20 years ago today: Revenge, a mental breakdown and the weirdest heavyweight title fight ever seen!

[Ruthless-RKO]

It was February 7, 1997 and heavyweights Lennox Lewis and Oliver McCall met in Las Vegas to both decide the vacant WBC title and to box a rematch. Lewis, who had been shocked by McCall in September of 1994, being bowled over in the 2nd-round, had revenge uppermost on his mind. McCall? To this day nobody really knows what the state of his mind truly was.

What followed twenty years ago today ranks as one of the craziest, weirdest and most disturbing of all heavyweight title fights.

McCall, appearing to be in good physical shape, fought reasonably hard in the opening two rounds, perhaps believing he would be able to repeat his quick 2nd-round win. Soon, though, “The Atomic Bull” began acting very strangely. Known as an unpredictable figure, McCall totally lost it on this night.

Having had a far from adequate training camp for the rematch – McCall getting into all sorts of legal problems: vandalism, resisting arrest and a return to rehab for existing drugs problems – McCall really should not have been fighting. Still, money talks and the return meeting did go ahead.

After the 3rd-round, McCall began to self-destruct. Refusing to sit on his stool at the conclusion of the round or listen to his corner, consisting of former heavyweight champ Greg Page (himself an ultimately doomed heavyweight) and the wise George Benton, McCall was in his own little world. In the 4th, the teak-tough Chicago warrior dropped his hands, turned his back on a bemused Lewis and refused to fight back. Walking around the ring, appearing totally uninterested in fighting back, Oliver was clearly having some sort of mental episode.

By the 5th, the tears started. In the past, McCall was known to burst into tears before a fight, in an effort at psyching himself up, but now he seemed to be in very real distress. Later it was confirmed how he had indeed suffered a mental breakdown. Referee Mills Lane tried to talk with McCall but he had gone; unreachable by anybody. The “fight” was over and Lewis regained the WBC belt he had lost to McCall two-and-a-half years earlier (the belt had been vacated by Mike Tyson, who regained it by beating McCall’s conqueror Frank Bruno the previous March and then declined to face Lennox).

McCall, at the post-fight presser, tried to explain his weird ring antics but no-one was buying his “rope-a-dope” claims. Oliver was deemed to be mentally ill, unable to box and he was sent to a psychiatric ward. Astonishingly, McCall returned to the ring just nine months later. McCall fought on until 2014, his time in the ring even outlasting Lewis.’

The questions still get asked today: why was McCall allowed to fight, what if he had been badly hurt, should the correct result have been a no-decision? What everyone did agree on at the time was the fact that the heavyweight division had turned peculiarly crazy; what with the Fan Man incident of late 1993, the farce of Tyson’s comeback against Peter McNeeley and then the fainting act Bruce Seldon put on against Tyson, and now this bizarre fight. And there was more craziness to come. In his very next fight, Lewis scored a DQ win over a clutching and grabbing HenryAkinwande; while we all know what unreal scenes were to come in Tyson’s June ’97 rematch with Evander Holyfield.

The mid 1990s: a very strange time for the heavyweight division.

https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-news/2 ... seen/69064

[elmersalsa]

Let's not forget Andrew Golota stupidity against Riddick Bowe. I mean, some fighters in the 90s decade deserved a mental evaluation.

Another hot heavyweight prospect was Ike Ibeabuchi from Nigeria.

Damn, the 90s had some weird fighters!

[handsofstone]

Watched both Lewis/McCall fights recently, the rematch was just bizarre and McCall was clearly bringing troubles into the ring with him and in no fit state to win that fight, he was literally just walking away from Lewis and turning his back on him

[Ruthless-RKO]

Watched both Lewis/McCall fights recently, the rematch was just bizarre and McCall was clearly bringing troubles into the ring with him and in no fit state to win that fight, he was literally just walking away from Lewis and turning his back on him

Everyone was baffled, commentators were thinking if he was playing possum.. Lewis also didn't know what to do.

[Impractical Poster]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEa1bXl2lS8

[Impractical Poster]

There must be something about Mills Lane officiating these bouts that creates psychosis in one of the fighters.

[Noxy]

Strangest thing I ever saw in boxing

[Impractical Poster]

Strangest thing I ever saw in boxing

Was strange. However, Tyson's "meltdown" > McCall's "meltdown".

[Noxy]

Strangest thing I ever saw in boxing

Was strange. However, Tyson's "meltdown" > McCall's "meltdown".

Yes, Tyson. I watched that one live. I wasn't sure what was going on at first

[Bodyshot3]

The fight still makes you wonder precisely what the sanctioning bodies did back then (other than offer a belt to fight for and take their cut) when it came to properly regulating fights and being the responsible body concerned for everyone's welfare and safety.

No doubt Don Jose would have any number of valid, slick excuses straight to hand if he was still with us and pulling the strings; something along the lines of Oliver being fit to fight and the WBC also being kept in the dark by Oliver's camp as well.

But McCall's behaviour in the run-in to that fight was so peculiar and the authorities were involved as well; so it is not exactly a case of the WBC needing to be ace investigators or (frankly) needing to look that hard at all.

I suppose my point is - if you sanction something and especially in a sport as bloody dangerous as boxing - you should be looking at every angle and earning your corn by being a good, responsible citizen.

Thank god Lennox and the Ref could see that something was not right.

[Tuan_Jim]

McCall's prep was plagued with weird incidents. Throwing Christmas trees through hotel lobbies, gibbering and screaming. Either the drugs or lack of drugs were exacerbating his latent insanity. Page and Benson probably didn't want to put him in. King and Suilaman won't have cared.

[Kalan]

Boxing is an extremely emotional game. You can't escape the emotions because when you're punching folks in the head you're hurting them.

You knock out a sparring partner and he starts crying when he wakes up. His manager gives you a dirty look like you're some kind of beast for hitting him on the chin -- which you're supposed to be doing. You beat a guy up in a fight and a member of his family starts crying. Or maybe you're hitting your opponent freely and hurting him badly. The crowd starts yelling bloody murder in a deafening roar. You stop punching because your blood runs cold. You think "these people are savages and what am I?" ... You're matched with somebody you can knock out easily and you get a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. You know you're going to have to hurt him and it's not an even matchup. You force yourself to be cold blooded about it.

A lot of bad thoughts go through the mind of a boxer. You have to bury them or you can't do your job. Sometimes some guys can't manage it.

[BoxBuzz]

........And the Grinch's heart grew three sizes that day.........

[Caractacus]

Its the presure .

[APerno]

Its the presure .

What pressure? - He was only fighting for the heavyweight championship of the world; if he wins (again) he becomes one of the most famous men in the world, they will add another fornicating zero to his paycheck, and he will be revered and remembered - if he loses he risks serious physical damage to his health; likely ends ups broke; and after being fleeced, discarded. - I just don't see why he would feel pressure.

On the serious side, Livingstone Bramble once stated that he became suicidal and only saved himself by checking into a hospital for professional mental healthcare. - Not only do these guys suffer all the pressures I (sarcastically) listed above, but they have the added pressure of (wrongly) believing they will let down their families and friends. - I am actually surprised there are not more emotional breakdowns. - The prospect of losing so much money and the fear of all the disappointment that will surround them when they lose, must be debilitating.

[Caractacus]

well it was the Pressure that got to Andrew Golota,
I even heard him say so (in broken English of course)