The sport of boxing has been kind to Jamaicans over the years, and one of the main pugilists to have come out of this blessed island is Mike McCallum.
The man born in humble circumstances in Kingston on December 7, 1956, held world championship belts in three weight classes – the WBA super welterweight title from 1984 to 1988, the WBA middleweight title from 1989 to 1991, and the WBC light heavyweight title from 1994 to 1995. He competed professionally from 1981 to 1997.
Nicknamed “The bodysnatcher” for his penchant for landing deadly body blows to his opponents, McCallum ended his career with a ring record of 55 fights, 49 wins, 36 by knockouts, and five losses and one draw.
He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003. Eight years later, Ring magazine ranked him eighth on its list of the ten best middleweight title holders of the last 50 years.
As an amateur, he won gold as a welterweight at the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada, in 1978. A year later, he won a silver medal at the Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
And at the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1974 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, he gained a silver medal before landing gold in 1978 at the same games in Medellin, Colombia.
Three years after starting his professional career, McCallum became a world champion by defeating Sean Mannion to win the vacant WBA super welterweight crown, a title he defended six times by knockouts.
In his third title defense, McCallum opposed a future star in Julian Jackson, who started like a house on fire, only for the Jamaican to stop the undefeated Jackson in the second round.
But it required McCallum to knock out former WBC welterweight title holder Milton McCrory and former undisputed world welterweight champion Donald Curry in 1987 to be recognized as the real deal in the ring.
The following year he moved up to the middleweight division when he suffered his first defeat in a unanimous decision in an unsuccessful attempt to win the WBA middleweight championship from Sambu Kalabay.
A year later, he beat Herol Graham by a split decision to claim the vacant WBA middleweight title, stripped from Kalambay for signing to face IBF champion, Michael Nunn.
McCallum defended the title three times, the victims being Steve Collins, Michael Watson, and Kalambay in a rematch.
Mike McCallum advanced two weight divisions and won the WBC light heavyweight title against Randall Yonker before winning the full WBC title by beating Jeff Harding in 1994. He did not hold the title for long as Fabrice Tiozzo beat him.
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