Heavyweight warrior Oliver McCall, who sparred tough rounds with Mike Tyson, who KO’d Lennox Lewis and who, famously, was never once knocked down in a single fight – McCall going 59-14 – 2 no contests (38 KO) during his 1985 to 2019 pro career – has some story to tell.
The tough guy from the tough streets of Chicago faced a who’s who of the heavyweight division: Orlin Norris, Bruce Seldon, Tony Tucker, Francesco Damiani, Lennox Lewis, Larry Holmes, Frank Bruno, Oleg Maskaev, and others. And Oliver, a while back, kindly afforded this ESB contributor an over the phone interview.
McCall spoke about his boxing heroes and other things:
“Joe Louis is my [boxing] hero. He was world champ for 12 years! And he was champ in and out of the ring,” McCall said. “I admire him so much, he gave donations to the war effort. Also, I love his fighting style, his six-inch punches and his combinations were awesome, especially for the 1930s and the 1940s.”
“The greatest fight I’ve ever seen has to be the Marvelous Marvin Hagler versus Thomas Hearns fight. I watched it live on TV…….I also love the Ali-George Foreman fight, and the rematch between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. That was special.”
“The toughest man I ever fought, that was James “Buster” Douglas. He beat me, by decision, way back in 1989. Buster had a great, great left jab. The best I ever faced or encountered.”
On his rock for a chin:
“I thank God for it. I was blessed. I had the power, and I also had the power to take a great shot (laughs). I never fought any pushovers, and most of the guys I fought had punching power.”
To this day, plenty of us wonder what might have happened had McCall fought Mike Tyson. As it is, “The Atomic Bull” has a pretty special place in the minds of all those fight fans who saw him do his thing.
Today, McCall is closing in on his 60th birthday, and, boy, should a documentary be made on Oliver. Has any heavyweight ever had a greater, tougher, more shock-reliable chin!?
Mcall may not be looked at as a great, but his chin absolutely was great. No man ever managed to put a dent in it.
The 10 greatest chins in heavyweight history:
1: George Chuvalo
2: Oliver McCall
3: Rocky Marciano
4: Muhammad Ali
5: George Foreman
6: Randy “Tex” Cobb
7: Marion Wilson
8: Ray Mercer
9: Tommy Farr
10: David Tua
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