How far could Oliver McCall have gone?

[AndrewFFC]

Had it not been for the drug abuse the blighted his peak years of his career?

[cotto20]

Had it not been for the drug abuse the blighted his peak years of his career?
He had a cast iron chin, and a knock out punch, but could be outboxed, so i dont know if he could of done much more than he did, a fat old holmes came very close to beating him in 1995. He might of pulled of a few more good wins but nothing else. 9 times out of ten the elite level fighters would just outbox oliver

[lefthook31]

Not any farther than he did.

[TheGreatA]

He could have beaten a tired Frank Bruno and given Lewis a better fight in the rematch. That's about the extent of it.

[MRBILL]

Ollie McCall is NOT done just yet.......... At age 44 he is in great shape and ripped...... The dude just decisioned Lancey Whitaker a month ago...... O.M. is rated in the the top-10 today, but many young tigers do NOT want to mess with McCall....... McCall is old and slower these days, but, he's seasoned and whiley as a Coyote..... McCall and his managers / team have called out lotsa' heavies, and 90% of them just hang up the phone and say: "Fuck That!" Yes, Ol' McCall is still a bad-ass mother........... Peace...

MR.BILL:deal:bbb:rasta

[lefthook31]

He could have beaten a tired Frank Bruno and given Lewis a better fight in the rematch. That's about the extent of it.
He was in good shape for that fight, he just came on too late. He was a sparring partner for too long before actually winning fights. He never had a championship mentality. Besides a couple freak knockouts here and there, he was basically a solid guy with an iron chin. He decisioned an ancient Larry Holmes in his first defense of the title, and then lost to Bruno in similar Mcall fashion after it. I was hoping he beat Bruno. I would have much rather seen Tyson fight Mcall than Bruno because Tyson would be going 12 for sure. Probably would have prepared him better for Holy.

[cotto20]

He was in good shape for that fight, he just came on too late. He was a sparring partner for too long before actually winning fights. He never had a championship mentality. Besides a couple freak knockouts here and there, he was basically a solid guy with an iron chin. He decisioned an ancient Larry Holmes in his first defense of the title, and then lost to Bruno in similar Mcall fashion after it. I was hoping he beat Bruno. I would have much rather seen Tyson fight Mcall than Bruno because Tyson would be going 12 for sure. Probably would have prepared him better for Holy.
there was alot of rumors going round that time that mccall/bruno was a fix, cos king had said that he would never make tyson vs mccall, as he knew they had sparred hundreds of rounds, plus oliver was all wrong for tyson and king knew it, so some think king made oliver throw the fight, also mccall comes to the ring crying against bruno which was strange

[TheGreatA]

there was alot of rumors going round that time that mccall/bruno was a fix, cos king had said that he would never make tyson vs mccall, as he knew they had sparred hundreds of rounds, plus oliver was all wrong for tyson and king knew it, so some think king made oliver throw the fight, also mccall comes to the ring crying against bruno which was strange

He always did.

[lefthook31]

there was alot of rumors going round that time that mccall/bruno was a fix, cos king had said that he would never make tyson vs mccall, as he knew they had sparred hundreds of rounds, plus oliver was all wrong for tyson and king knew it, so some think king made oliver throw the fight, also mccall comes to the ring crying against bruno which was strange
I dont believe that one bit. There was plenty of talk of the winner getting Tyson and Mcall was running his mouth that he was going to kick Tyson's ass.

[Vantage_West]

i would understand why king wouldnt of put him in with ollie. but i dont think it was a big mismatch. tyson would of got the ud personally.

yeah he used to cry and work himself up for his bouts.



but actually to add fuel to the flames oliver was INCREDIBLY inactive at the start of the fight.

[janitor]

A better question would be:

Could he have beaten James Douglas?

If so he might just have been in the ring with the Tokyo Tyson.

Also a win over Tony Tucker might have mixed things up a bit.

[TheGreatA]

McCall said he was hit the hardest that he had ever been hit in the very first round against Frank Bruno and that he had trouble getting into the fight after that.

[MRBILL]

"McCall-Bruno" of '95 was legit....... I have the tape on file here........... McCall was simply outboxed by the slightly bigger Bruno in England.......... The fight was a good one, but Bruno edged McCall........ It was simply Bruno's moment of truth that also proved to be short-lived............

Bruno fought a gallant fight against Tyson in '89 on HBO, but later in 1996, Bruno fought Tyson like a scared pussy on PPV.......

MR.BILL

[lefthook31]

"McCall-Bruno" of '95 was legit....... I have the tape on file here........... McCall was simply outboxed by the slightly bigger Bruno in England.......... The fight was a good one, but Bruno edged McCall........ It was simply Bruno's moment of truth that also proved to be short-lived............

Bruno fought a gallant fight against Tyson in '89 on HBO, but later in 1996, Bruno fought Tyson like a scared pussy on PPV.......

MR.BILL
If there was 20 more seconds in that fight Bruno would have lost. He basically had to be carried to his corner once the bell rang.

[Monte Fisto]

i dont know how far he could have gone. but boy was it amazing when he was in the middle of that emotional breakdown and lennox lewis totally unloaded on him. hands down, blubbering and lewis dropped a damn hammer on his head a few times and he wasnt even fazed

[Muchmoore]

If McCall never used drugs he likely wouldn't of had the cast iron chin :lol:

He was just so, so durable. His durability isn't natural at all, just a freak.

[Unforgiven]

Oliver McCall was never much more than a journeyman. And a glorified sparring partner.

Big, strong, powerful and durable, a dangerous puncher, but not much of a boxer. A lacklustre plodder for the most part.
Yes, his longevity is admirable, but his ability was never up to much.

Frank Bruno was just superior, and that sums up McCall's level.