Former WBC heavyweight champion Oliver McCall sure has lived some quite amazing, up and down life already. Today, the tough warrior from Chicago who has never once tasted the ring canvas, not in a fight, not in sparring, celebrates his 60th birthday. Doubtless there will be quite a few folks who know McCall well that will find themselves looking back in amazement that Oliver managed to make it this far.
McCall, who has had his dark times – drug problems, erratic behaviour, no less so than when he suffered a disturbing to watch mental breakdown right there in the middle of the ring in his return fight with Lennox Lewis – is said to be in a good place today. Just this past February, McCall made it to 2-0 in his latest, almost surreal comeback. And McCall plans to fight on.
Back in the day, McCall was so tough he would give Mike Tyson hell in sparring, while as a pro, as hot and cold as he was, McCall at his best could beat a Lewis, a Jesse Ferguson, a Bruce Seldon, a Lionel Butler, a Francesco Damiani. At his worst, McCall could be decisioned by a Mike Hunter, by an Orlin Norris, by a Frank Bruno.
It was against Bruno that McCall, who perhaps trained minimally for the fight that took place in September of 1995, lost his WBC title. McCall, trained at the time by Emmanuel Steward, had shocked Lewis to take the belt the previous September. Steward didn’t stick around, leaving McCall to hire George Benton (McCall would work with numerous trainers during his career). McCall scraped past an ageing Larry Holmes for his one and only title retention.
But McCall was far from done after the points loss to Bruno. McCall would smash Oleg Maskaev in a round in his very next fight, and then he would meet Lewis in the ill-fated rematch. And still McCall wasn’t finished. In fact, post-Lewis, McCall has gone 33-7, with a couple of no contests thrown in. And of course, McCall has never been knocked down, much less out.
It remains to be seen if this will change if McCall carries on fighting, but there is already some suggestion that McCall could engage in a senior’s tour type event, with the likes of Shannon Briggs featuring.
McCall is a quite amazing 61-14(40) 2 NC, and he has been fighting for 30 years. And still McCall ain’t done yet