Lewis v McCall revisited

Hesketh Vampire · Post by **Hesketh Vampire** » 22 Jun 2005, 07:15

I had a look at the two Lewis v McCall fights for the first time in years last night. There seems to be a general acceptance these days that McCall "got lucky" in the first fight, and landed one lucky punch that led to a premature stoppage - an opinion frequently propagated by Team Lewis and his fans in the latter years of his career. I was surprised how unfair that view really is to McCall on reflection, he was executing a pretty good gameplan on Lewis that night and was well worth the opening round. He landed that lucky old right of his on more than one occasion and shook Lewis up too, at one point Lennox was holding McCall's arms for dear life while his head cleared; then McCall came out in the second with more of the same and the rest is history. As for the premature stoppage well it's true Lewis was up soon enough, but he was badly hurt and tottering about. I feel the referee did mishandle it a little, he should have allowed Lennox to walk forward and show how steady or unsteady he was on his own, but had the fight continued you wouldn't have bet 50 pence on Lewis getting out of that round.

I feel it's something of a question mark over Lennox's career how he might have handled McCall in the 1997 rematch had the Atomic one not been suffering a mental breakdown at the time. McCall would always have been a difficult proposition for Lennox who usually dealt with dangerous punchers by blasting them out early, a tactic that probably wouldn't have worked with the granite-jawed McCall. Lewis would have had to adopt similar tactics to the night he beat dangerous left-hooker David Tua, but McCall didn't have the extreme height and reach disadvantages the Tuaman had. I think with Lennox's boxing abilities he would have been favourite for a cautious points victory, but I'm sure McCall would have given him a real tough time and made it interesting.

Spreadking · Post by **Spreadking** » 23 Jun 2005, 20:34

In the 2nd McCall could have won by coming forward. He was pushing Lewis back to the ropes in the first few rounds, but then went into a breakdown. If he could have kept up the pressure, who knows what happens over the rest of a long fight.

tiredoldngrey · Post by **tiredoldngrey** » 26 Jun 2005, 00:31

After the second fight the LA Times sportswriter criticized Lewis for hesitating when McCall had his breakdown, for not jumping on him. For God's sake, he was crying, which youvery rarely see in HW title fights. I mean, it would run through my mind- only once but very slowly- that it was a trap... I felt for Lewis because of the position the incident put him on, both in the ring and for years after.

dan1030 · Post by **dan1030** » 01 Jul 2005, 12:47

If the LA Times writer in question is Steve Springer, then that figures. He's and idiot. I'm from LA, and could never stand his writing on boxing.

I agree that the fight was a no win--or at least damn awkward--situation for Lewis, and it didn't get any better against Akiwande, who just held on for dear life until DQed. A less than illustrious start to Lewis's 2nd title run, to be sure.

overhand_right · Post by **overhand_right** » 01 Jul 2005, 13:11

Countless 80s & 90s heavies had coke problems, even worse than McCall, and none of them, NONE OF THEM, ever quit & cried like McCall did.

What people who dismiss LL like to forget is that McCalls team said beforehand "he's in better shape the he was for the 1st fight" & this was verified when he weighed in good shape, ran down to the ring fired up for war, and for 3 rds tried take LLs head off.

Only this wasnt the lazy, predictable LL of 94, it was a much more slick, intelligent & developed LL who was always out of range & nailing McCall with hard counters. After 3 rds when McCall realised he wasnt going to repeat his first performance & LL wasnt going to walk into his right hand guess what he shut down & completely quit.

Tough as McCall is, Lennox Lewis completely beat, out-manned & HUMILIATED Oliver McCall in their rematch. The revenge was equally as bad as knocking out cold Hasim Rahman, probably worse. Rahman didnt cry.

cultus · Post by **cultus** » 01 Jul 2005, 13:21

I haven't also seen that and always thought that it was the same kinda fight like Lewis vs Rahman .... that Lewis just bummeled the poor guy and then suddenly POW. That really leaves Lewis with nothin. Only his win over old Holyfield and Tyson. And Holyfields being the biggest robbery of all time. That's bad news... hihihiii :P

jab · Post by **jab** » 01 Jul 2005, 18:37

Ok, Lewis won that rematch. But the federations should not have allowed it to go through to begin with. McCall was 8 weeks out of rehab. His system was not yet cleared and if they run a drug test on him he would have failed. So the match would have been a NC.

While Lewis might have won anyway, a clear headed MCCall would have given a much better performance, say 3 months later with enough time to train and recover from the drug rehab.

Hesketh Vampire · Post by **Hesketh Vampire** » 02 Jul 2005, 03:40

I would say I do think the 1997 Lennox Lewis would have beaten McCall even had he been "clean" and thinking straight. It would have been a difficult fight for Lewis, who would have had to be very cautious like he was with Tua, but he had learned a lot from the 1994 loss.

overhand_right · Post by **overhand_right** » 02 Jul 2005, 08:13

jab wrote:Ok, Lewis won that rematch. But the federations should not have allowed it to go through to begin with. McCall was 8 weeks out of rehab. His system was not yet cleared and if they run a drug test on him he would have failed. So the match would have been a NC.

While Lewis might have won anyway, a clear headed MCCall would have given a much better performance, say 3 months later with enough time to train and recover from the drug rehab.

Mate, it was a WORLD TITLE fight.

Of course McCall was tested.

What about all the fighters like Tony Tubbs who scored wins whilst literally high on coke IN THE RING??! I sure never saw Tubbs or Aaron Pryor or Bert Cooper crying in the ring.

McCall quit because he knew he couldnt win & he was getting hurt, thats why. McCall was also clean & in shape when he lost to Frank Bruno, who Lennox Lewis had also beat.

Just accept LL is & always will be a better fighter than Oliver McCall.

Hesketh Vampire · Post by **Hesketh Vampire** » 02 Jul 2005, 09:30

Lewis was a much, much better fighter than McCall. But I hardly think McCall was getting hurt in that rematch. The opposite in fact, a cautious Lennox wasn't hurting him even with McCall's chin wide open. McCall's mental breakdown was the cause of the stoppage, and it was unrelated to anything Lewis was doing.

overhand_right · Post by **overhand_right** » 03 Jul 2005, 16:22

You are very naive if you believe that. You've obviously never been in a boxing ring. All punches hurt regardless of how well you can take them. If you couldnt see McCall gritting his teeth & the look in his eyes when he was getting rattled then you werent watching the fight.

Lewis's punching had EVERYTHING to do with McCall quitting.