McCline to fight Llewelyn!
By Lisa Scott
Fightnews has learned that heavyweight contender, Jameel "Big Time' McCline will fight Wayne Llewelyn, a 6'3" British southpaw at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on April 15th. Prior to accepting the match with Llewelyn, the 6'6" McCline had been in negotiations with such fighters as Chris Byrd and John Ruiz. However, Team McCline chose to reject those fights for lack of a viable purse and refused to be locked into a contract with promoter Don King. Originally, McCline (30-3-3-; 18 KO's) was set to face James Toney last month in a highly anticipated showdown, yet a ruptured Achilles tendon sustained in sparring forced Toney to pull out, leaving McCline floundering for an opponent. The 33-year-old Llewelyn (26-4; 19 KO's) hails from Beckenham, England and will make his second appearance in NYC (his first was in 1995 when he beat Mitchell Rose). Frankie Swindell and Pele Reid (a former kickboxer who defeated Vitali Klitschko in his martial art days) are amongst Llewelyn's losses. McCline, who's last fight was a 12th round TKO win against Cedric Boswell in October, has been itching to get back in the ring. He states "This is a stay busy fight for me and a good opportunity to get acclimated with a southpaw." The bout will be televised on Showtime (ShoBox) and will also feature Attila Levin vs. Jeremy Williams.
Ah well, that explains it then, it's on Shobox, perhaps he's being touted around for a challenge against some of the more prominent British fighters should he lose to Toney....
Strange fight for McCline to take though...unless it's merely a keep busy patsy opponent before Toney, which it is...
Wouldn't be so sure, McCline for a big man is pretty timid he has never had that killer instinct, his wins over Briggs and Whitaker were partly because both of those were damaged goods and McCline did more work. As soon as his big chance cam against Klitschko he went into a shell and then against Boswell he was struggling before finding the big punch...maybe he was mesmerised by the fact that star attraction Audley was on the undercard of that fight
steve689 wrote:Wouldn't be so sure, McCline for a big man is pretty timid he has never had that killer instinct, his wins over Briggs and Whitaker were partly because both of those were damaged goods and McCline did more work. As soon as his big chance cam against Klitschko he went into a shell and then against Boswell he was struggling before finding the big punch...maybe he was mesmerised by the fact that star attraction Audley was on the undercard of that fight
Yeah but we are talking about Wayne Llewelyn here. McCline's limitations are well known but it wont matter a jot in this fight.
Wayne's actually been doing well recently winning a fair few fights on foreign soil, someone asked me months ago why wasn't he in my rankings and I basically laughed off the suggestion. However, looking back I was wrong to do that - he's certainly a contendor for the lower reaches of the top ten.
However, he's very limited and I can't see him lasting more than 3 rounds here - and it could be one sided.
Its still a dream opportunity and never say never in this game. Wayne has never been out of condition and keeps plugging away, he wouldn't be a bad opponent for Skelton, but McCline for all his limitations is a lot better in every department.
