He faced Herol Graham for the vacant title. Defended against Steve Collins, Michael Watson, and Sumbu Kalambay...and a draw with James Toney for the IBF title.(which ended his WBA reign, because he was stripped) While his term was brief, only four defenses (counting the IBF fight)...My question for the board is... Who fought more quality opponents during a singular middleweight title reign?
He was very, very good. He faced quality opposition and won. However, I think he proved himself at lightmiddle more then he got a chance to do at middle.
Good stuff, though he steadily slowed down by the toney fight, which i thought he really hit the wall in towards the end...you could see him aging before your eyes.This was somewhat tempered by Collins and Watson being inexperienced and Kalambay also being old however. Watson was maybe his best performance as far as controlling a good fighter goes imo. It speaks well for him that he was so competitive with Toney will past his best.Especially in the second fight where he didn't look good but arguably won.
Mike McCallum was a great fighter. His great amateur pedigree took him far as a pro. His early years and his exposure to Bunny Davis also added to his later game. He never was invited to the round robin between the Fabulous Four. Had he been, or had he gotten his rightful shot at Duran for the WBA Junior Middleweight Title, he would have made himself VERY known. Manny Stweard and politics saw an effective end to that - and I got that from McCallum himself in an interview last year. I recall controversy about McCallum's true age circa 1986. When he arrived flat and lost to Kalambay in '88 - he seemed older than his advertised years. Adjustments to his game saw a successful rebound - and two more titles in two additional divisions. I recall being told that he hadn't begun serious training three and half weeks out from his rubber match with James Toney by Merqui Sosa's wife - McCallum's last fight. McCallum did begruddgingly hint that after the Fabrice Tiozzo match, something was "missing". Greatness and notoriety do not always go hand in hand.
The sparring stories between Mike and Tommy Hearns are supposed to be great. I've heard a few...just stories though.
McCallum himself verified the stories when I asked him about the rumors. He claimed that he and Tommy fought often, stating that they got the better of each other at different points, qualifying the statement by indicating he got the best of Hearns more often than Hearns gotr the best of him. Maybe a 60-40 type of split with Hearns getting the 40-end of the stick. Another point on the sparring at the Kronk - McCallum stated that some of the most trouble he got early on in sparring was from the pre-Curry version of Milton McCrory. Ditto with Clint Jackson.
