best light middle ever

[Goodnight, Irene]

You can't be serious.

[kwillymac]

Tommy Hearns was unbeaten at the weight and beat Duran and Benitez, Norris beat nobody of that calibre and would get knocked out in 2 rounds by Hearns. No comparison whatsoever

Honestly, I don't agree that Benitez was a great Jr. Middleweight. He was much better fighter at 140lbs, and 147 lbs. Duran was never great at that weight either. Basically I believe Mike McCallum was the best Jr. Middleweight.

[Ezzard]

Dodged him like Superman evading a bullet, I tells ya.

Just like Leonard ducked Pryor. Those are two juggernauts that have been perpetuated through the internet. Take my word for it, NOBODY thought hagler was ducking McCallum at the time. I don't even recall Mike mentioning Marvin's name. He did move up to 160 as soon as Hagler retired. Great fighter who was never ducked.

Saad’s right that Hagler didn’t duck anyone.

McCallum wanted the fight but at that time Hagler was only fighting once a year. Mike was behind Tommy and, when Leonard came back, behind Ray too.

Of course, Tommy should have got the rematch (he earned it) after Marvin beat Mugabi, and McCallum and Leonard should have squared off for the right to meet the winner.

Hagler was clear that he wanted Monzon’s record, so he had 2 fights left.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

If McCallum wanted a hagler fight all he had to do was move up and secure a mandatory. Marvin defended those belts diligently. I don't think Mike wanted a thing to do with Marvin.

[Ezzard]

To be fair Mike wasn't ready until 86 and Hagler was at the end of his career by then.

Everyone wanted the Hagler superfight. Mugabi was ahead of McCallum, having campaigned there and because he had the sensational KO record.

Mike cannot complain that he was ducked.

The only possible critcism is that perhaps Marvin should have been fighting twice or three times a year, but after such a great career you can't really hold it against him.

[dr_devious]

McCallum didnt even move up to MW until 87 or 88 when Hagler had retired. I dont see how Hagler ducked big Mac.

[Syntax Error]

McCallum didnt even move up to MW until 87 or 88 when Hagler had retired. I dont see how Hagler ducked big Mac.

Agreed.

I laugh when I read about a reigning champ supposedly ducking a fighter from a weight class below.

Lots of people have said this about Leonard & Pryor too & I will ask again; how do you duck someone from a weight class BELOW, especially when you are the champion & the onus is on the smaller man to jump up & fight you?

[Arbachakov]

Of course, when McCallum finally did move up he was on the end of a glorious display of pure boxing from a more genuinely underestimated fighter who had paid his dues at middleweight without being able to just walk into a title fight.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

McCallum didnt even move up to MW until 87 or 88 when Hagler had retired. I dont see how Hagler ducked big Mac.

Agreed.

I laugh when I read about a reigning champ supposedly ducking a fighter from a weight class below.

Lots of people have said this about Leonard & Pryor too & I will ask again; how do you duck someone from a weight class BELOW, especially when you are the champion & the onus is on the smaller man to jump up & fight you?

That one is even worse, Leonard was retired at ringside doing commentary when Pryor had his breakthrough win.

Duran ducked a McCallum with one win of note to fight Hearns and then Hearns ducked him to fight Hagler. That's like ducking a hang nail for cancer.

[kwillymac]

Interview with Manny Steward:

DI: "You've managed or trained over 20 world champions, some of them are already enshrined here at the Hall of Fame, and you were inducted in 1996. They may have to build a special Emanuel Steward wing just for you and your fighters! How does it make you feel to see one of your guys get inducted here, like Mike McCallum will be this year?"

Emanuel Steward: "It makes me feel extremely good because in Mike McCallum's case in particular here's a fighter that never got any recognition at all. He was always going from one person to another (trainers, managers, promoters)-didn't stay long with anyone-and to now see him get this recognition means a lot to him-maybe more so than anyone who's being inducted this year. He was a great champion-many people only remember him knocking out Donald Curry. I don't remember ever seeing him on the cover of a major boxing magazine. Ever. That's very unusual. He fought so many guys in their hometowns or even their home countries. He never had a home base like say Tommy Hearns did with Detroit. He just fought anybody, anywhere, under whatever conditions and prevailed all the way 'till he was really never beaten. His age really only caught up with him. But to see him enshrined means a great deal to him because he never got the recognition or the super fight with Leonard, Duran, Hagler-none of those guys-which I think he'd have been 50-50 to beat any of them!"

DI: "Boxing insiders always loved Mike "The Body Snatcher" McCallum, but many fight fans don't know much about him. Do you have any interesting stories involving Mike?"

ES: "I signed Mike and moved him into the number-one spot, and we were supposed to fight Roberto Duran. Then Duran's people told me (they weren't) going to fight Mike McCallum. I said, 'What do you mean, we have a contract, he's the number-one contender!' Duran just had a good fight with Hagler and lost a close decision, and they wanted to make a rematch. With McCallum, they would only make $500,000, but with a rematch with Hagler, they would make $5 million. So, I made a deal that Duran would fight Tommy Hearns, but Duran would have to give up his WBA title. I allowed Duran to fight Tommy and make more money than Tommy, but the bout would only be for Tommy's title. I made him give up the belt so Mike could fight for that vacant title. So, Mike was gonna fight Sean Mannion for the title on the under card of Duran/Hearns. I was using Tommy to get him his title shot because they were not gonna let him have it. It was advertised as being a double-header with Hearns/Duran for the WBC title and McCallum/Mannion for the WBA title, and I told him that under these conditions if Duran won, he would have to give McCallum a shot.

Anyway, we all agreed. Mike was getting $250,000 and keeping all of it-as his manager I wasn't taking anything-and then suddenly he gets a phone call from Shelly Finkel telling him that I was screwing him and so on. I explained to him that I thought I was doing the safest thing for him that would guarantee him a title shot. We had an argument, and he ends up pulling out of the card. That's why when you saw the Hearns/Duran fight it was only for Tommy's title even though they were both champions. It should have been a title unification, but that's what we sacrificed to get Mike his shot. He didn't want to fight on the card, so later on the fight takes place, and he ends up fighting for about $30,000. He won the title, but shortly after that we severed our relationship because I got to realize that he always talked to everyone. He was always looking for advice, and when you do that you stay confused.

People don't know that even though Tommy was the star at the Kronk, Mike was the one I was the closest with-he was my close buddy. I mean almost every night I went out to eat, wherever I went, Mike was with me. We got to be that close-not Tommy-Mike and I were much closer. I've watched his career as it went on, and I was right there in the front row when he knocked out Donald Curry with a beautiful, picture-perfect left hook.

The main thing that I remember about Mike is he's the most naturally gifted fighter that ever walked into my gym. He did everything effortlessly. I mean he was just so smooth, so automatic. You would show him a little trick, and . well here's a good example. One day he was boxing with Tommy, and I said to him, 'I'm gonna show you a little trick. Tommy jabs with his left hand down, so I want you to parry it and step over real smooth, and shoot a little one, two and hit him on the chin.' He hit him three consecutive times, and finally Tommy stopped and said, 'How come I can't stop him from hitting me?' And everyone laughed! He did it so smooth-and I've shown that to a lot of fighters-but no one was ever able to do it, and he could hit anybody to the body! The workouts between Mike and Tommy were just unbelievable. They were better than most fights. They were just phenomenal!

I felt that when Lennox was fighting Tyson, all the people were putting the emphasis on Ronnie Shields as the new trainer, but I thought the biggest threat was Mike McCallum in Tyson's camp. I was more afraid of the tricks he could teach Mike Tyson than anyone else! In fact, when we were in training, Lennox even said to me, 'What do you think McCallum's teaching him?' You know, because he knew I had so much respect for him. I said, 'Well, naturally he's gonna show him how to work the angles so he can get in and work the body.' So we spent a lot of time working to neutralize that. There was no other technique that we were concerned about other than making sure that Tyson didn't become a body snatcher himself that night, and it worked out perfect. But, Mike is a very good trainer now, and I got a bunch of kids ready to turn pro, and I'm getting ready to manage and promote more, and I'd love to have Mike train some kids for me.

To have Lennox beat Tyson in such a total mismatch-he followed orders perfectly. Everything he did was right, so this was, to me, the highlight of my career as a trainer. I was totally, personally satisfied with that particular performance."

[Goodnight, Irene]

How sad Hearns and McCallum never met for all the marbles.

[bollox]

McCallum's problem was that he was seen as extremely dangerous yet wasn't a big 'name'

[kwillymac]

McCallum's problem was that he was seen as extremely dangerous yet wasn't a big 'name'

Exactly. He was very crafty with a great chin. Very tough. I believe when McCallum said people were ducking him he was right. I don't think it was because anyone was scared. McCallum couldn't draw the big money. At this point in time Hagler had a couple fights left. He wanted to get paid. Fighting Hearns, Leonard, and an overrated Mugabi paid him. I don't think Manny Steward wanted Hearns to fight him. There was no money and Manny knew McCallum would be a tough fight. You can see that Duran didn't want to fight for a small payday.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

When Mike was Duran's mandatory he had one win over a fading Ayub Kalule. Duran chose to fight Hearns in a unification fight. Roberto being stripped was typical alphabet BS. Now 30 years later fighting the best fighter in the division as opposed to a virtually unknown prospect = not wanting to fight him? McCallum's talents are undeniable, but c'mon.

You're right that he wasn't established as a name or even as a true contender. It was simply timing and he fought many big names and had a HOF career. No need for anyone to make things up when the time line shows the truth.