How good was Mike McCallum?

[denilson200]

How good was the Bodysnatcher? Seems he is underrated and underappreciated by a lot of the boxing public. Does he get the recognition he deserves, ya think?

I think his problem was that he was a late developer.

He won his first world title at 28. He didn't come into focus until 1986 when he beat Julian Jackson by that time he was 30.

The marquee names in the middleweight division were Hagler - Hearns - Leonard - Duran

In 86 - Hagler was getting ready for his super fight with Leonard in 87 and bowed out after that. Leonard was lining up his super fight with Hagler and then moved up to Light heavyweight. Hearns was coming of a loss against Hagler in 85 and McCallum would have been viewed as too dangerous a fighter to come back against. Duran took two years out of the ring after Hearns nearly took his head off in 1984. Duran came back in 1986 and again McCallum would have been seen as too dangerous type of fighter to come back against.

For whatever reason he never fought the awesome foursome. Therein lies his problem. However when you look at the list of guys he has beaten Don Curry, Steve Collins, Sumbu Kalambay (2nd time), Michael Watson, Herol Graham he has not done too badly. Also it must remembered that even though Don Curry was his biggest win, he was getting outclassed up until that point. I think his biggest problem was that straight after his Curry win, he goes to Italy and gets beaten by Sumbu Kalambay in 88.

Sometimes as fighter, it pays to run your mouth after his Curry win. He should have been saying

"American fighters are bums. Hagler is overrated. He will blind Leonard if they fight. Duran is a has been. Hearns is chinny"

Why after beating Curry, when he was undefeated (32-0) and at the peak of his powers and marketability, he and his team felt the need to take a backward step and go to the backwaters in Italy, a notoriously hard place to get a win and fight some unknown guy I will never know.

Also he fought James Toney 3 times (2 losses, 1 draw) and Roy Jones blatantly said that, out of respect that he had for McCallum, he didn't want to hurt him so he let McCallum hear the final bell when they fought in 96. Also his style of fighting wasn't the most exciting either. Plus he was not promoted by Don King or Bob Arum or any of the major boxing big hitters.

My opinion is, that I don't think McCallum was under-rated. He is rated where is his. A very good fighter but not the Jedi you think he is. I think a prime Hagler - Leonard - Duran or Hearns would have ran him out of the ring.