School me on Mike McCallum

One of the best combination punchers of all time IMO...
And one of the best chins also...Jackson landed some bombs on him and he remained strong even with that...

 

..

 

Vs Julian Jackson
Vs Don Curry
Vs Michael Watson
Vs Sumbu Kalambay II
Vs James Toney I & II

For starters :good

 

..

 

Fantastic technician and ring general combined with a very good chin, workrate and extremely strong will. What he lacked was speed, power and getting the right fights.

Duran and Hearns blatantly ducked him. Can't really blame Hagler, though, since Mike had done nothing at MW and wasn't nearly as strong a draw as Duran, Leonard and Hearns.

If he was fighting in front of home crowds as some fighters, his only loss would have been to Kalambay before Toney III imo. That's a clue to how good his record was in reality.

 

He was a very very very good fighter. Great? I am not so sure he was great if the term is all time great, but he was almost there. Great chin? I think great defense. He was rarely hit clean, but when he was he could be wobbled like against Curry. Didn't waste many punches, and threw very economically. He had a great sense of when a guy was breaking down and was patient to work the body and know when to pore it on. He didn't face the cream of the crop guys Hagler,Hearns,Leonard,Duran or Benitez, which hurts his legacy. He never can match up to them, regardless of if he could have beaten them. All we have now is guesses if he could have beaten them. I think he was underrated when he was fighting, but a little overrated now.

 

He was from West Philadelphia, born and raised. On the playground is where he spent much of his time. One day his life is flip-turned upsy daisy. He was proclaim gym prince, as fresh faced fighter. His style is chilling, maxing his attribute, relaxed, all-shooting. One day, do-badders are in his neighbourhood and he has a wrestle with them. His mother fear for his life and send him far away to live with his aunt and uncle. They were higher economic class to his mother and he thrives but it is still years away that he become like Muhammad Ali.

 

All-time great P4P fighter who was never a household name. Almost fought Duran and Hearns in the 80's... but those fights obviously never happened.

Mike "Bodysnatcher" McCallum went 49-5-1 (36) overall and 14-4-1 (9) in World Title Fights at JMW, MW, and LHW. He also went 10-0 (7) at SMW but never fought for a World title at that weight. He was only down twice and never stopped. Thomas "Hitman" Hearns nicknamed him Bodysnatcher during the brief time McCallum was a KRONK fighter.

At JMW-

He knocked out Julian Jackson in the 2nd round.

He knocked out Donald Curry in the 5th round.


At MW-

He went 1-1 vs. Sumbu Kalambay. He lost a very close decision to Kalambay in Kalambay's hometown in Italy. He beat Kalambay by close decision in the rematch (in Monaco, not far from Italy).

He beat Herol Graham by decision in England.

He beat Steve Collins by decision in front of an Irish American crowd in Boston.

He knocked out Michael Watson in the 11th round in England.

He drew with a prime James Toney at age 35. He lost a MD to Toney in their 2nd fight but outlanded Toney by more than 100 punches. They fought a 3rd time at CW, it was McCallum's last fight, W12 Toney (close fight).


At LHW-

He beat Jeff Harding by decision.


He was dropped for the first time by Fabrice Tiozzo in his 52nd fight. He was 39 years old. W12 Tiozzo.

He was dropped for the 2nd time (he was never down again) by a prime Roy Jones Jr. at the age of 40, his 54th fight. W12 Jones.

 

He beat McCrory, Kalule as Mannion at 154 as well, all good wins.

 

He also managed to stop Minchillo, something Hearns failed to do if I remember correctly.

 

:yep Duran aside I think Tommy had problems with his right hand at 154.

 

Have to disagree on this. Kalambay schooled him completely. Mike deserved the close rematch however.

 

I think he stopped Minchillo in round 13, yet the Hearns bought was for 12 rounds. So who knows if Tommy would have stopped Minchillo the next round had it been scheduled for 15.

 

Tommy was moving up and down weights at that time. He fought Murray Sutherland in July of 1983 at middleweight, and then went down to defend the title he won from Wilfred Benitez in Dec. of 1982. So Minchillo was the first defense. Once he stopped Duran he did knock out Fred Hutchings, who was not a terrible fighter, and later he stopped Medal. although that fight was a TKO in 8. I think he could have stopped Medal sooner since he had him hurt badly, but that was the same day as the McGuigan/Cruz fight which was on the undercard, so Tommy was a little cautious to not burn himself out in the still warm night.

 

Not to be a smart Alec but Roy Jones???