Former professional boxer Mike McCallum, a Jamaican, competed from 1981 until 1997. He held the WBA super welterweight championship between the years 1984 and 1988. From 1989 to 1991, he had the WBA middleweight title. From 1994 to 1995, he held the WBC light heavyweight title.
McCallum was a skilled, hard-hitting craftsman in the ring, and despite suffering five defeats, he never lost his composure or toughness. He gained the moniker “The Bodysnatcher” for his propensity to deliver devastating body blows during combat. In 2003, McCallum became a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He was named tenth in 2011 by The Ring magazine among the 10 greatest middleweight champions in the past 50 years.
From experiencing great poverty and obscurity in his homeland of Jamaica to the top of the boxing world, Mike McCallum has indeed come a long, long way. The exceptionally skilled boxer-puncher, however, was one of the most avoided fighters of his period for a significant portion of his career because he was seen as carrying too much danger for too little gain. On December 7, 1956, in Kingston, Jamaica, McCallum was born. Before discovering boxing at the age of 15, he was a single child of his parents and enjoyed his laid-back lifestyle on the island.
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Early life
He claimed to have grown up in a pious community and made it a point to attend church every Sunday with his parents in an interview with The Ring about his early years and childhood. According to him, going to school and spending his free time playing with the neighborhood kids took up a significant portion of his life.
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When questioned about how he was discovered, he mentioned a specific incident that happened while he was in his early teen years. He stated that he frequently got into fights with other people, and in one particular incident, he was at a popular and well-known local boxing club in Jamaica, which was right in his neighborhood.
He said that he had no prior experience or knowledge of the sport and that he had never engaged in it himself. He simply began tossing punches randomly. Mike’s movements were observed by a bystander, who was astounded by his exceptional talent, and he told him that he was a “natural.”
Professional Career
Mike McCallum became pro as a fighter around 1981. Nearly all of his professional ventures took place in America. He won over Sean Mannion in 1984 to take home the vacant WBA super welterweight belt. He had never before won a global championship. McCallum successfully defended the title, all by way of knockout, in six more matches.
McCallum’s first notable opponent was Julian Jackson, who he faced in his third championship defense and who would go on to become the future two-weight world champion and a fellow IBH inductee. After taking and surviving significant punishment in the opening round, McCallum bounced back to overcome the unbeaten Jackson.
When McCallum defeated Donald Curry, who would go on to become a future International Boxing Hall of Fame member and former undisputed world welterweight champion Milton McCrory in 1987, he really rose to fame. Curry was eliminated by McCallum with what some have referred to as a “perfect” left hook in the fifth round despite leading on all three scorecards.
McCallum subsequently went up two weight classes and defeated Randall Yonker for the WBC interim light heavyweight title. In 1994, McCallum defeated Jeff Harding to claim the full WBC title. He did not hold the crown for very long because he was in his late 30s. Fabrice Tiozzo eventually won it. In December 1996, at the age of 40, he challenged Roy Jones Jr. for the vacant Interim WBC title but was soundly defeated. In his most recent fight, McCallum faced James Toney at cruiserweight but was defeated by a unanimous decision.
49-5-1 (36 knockouts) was McCallum’s professional career record. He never suffered a knockout loss in a match. In 2003, he was admitted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. The now 66-year-old former boxer has been rather quiet about his personal life. He eventually retired and moved to Las Vegas to become a trainer and started training other young aspiring boxers.
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