did. He did return, of course, but never to MW.

 

Fair play but annoying to both fans and fellow contenders of the day.

Wasn't there also 'Marvin can have a rematch if he admits he lost' thing too?

 

I think Mike McCallum is the reason it doesn't because he keeps going on about it even though it is transparently bollocks.

 

And it is called "avoiding"

 

It's just baseless sour grapes on McCallum's part. He wasn't in the mix of the Fab Four in terms of timeline yet he acts as if he was screaming from the sidelines at them the whole time.

Next we'll hear Robinson and Lamotta ducked him because after all they were alive when Mike was an active fighter.

Poor Mike just can't catch a break, can he? World's out to get him!

 

I happen to agree 100% with this post. Nicely put