revisionist myths series 1: mike mccallum fab 4

McCallum: Jack Johnson ducked me!
Interviewer: Mike, he died before you were born.
McCallum: I ask you one thing! DID HE FIGHT ME???
Interviewer: Well...……...no.
McCallum. What more can I say? Proof.

 

Stupid post. McCallum was in their era and they all avoided him

 

Not as far as I know. But doesn't have anything to do with this anyhow.

 

Sorry son, didn't happen.

 

Don't know the details here, but the orgs aren't always crazy about unifications. They squashed one in 1984 when Duran and Hearns met.

Because Hearns was the better fight in every single way at the time.

It's like Wilder would accept step aside money right now to let AJ and Fury meet. If WBO then says that AJ has to face their mandatory instead, would you call it a duck if AJ refused and lost his belt? I sure as hell wouldn't. AJ-Fury is the fight I want, and I don't give two shits about WBO:s mandatory in comparison.

Because he retired and relinquished his titles shortly after beating Hagler and never fought at MW again. McCallum was still at 154 when this happened, preparing for his fight with McCrory. After that he would fight Curry at 154 before moving up in 1988.

McCallum was still at 154 and not even ranked at MW.

 

The Leonard comment was tongue and cheek though Leonard may have faked that eye injury to avoid the Bodysnatcher. This McCallum instilled fear in the hearts of men. It could have been his win over Sean Mannion that made thes guys sit up and take notice.

 

He might have avoided them. Maybe he wasnt quite ready at that time for those guys. Let's be serious they all did him a favor. He would have lost to all of them.

 

The problem with Mike and Donald being part of the fab 4 or a fab 5 is timing and losses at the wrong time. Mike could have been on track to fight Hearns or Leonard had he beaten Kalambay when he moved up in April of 1988 after that great win against Donald in July 1987.. But he lost to Kalambay when a win would have given him 2 titles and big notice. So his momentum was derailed. Also, all of the fab 4 had fights and could fight each other. Donald lost to Honeyghan and then Mike, which made him lose his elite status, yet the timing for him fighting the fab 4 might have been too late. He didn't move up to middleweight until 1990 did he?. Mike and Donald have themselves to blame. Had Mike beaten Kalambay he would have been on top of everything. As it turned out Mike and Donald were too much risk for not much money.

 

Part of the ‘avoided’ or ‘ducked’ equation has to be what offer was made.

Did McCallum’s promoters ever offer megabucks — money on par with what Hagler, Leonard, Hearns and Duran were making — for them to fight him? Doesn’t there have to be an effort (a REAL effort) to make the fight on the part of the guy wanting it for him to make this claim?

Or is it ‘well this guy is good, you should give him an opportunity to make his own best payday even if it means you’re fighting a guy who isn’t familiar to the public in a fight that people won’t pay big money to see no matter what the cost to you’?

 

They all had bigger money fights on the table than McCallum. If the money had been there it would have happened.

I know a lot of people think Hearns avoided McCallum at 154, but he had something way bigger in front of him: Hagler. Are you going to risk upsetting the apple cart when something that big is awaiting you? And avoiding McCallum to fight the #1pfp fighter in the world at the time is not "ducking."

 

Precisely. All these guys went after bigger game than McCallum; guys that were thought of at the time not only as being the bigger hits financially but in terms of challenge too. Hagler was considered the #1 man in the sport, and Hearns took him on. No fear in that man anywhere. Duran indeed decided against fighting McCallum in defense of his title but not to go the safe route or because the prospect of a loss prevented it; Hearns was considered far more a threat at that time (rightfully so) than McCallum. Duran too then took the harder road in fighting Tommy in 1984.

Hagler was retired a year before McCallum even decided to move up to 160, so that's a complete non-argument. Nothing to say there. And Leonard...….well by that time (1988) Leonard was after the big kills at the bank and the two more titles to bolster his ego. Alphabet titlists at 160 just weren't of any concern to him. He took the easy road to it after 1987 in taking on Lalonde, but you'd sooner accuse him of ducking Nunn than McCallum. There was no special perceived threat posed by the Bodysnatcher there. Leonard was after big money and big prizes in that stage of his career, and McCallum simply wasn't on that marquee level.

There's just no case for any of them purposely ducking McCallum. Patent nonsense.

 

These arguments are pretty pathetic. There is nothing to stop Hearns from fighting McCallum and Hagler. He had time for both easily. Look at who Emile Griffith fought