The Force Part Three: The Bodysnatcher
Michael Watson
Mickey Duff guaranteed that Michael Watson’s victory over Nigel Benn would elevate him to the number one spot in the WBA rankings. Jamaica’s Mike McCallum won the vacant crown by a split decision against Herol Graham at the Royal Albert Hall on 10th May 1989, eleven days prior to Watson and Benn squaring off.
McCallum, known as the
‘Bodysnatcher’, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on 7th December 1956, and
compiled an amateur record of 240-10. During his 250-bout career, he was
runner-up in the 1974 Central America and Caribbean Games and reached the
quarterfinals of that year's World Championships.
The following year he was a
silver medallist at the North American Continental Championships, and in 1976
reached the welterweight quarterfinals of the Montreal Olympic Games. In 1977
he became the National AAU welterweight champion, defeating Marlon Starling in
the semifinal, and lifted the National Golden Gloves title.
His success continued in 1978
with wins at the Central Caribbean Games held in Columbia and the Commonwealth
Games in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His final tournament win came in 1979 when
he defeated Doug DeWitt, Robbie Sims, and Daniel Bowers to claim National
Golden Gloves welterweight title. He won silver at that year’s Pan American
Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, losing to Cuba’s Andres Aldama, before crashing
out at the semifinal stage of the 1980s New York Golden Gloves competition to
Alex Ramos.
McCallum left his native country
to turn professional in the United States, taking on and stopping America’s
Rigoberto Lopez in the fourth round at light-middleweight in January 1981. He
went 12-0 (12 KOs) before returning to Jamaica to Gilberto Almonte. The
Kingston crowd only got to see 66 seconds of action, as the hometown hero
handed the Dominican Republic opponent his sixth straight, and final stoppage
defeat.
America’s Kevin Perry was the
one who stopped McCallum’s knockout run, taking the Jamaican the full ten
rounds in his fifteenth contest at Madison Square Garden in June 1982. In his
seventeenth bout, McCallum faced former WBA light-middleweight champion Ayub
Kalule. The Ugandan, who set up residency in Copenhagen, Denmark, was having
only his third contest in the United States, previously losing his world title
to ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard in June 1981, and a failed attempt at regaining his belt
against Davey Moore in July 1982, before facing the Jamaican four months later.
McCallum dumped Kalule on the canvas in the opening round with a right uppercut and continued to force the Ugandan to retire after seven rounds, dropping to 40-3 (19 KOs), as McCallum improved to 17-0 (16 KOs).
The ‘Bodysnatcher’ continued his
unbeaten career and by 1984 he was installed as WBA light-middleweight
mandatory contender to Roberto Duran. However, ‘Hands of Stone’ was looking for
a big contest after becoming the first title challenger to extend undisputed
middleweight king Marvelous Marvin Hagler in November 1983, choosing to face
fellow world champion Thomas ‘Hit Man’ Hearns instead of the Jamaican.
The World Boxing Association then
stripped Duran of their title with McCallum and Irishman Sean Mannion facing
off for the vacant belt on 18th October 1984. Although Mannion had a solid
29-5-1 (10 KOs) resume, he was not in McCallum’s class. After fifteen rounds
the judges unanimously had the Jamaican winning by scores of 150-134, 149-136
and 149-133. It was the first time that two women judges, Carol Castellano and
Carol Polis, had scored a world championship fight, and McCallum also became
the first world boxing champion from Jamaica.
It was a bittersweet victory for
McCallum, who, during the build-up for the Mannion contest, unexpectedly lost
his wife of fifteen years, Yvonne, to an unknown illness, leaving him to
singlehandedly raise his young daughter.
Less than two months later, the
new champion was back in the ring, defending his title to the tough Italian
Luigi Minchillo. The challenger had only lost three, managing to take Roberto
Duran and Thomas Hearns the distance without getting knocked off his feet.
Again, the champion showed his
superior class, stopping the Italian on his stool after thirteen dominant
rounds. McCallum next defended his belt in July 1985, stopping David Braxton on
cuts in the eighth round.
His next outing was a non-title fight in May 1986, before making the third defence of his championship against the hard-hitting Julian Jackson three months later. Jackson had twenty-seven kayos on his 29-0 record and on two of the judges’ cards took the opening round against McCallum. The champion used his ring savvy to avoid his dangerous opponent’s concussive punches in the second and managed to drop the Virgin Islander. McCallum’s pressure forced Jackson to the ropes and referee Eddie Eckert saved the challenger from further punishment.
In September 1986 the champion
travelled to Paris in a non-title contest, and the following month, staying in
the French capital, he made the fourth defence against home city favourite Said
Skouma, stopping the challenger in the fourth round to improve to 29-0 (27
KOs).
In March 1987, he returned to
Jamaica with a first-round win over America’s Leroy Hester in another non-title
fight, before defending his championship a month later against former WBC
welterweight champion Milton McCrory, who only lost to Donald Curry to become
undisputed champion in December 1985. McCallum went on to stop McCrory in the
tenth round.
On 17th July 1987, McCallum
faced the ex-undisputed welterweight king Donald Curry at Caesar’s Palace, Las
Vegas. Curry had only lost to Lloyd Honeyghan in September 1986, and won two on
the bounce in the light-middleweight division, before challenging McCallum.
Curry was a two-to-one favourite to become a two-weight world champion, but the
Jamaican, a notoriously slow starter, jumped on his opponent from the off.
Despite McCallum’s bright start,
two of the three judges favoured Curry after the first three minutes, and with
30 seconds of the second round remaining, Curry’s right hand had the champion
on shaky legs - he later admitted the punch was a good one, saying: “It was a
great hook. It was the closest I’ve ever come to being knocked down.”
Although the judges had Curry
ahead on their scorecards, McCallum was landing hard punches, causing the
challenger’s left eye to swell as early as round three. Curry won the fourth on
two of the judges’ cards and began to box on the outside in the fifth. McCallum
set his man up with an incredulous right to the body and followed it up with a
concussive left hook to the jaw. The fight was over, and the champion hoped to
get the big names to step into the ring with him.
McCallum stepped up to
middleweight to challenge WBA champion Sumbu Kalambay on 5th March 1988 in the
champion’s backyard in Italy. Kalambay was making the first defence of the
vacant title he outpointed Iran Barkley for over fifteen rounds in October
1987. Although the challenger was the betting favourite, it was Kalambay who
showed greater speed and outlasted his man to claim a unanimous decision,
whilst McCallum dropped to 32-1 (29 KOs).
With three more victories at
middleweight, McCallum got a second crack at the WBA title when he faced Herol
Graham for the vacant belt at the Royal Albert Hall in May 1989. Graham was a
low-handed southpaw and a defensive wizard, but the technically gifted McCallum
was able to work out the elusive style and hit Graham more than anybody had
done in his 41-1 career.
The split decision verdict
earned the Jamaican his second-weight world title and Watson’s victory over
Benn later in the month ensured a McCallum-Watson matchup would be next. The
fight went to purse bids, and Mickey Duff was confident his bid would be enough
to secure Watson the title chance.
However, new promoter on the
block, Barry Hearn, won the tender and he set up a tidy package with the
British terrestrial television channel ITV. Although Watson was glad of the
opportunity to fight for a world title on home soil, he was equally
disappointed that Duff had now failed to secure two of his biggest fights in a
row.
McCallum-Watson was due to take
place at Alexandra Palace, North London in November 1989. Unfortunately for
Watson, with eight days to go, and in his final sparring session with school
friend Ray Webb, he broke his nose when Webb caught him accidentally with a
right hand, cancelling the fight.
McCallum next defended his crown
in February 1990 against the undefeated Irishman, Steve Collins. After twelve
tough rounds, the champion was awarded the win by unanimous decision, paving
the way for a 14th April defence against the recovered Watson.
The challenger had been out of
the ring for nearly eleven months and wanted a tune-up fight before facing
the Jamaican, but Barry Hearn convinced him to go straight in with the thirty-three-year-old,
saying: “Mike, don’t worry. You’ll knock him out because he’s an old man. And
then you’ll do the same to Michael Nunn (the IBF middleweight champion).”
McCallum-Watson took place at
the Royal Albert Hall, and in the opening round, the challenger’s long layoff
did not seem to affect him, as he worked behind a solid left jab, much to the
delight of the partisan crowd. However, his endeavours were not enough for the
judges to award him the first three minutes, and in round two, the champion had
already worked out Watson’s style and began to land his notorious body
shots.
Watson stayed with McCallum and
did his best to force the action and slow the older boxer down. Much to the
challenger’s surprise, the old campaigner gifted through the gears and used his
experience to nullify whatever Watson had to offer. By the halfway stage, the
champion led by scores of 58-56 (twice) and 59-55.
The challenger did enough to win round seven on two of the officials’ cards, but the champion began to take charge in what was a cleanly fought contest between two great sportsmen. Watson continued to force the issue, even when his chances of victory were diminishing.
The champion picked up the pace
in the penultimate round, and a long right hand had Watson his heels. Uppercuts
pierced through the challenger’s defences, and he retreated to the ropes. As
the ropes sprung him back towards McCallum, the champion a right hand to keep
the Englishman on the floor during referee Roberto Ramirez Junior’s count of
ten. Watson made no attempt to get up, even though he later admitted that he
could have gotten up, but he had nothing left to give.
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