McCallum vs. Curry - awesome.

[IntentionalButt]

Truest sense of the word: I was in awe for all thirteen and a half minutes of action. This may be the best fight I've personally seen at 154.

You have a supremely skilled welterweight controlling - with apparent ease - a very good, strong middleweight (though Mike hadn't yet moved up) and rocking him badly several times - in what could have easily been an echo of the Leonard-Hagler showdown of only a few months prior - only to then be caught and destroyed in as economic fashion as it was brutal by a single, brilliant maneuver.

Like Roth, I had Donald sweeping the first four rounds (Merchant favored McCallum the first two) and he could have well been on his way to extending the shutout into the 5th. Without resorting to excessive shying away from exchanges, or pitty-pattying, Curry was able to land at a significantly higher rate and - as mentioned - cause the bigger man to stagger more than once with expertly crafted power combinations delivered with dizzying speed and just enough movement after each offensive was mounted to flummox Mike without ever really leaving punch range, let alone running.

And then...?

In the post-fight interview, McCallum states that he was able to identify a flaw and devise a way to exploit it all in the course of taking a 12 minute beating. He saw that Curry would finish combinations by pulling straight back and dropping his right to protect his body with a downturned elbow under the assumption that McCallum would predictably bang to the ribcage as they separated. A simple adjustment - timing Curry's movement, counting his punches (and taking a sharp one in the face), then bringing the hook up from his hip and arcing it toward Curry's chin - and just like that, four rounds of brilliant boxing work were flushed down the toilet beyond the reach of any plunger. So thorough was the domination of the previous rounds and so deep the respect earned by the fallen that Richard Steele actually approached the prone beautiful dreamer a few seconds into the count (at which point most refs looking down at most fighters would've acknowledged "Okay, that's it") and bent slightly toward him as though to communicate with his body language, "Hey, if you're going to make an attempt to beat this thing, now's the time to start because I'm going to keep it at the same pace and, well, tick-tock..." Gamely, Curry crawled out of whatever dark corner of his mind he'd been shuttered into and tried feebly to rise. No dice. He'd been napalmed.

That was a clean shot with full bodyweight torqued into it from a heavy-handed guy naturally about two weightclasses bigger, landing flush on the chin. That could be the most brutally I've seen someone that in control of a fight get stopped.

[TBooze]

That could be the most brutally I've seen someone that in control of a fight get stopped.


Bomber Graham/Jackson tops that....

I always thought the Curry/McCallum knock out was funny:

Look how desperate McCallum is, even I can see that coming...

I reckon Curry will parry it....

He is being cocky leaving it late...

Donald Lone star State Cobra Curry, duck....

Oh my god, he did not see it!

[red cobra]

That was an absolute beauty of a left hook...so clean, simple and effective.

[Dave's Top Ten]

How a technically brilliant boxer like Curry could back away in a straight line with his hands down by his hips is still beyond me. Curry gave it to him and was putting on a clinic til he got caught.

[WhataRock]

The Bodysnatcher always gets his man.

I think Don was really just starting to settle into that fight and got a little to comfortable...because even in that last round he was still outboxing Mike quite easily.

[Cobra33]

Curry started have swelling above one of his eyes and really I think didn't see the hook until it was too late.Up till then Curry was picking Mccallm apart.

[JohnThomas1]

How a technically brilliant boxer like Curry could back away in a straight line with his hands down by his hips is still beyond me. Curry gave it to him and was putting on a clinic til he got caught.

Fair post. I'm not sure i buy the brilliant set up thing.

[Ezzard]

I just don't udnerstand this 2 weight class higher thing? McCallum had been 1 weight class higher and Curry could no longer make 147. In fact Curry was ahead of the game on the drying out at the time and was a big man at 147.

Great post though, brought back great memories of that fight.

[fists of fury]

I'm not sure i buy the brilliant set up thing.

Nor me, but it seems plausible so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

[Mantequilla]

Mcallum did seem to feint and quickly adjust angles before the hook, but it was Curry's awareness more than anything that did him in.Just a momentary lapse in concentration that 90% of the time isn't going to prove so lethal.

The hook was telegraphed from a mile away, perhaps intentionally given the angles involved, but Curry really should have been able to roll under it or parry it comfortably.

Ironically herol Graham fought the entire fight with McCallum with his hands by his waist, backing straight out and swaying away from punches, and while it did cost him the fight imo, McCallum came nowhere near setting a fight ending trap.

[Sweet Pea]

Yeah, that punch definitely looked more a hail mary than a perfectly executed set up. McCallum was a very good, smart technician, but he wasn't among the best of all time in that regard as so many seem to think. His workrate, strength, and durability factored as much into his success as his technical skills, IMO.

[TheGreatA]

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[IntentionalButt]

I just don't udnerstand this 2 weight class higher thing? McCallum had been 1 weight class higher and Curry could no longer make 147. In fact Curry was ahead of the game on the drying out at the time and was a big man at 147.

Great post though, brought back great memories of that fight.

He sure looked two weight classes smaller in there next to Mike - which made it all the more impressive that he sent him careening back from single and double shots landing clean because (ironically) Mike never saw them coming, (due in Curry's case to handspeed, not timing and patient cunning). I guess I meant that Curry campaigned largely at welter and never ventured too much higher. McCallum of course made several pitstops at middleweight after their meeting, never again returning to 154 and eventually moving up as far as Cruiser. Less than a year later he fought at 168 (higher than Curry ever climbed).

[Sweet Pea]

he sent him careening back from single and double shots landing clean because (ironically) Mike never saw them coming, (due in Curry's case to handspeed, not timing and patient cunning).I disagree strongly. Curry's timing was impeccable. I think it's his handspeed that gets overrated more often than not. His ability to set himself in perfect position and react on the draw is what made him such a fantastic counter-puncher. Handspeed doesn't give you such accuracy, timing and a keen technical eye for punch placement does. Curry was far more technically impressive than McCallum, IMO.

[IntentionalButt]

I don't see what's so ambiguous here...McCallum threw a little fake-out to the body with his right, and as Curry's hands came down, the hook came (ascending with its initial momentum in Curry's blind spot due to their body positioning) - and while looping it wasn't a slow punch by any means. He cased his man while stoically taking a beating (only he knows when he began to hatch his plan) and timed exactly how long it took to separate after each combination, then caught Curry with his feet planted, on the chin, from the side, with torque.

I'm a huge Curry nut - I'd have loved for him to have won this fight, or get a rematch and fought wiser en route to a wide UD or late corner retirement - but even I'll give McCallum 100% credit for this. He was the lesser man for thirteen minutes but the greater for the two most important seconds - and thus owned the night.

[IntentionalButt]

I disagree strongly. Curry's timing was impeccable. I think it's his handspeed that gets overrated more often than not. His ability to set himself in perfect position and react on the draw is what made him such a fantastic counter-puncher. Handspeed doesn't give you such accuracy, timing and a keen technical eye for punch placement does. Curry was far more technically impressive than McCallum, IMO.

I actually do agree that Curry's technical skill and timing on the whole exceed McCallum's. He did have a quite evident handspeed advantage as well. That's why he was able to brazenly throw in combination without suffering too much punishment for the first four rounds - were he relying on his timing alone he'd have landed accurately but less often.

[Dave's Top Ten]

Yeah, that punch definitely looked more a hail mary than a perfectly executed set up. McCallum was a very good, smart technician, but he wasn't among the best of all time in that regard as so many seem to think. His workrate, strength, and durability factored as much into his success as his technical skills, IMO.


Have to agree. Mac was solid and gets overated to special.

[Mantequilla]

I think that's a bit harsh, though i'm not the biggest McCallum fan myself.Definitely a bit of a darling of the anti-Leonard\hagler \Hearns crowd though, like Pryor to an extent.

The '90s welter crop of Tito, DLH, Mosley, quartey... are the ones that really come to mind for me as far as fighters too often touted as special.Well, maybe not Quartey so much.

[IntentionalButt]

Wow...just watched this with the sound on. Now I start to get a picture of how Merchant gave the first two rounds to McCallum.

The question is, was he just in love with McCallum or did he have it in for Curry? It's one or the other or both. :think

[Mantequilla]

A lot of commentators always seemed to have a bias for McCallum, especially the British ones.Perhaps it was because of his struggles to get a big payday despite being very talented...not really sure.

The British calls of his first fight with Toney and second fight with Kalambay are awful.Especially the Toney one with Minter commentating.

[WhataRock]

A lot of commentators always seemed to have a bias for McCallum, especially the British ones.Perhaps it was because of his struggles to get a big payday despite being very talented...not really sure.

The British calls of his first fight with Toney and second fight with Kalambay are awful.Especially the Toney one with Minter commentating.


I think they respected him because he had the balls to come over and take their best in their own backyard.

That might account for some of the bias.

[Mantequilla]

True.

Both of those fights were after the Watson and Graham bouts.

[Flea Man]

Whilst I don't think McCallum 'set a trap', I do think he noticed what Curry was doing. Don't think he was thinking 'right, now's the time', but I certainly don't think it was a 'Hail Mary' punch either.

Probably in between the two. I agree with Pea, McCallum was a very good technician but it was his durability and stamina that got him through his fights as well as that.

A big 'Bodysnatcher' fan here, haven't seen our versions of the Toney fights so I can't comment on the supposed bias.

[Dave's Top Ten]

I think it was a hail mary. If you watch the first fight with Kalambay he does exactly the same thing in the last round. He feints to the body and comes up with the swinging left hook. Misses by a mile.

[TheGreatA]

I think it was a hail mary. If you watch the first fight with Kalambay he does exactly the same thing in the last round. He feints to the body and comes up with the swinging left hook. Misses by a mile.

I'd say it was more out of desperation in the Kalambay fight than in the Curry fight. He tried everything he possibly could to take out Kalambay, relying more on his punching power than his boxing skills, and failed.

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7:05

Kalambay was too slick for a trick like that to work on him, especially in the last round of a fight he was winning. McCallum learned a boxing lesson that night and became less reliant on his physical advantages from then on I'd say.

[IntentionalButt]

A lot of commentators always seemed to have a bias for McCallum, especially the British ones.Perhaps it was because of his struggles to get a big payday despite being very talented...not really sure.

The British calls of his first fight with Toney and second fight with Kalambay are awful.Especially the Toney one with Minter commentating.


Why the seeming marginalization of Curry? McCallum himself, in the post-fight interview, was the only person who seemed to speak out and give the man any respect that night.

Were there rumors regarding his orientation at the time, or did that start on the Internet years later? Was/is Merchant homophobic? :think

[IntentionalButt]

I think it was a hail mary. If you watch the first fight with Kalambay he does exactly the same thing in the last round. He feints to the body and comes up with the swinging left hook. Misses by a mile.

He missed by a mile against Curry a couple rounds earlier. There's a reason this one didn't miss. He faked out Curry with the feint uppercut, turned his body in one direction knowing exactly how Curry would react (hands down to cover his own body, pulling straight back) and then brought the hook up high unexpectedly.

[Dave's Top Ten]

He missed by a mile against Curry a couple rounds earlier. There's a reason this one didn't miss. He faked out Curry with the feint uppercut, turned his body in one direction knowing exactly how Curry would react (hands down to cover his own body, pulling straight back) and then brought the hook up high unexpectedly.


I don't think Curry reacted to a feint, he just got sloppy at a crucial moment. Whatever the reaction is to a feint, it isn't usually back away with your hands down (except if you're Ali). That certainly wasn't Curry's game. To me it was a lucky punch and a real shame because it would have been fascinating to see what Curry would have achieved if he'd got past Mac.