The boxing world was saddened by the information of Mike McCallum, 68, one among boxing’s most completed and revered champions of the Eighties and Nineties, passing away out of the blue and unexpectedly on Saturday in Las Vegas.
McCallum gained world titles in three weight lessons and had moved into coaching fighters in retirement.
McCallum represented Jamaica on the 1976 Summer season Olympics in Montreal. He made his professional debut in January 1981.
McCallum was nicknamed “The Physique Snatcher” due to his proficient and powerful physique punching expertise.
A champion within the junior middleweight, middleweight, and lightweight heavyweight divisions, McCallum fought professionally for 16 years, registering a powerful 49-5-1 (36). McCallum was inducted into the Worldwide Boxing Corridor of Fame in 2003.
McCallum gained his first world title in 1984, when he defeated Sean Mannion by UD 15 for the vacant WBA 154-pound title. He adopted that up with six profitable defenses of the WBA belt, together with wins over Julian Jackson, Milton McCrory, and Donald Curry.
He later traveled to London and beat England’s Herol Graham by SD to win the WBA middleweight title in Could of 1989. Then, in March of 1994, he beat Randall Yonker to win the vacant WBC gentle heavyweight title.
In an unimaginable 55-fight profession, McCallum confronted Julian Jackson, Milton McCrory, Donald Curry, Sambu Kalambay, Herol Graham, Steve Collins, Michael Watson, James Toney, Jeff Harding, and Roy Jones Jr., amongst others.
Relaxation in peace, Champ.
