Mike McCallum is an underrated beast

IGotAHugePeckah

IGotAHugePeckah

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Made this post in another thread but felt McCallum deserved his own thread. One of the most underrated, most avoided fighter of all time.






Fans can say what they want about a guy but I think it means more coming from guys who were in the ring with them. Just look at what his peers say about him in the "Best I've Faced" series.

James Toney listed McCallum as being the Best Boxer, Best Fighter, Smartest Boxer, Best Defence, and having the Best Jab.

Michael Watson listed McCallum as having the Best Skills, Best Defence, and Smartest Boxer he faced.

Julian Jackson listed him as the Best Skills, Best Jab, and Smartest Boxer he faced.

Herol Graham listed him as the Best Overall and Smartest Boxer.

Steve Collins listed him as Best Boxer, Best Defence, Fastest Hands, Best Jab, and Smartest.

Sumbu Kalambay lists him as Best Jab, Best Skills, and tied for Best Overall
 
I liked when Mike said about Julian Jackson that he had to knock him out quick because he didn't want to get punched by him anymore. That he got hit so hard it made his legs quiver. Nice honesty
 
IGotAHugePeckah said:
Made this post in another thread but felt McCallum deserved his own thread. One of the most underrated, most avoided fighter of all time.






Fans can say what they want about a guy but I think it means more coming from guys who were in the ring with them. Just look at what his peers say about him in the "Best I've Faced" series.

James Toney listed McCallum as being the Best Boxer, Best Fighter, Smartest Boxer, Best Defence, and having the Best Jab.

Michael Watson listed McCallum as having the Best Skills, Best Defence, and Smartest Boxer he faced.

Julian Jackson listed him as the Best Skills, Best Jab, and Smartest Boxer he faced.

Herol Graham listed him as the Best Overall and Smartest Boxer.

Steve Collins listed him as Best Boxer, Best Defence, Fastest Hands, Best Jab, and Smartest.

Sumbu Kalambay lists him as Best Jab, Best Skills, and tied for Best Overall
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Spot on and I loved the thing about using the ring magazine articles to validate that. McCallum never got the mainstream recognition he deserved despite his sublike skills,heart, and talent. The guy had a lot of classic fights like the Jackson fight, first 2 Toney fights, his fight with former pfp #1 Donald Curry (I think), Michael Watson, Milton McCory, etc.
 
His fights with Toney are always on my computer's hard drive.
 
I dont think he's underated at all, people rate him very very highly.
 
treelo said:
I dont think he's underated at all, people rate him very very highly.
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His name isn't as prominent is the best way to say it, he isn't mentioned among the names he belongs mentioned with I'd say. More of a boxing fans favorite, doesn't really get mentioned as much as fighters he was possibly as quality as or even better... But that's why resume matters. You make your name off beating other names, and he never got his best fights. Not getting the nod vs Toney when he had arguably won really hurt him in that regard. Toney was a name, and his signature opponent, and that would have probably been the biggest win of McCallums career.
 
borntoloseNOT said:
His name isn't as prominent is the best way to say it, he isn't mentioned among the names he belongs mentioned with I'd say. More of a boxing fans favorite, doesn't really get mentioned as much as fighters he was possibly as quality as or even better... But that's why resume matters. You make your name off beating other names, and he never got his best fights. Not getting the nod vs Toney when he had arguably won really hurt him in that regard. Toney was a name, and his signature opponent, and that would have probably been the biggest win of McCallums career.
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I guess Donald Curry at the time, and the Hawk were solid wins that were notable for different reasons, but he never got guys like Hagler.
 
borntoloseNOT said:
I guess Donald Curry at the time, and the Hawk were solid wins that were notable for different reasons, but he never got guys like Hagler.
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Yeah, as someone once said, he was a "who needs him" opponent.

Much like when Leonard wanted no part of Pryor, a fight against McCallum didnt make sense for a lot of the big names, some stepped up, but most had a real hard time regardless of the outcome
 
treelo said:
Yeah, as someone once said, he was a "who needs him" opponent.

Much like when Leonard wanted no part of Pryor, a fight against McCallum didnt make sense for a lot of the big names, some stepped up, but most had a real hard time regardless of the outcome
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Did Pryor ever even fight at Welterweight?
 
Stormtrooper85 said:
That's why Leonard not wanting any part of him always confused me. Pryor wasn't even in the same weight class.
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Leonard went through a period were he was was VERY picky with he fought and who he didnt, Pryor was considered a threat, and challenged him publically, and Leonard simply dismissed it.
 
treelo said:
Leonard went through a period were he was was VERY picky with he fought and who he didnt, Pryor was considered a threat, and challenged him publically, and Leonard simply dismissed it.
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That makes sense.
I know Pryor got some low ball offers to fight Leonard, probably a tactic for Leonard to say well we offered him the fight but he turned it down.
 
mcallum fought the whos who of boxing including Roy jones junior great fighter to watch.
 
On a semi related note I keep reading thread as "McCallum was an underrated peckah beast. "
 
He was a true boxing scholar. A deep bag of tricks.

On a side note, I was kind of surprised to see how much Toney was favored over him when we did a scoring thread on their first fight. Razor thin fight IMO.
 
Hagler said:
He was a true boxing scholar. A deep bag of tricks.

On a side note, I was kind of surprised to see how much Toney was favored over him when we did a scoring thread on their first fight. Razor thin fight IMO.
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Yeah, I thought forum was more populated with crowd who favored McCallum in that one, maybe some of the regs who stopped posting is what I'm thinking, I keep forgetting I've been lurking at the very least the boxing forum 10 years now. (I appreciate the knowledge and occasional distraction but thank God I only follow one sport, when I think of all the time I've pissed away, I could have cured cancer)
 
He's definitely one of the Top 10 technicians I've ever seen, top notch ring intelligence and poise, an excellent jab, phenomenal offensive variation and accurate punching, renowned body puncher, consistent head-and-upper body movement at range that allowed him to both evade shots and create openings for counters. He had pretty slow feet but quite educated and economical footwork.
 
Stormtrooper85 said:
That's why Leonard not wanting any part of him always confused me. Pryor wasn't even in the same weight class.
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treelo said:
Leonard went through a period were he was was VERY picky with he fought and who he didnt, Pryor was considered a threat, and challenged him publically, and Leonard simply dismissed it.
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That's a bit of a myth. Pryor actually accepted the second offer for $700,000 and signed a contract. He was going to fight Leonard after Roger Stafford, which was scheduled for May 1982. Doctors discovered Ray's detached retina prior to the Stafford bout so it never came off, and he ended up fighting Alexis Arguello.
 
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