Mike McCallum

[Master]

Reading Best I’ve Faced: Mike McCallum and others including Steve Collins very interesting.

the best boxer he faced was Herol Graham. You can guess who hit him the hardest. Best jab Curry. Best overall boxer James Toney. Best chin Steve Collins.

Best I've Faced: Mike McCallum - Ring TV

[Master]

James Toney said he was the only fighter he respected.

James Toney: the best I faced - Ring TV

[Beanflicker]

The "Best I've Faced" series is cool. It'd be great to get more boxers to do it.

[Master]

The "Best I've Faced" series is cool. It'd be great to get more boxers to do it.

Just read them all now, they are at the bottom

They have Morales, Oscar, Shane, Palomino, hatton, and Angelo Dundee. Very good reads.

[Beanflicker]

I googled and found a bunch more.

Herol Graham also lists McCallum as the best he ever fought, the bodysnatcher is a legend!!!

best i've faced - Ring TV

[Master]

Thanks, Herol was my favourite.

[mikeeod]

Mike McCallum was a beast. He's a guy to me, like Ricardo Lopez, that was a travesty because he was never afforded the opportunity to face great opposition. I would've lived to have seen Mike fight Hearns...etc. during his prime. He and Lopez were so unbelievably good and complete fighters. The 80's n 90's were great eras.

[p4pking]

Yeah, hadn't heard of this, going to read a few more, very cool. Whenever people talk about the 80's and the fab four as if that was some different era as far as mentality and the willingness to make fights, Mike McCallum is the only evidence you need to the contrary. He had every chance in the world of beating all those guys imo, and the fights were never made because they didn't need him. Margarito and Paul Williams literally would have been sparring partners for the guy, he was a monster.

[Ron Swanson]

Yeah, hadn't heard of this, going to read a few more, very cool. Whenever people talk about the 80's and the fab four as if that was some different era as far as mentality and the willingness to make fights, Mike McCallum is the only evidence you need to the contrary. He had every chance in the world of beating all those guys imo, and the fights were never made because they didn't need him. Margarito and Paul Williams literally would have been sparring partners for the guy, he was a monster.

It's exactly the same just more dramatic with the responses now. Leonard was a "bitch" and a "ducker" who was. "Afraid " of ........ It's laughable now but people believed this back then.

[p4pking]

Hah yes, I suppose the internet has a lot to do with it. Imagine the kind of shit the would flood the main board of this place before and after Leonard-Hagler huh

[Ron Swanson]

Hah yes, I suppose the internet has a lot to do with it. Imagine the kind of shit the would flood the main board of this place before and after Leonard-Hagler huh

The internet and the quality of writer. Now the media outlet determines too much . For example I have nothing personal against Dan Rafael but I don 't think his opinion should have near the weight it does. But he has ESPN behind him so his opinion has merit.

[mikeeod]

I think Mike was too big for Duran at 154 and would've won that fight, but I think Leonard was just a little too fast and too good for him. Hagler and Hearns would've been great match ups for him, but both would've had to rely on speed to beat him. Maybe prime Hagler could've won a 12 or 15 round war, but he would've been better served to box in that one and not stand for to toe. The Tommy fight is fascinating in that I think Tommy's reach and speed would've really bothered McCallum, but I think Mikes durability, chin, underrated boxing skills and body attack would've had him coming on strong late in the fight. Not sure if Tommy had the stamina and chin to survive the distance in that one.

[greynotsoold]

Does anybody remember when McCallum declared war on Kronk? He was a member of Kronk for awhile but left angry because he thought that he was being ignored, that Hearns was being given preferential treatment. Specifically, he wanted the Duran fight that Hearns got. When he left Kronk he declared war. Look up how many Kronk fighters he beat while with Duva, and watch those fights. McCallum directs a lot of anger at Emmanuel.
There is no doubt in my mind that Hearns was kept away from McCallum; he couldn't win that fight unless he did so in the first round or two, and then McCallum would have put a life altering beating on Tommy. Leonard 'didn't duck anybody' but he sure never fought McCallum. Same with Duran. You know why?
Nigel Benn sparred with McCallum and later said that he was the only man he was afraid to fight. Because McCallum hits you in the body and then keeps hitting you in the exact same place, Benn said, and he was convinced that that sort of thing can kill you.

[Master]

I remember he wanted Duran and was annoyed that Hearns got him first because the bodysnatcher would have become a big star.

Leonard certainly was selective when he came back after beating Hagler and certainly avoided Mike.

I think Watson said he could not breath in the first few rounds because of the body shots.

[ykdadamaja]

James Toney: Still being disrespectful to Roy Jones. lolol... he just cant bear the notion that Roy was a supreme fighter in that early 90's era. Roy Jones was just the best in that era.