I've always wondered why an established top-level fighter and just dethroned chamion with an excellent record would fight 6-0 Oleg Maskaev. What would that fight have to offer for McCall? And furthermore, why would a guy with 6 pro fights want to fight a top fighter liek McCall? So does anyone know how this fight came to be?
I don't know but if you look at Maskaev's career, you can see he was handled as well as dog **** on a shoe. I think they ruined the poor guy, his people. It's amazing he picked up a title after getting thrown to the lions so many times.
as said... Bad management.. He was an accomplished amateur . and military champ, but as pro was still a novice. McCall was a very seasoned pro at that time.... They took McCall lightly and did not respect his potential, and didn't respect thier own fighters pro experience... (I hate brave managers..)
They really threw Maskaev in at the deep end as soon as he turned pro. If I remembner correctly, he was fighting guys with records like 22-0 from his very first fight. I hate it when managers pad their fighters records by fighting bums though (expecially if they've been accomplished amateurs) so I'm not going to complain too much about this.
I'll agree, it wasn't a wise move for Maskaev but he fought very well in that fight and gave Tua all he could handle before the stoppage
Maskaev fell into the hands of American promoters, like so many of the first easteuro fighters did, and the promoters had an agenda, and that agenda was to destory them as fast as possible.
If anyone can tell us how many each one was paid and how much it was in comparison to the rest of their fight salaries it will have a lot to tell about the answer.
Maskaev's first fight was against a guy who was 21-0, so that goes to show you he'll pretty much fight anybody.
Maskaev was in my top 5 heavyweights at the time. While McCall was not even in my top 40. So, to answer your question, it was an opportunity for McCall to earn a big payday versus a tough, top-rated Euro-level challenger.
