Remembering the Under-Appreciated “Body Snatcher” Mike McCallum, a Consummate Pro    

Mike McCallum passed away in Las Vegas this past Saturday (May 31), the sixth member of the Boxing Hall of Fame to leave us this year, following journalists Michael Katz and Colin Hart, trainer Kenny Adams, the great George Foreman, and Nino Benvenuti.

According to various reports, McCallum was driving when he suffered a medical episode and pulled over to the side of the road. He was unresponsive when the paramedics arrived. The first world boxing champion born in Jamaica, he was reportedly 68 years old.

Active from 1981 to 1997, McCallum won world titles at 154, 160, and 175, but in terms of public recognition was overshadowed by the Four Kings – Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, and Duran, all of whom assiduously avoided him — and the sum total of his purses (he earned $30,000 for his first title fight) paled by comparison.

But serious students of the Manly Art could see that he was consummately skilled with a high ring IQ and he would be named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

McCallum had a long and decorated amateur career before turning to the paid ranks. As a pro, he scored his first win over a notable opponent when he stopped former junior middleweight champion Ayub Kalule who was unable to answer the bell for the eighth round. Five fights later, on Oct. 19, 1982, he won his first title, dethroning WBA 154-pound champion Sean Mannion in a 15-round rout. McCallum won every round on one of the scorecards; 14 rounds on the others.

McCallum prepped for this match at the Kronk Gym in Detroit where he sparred with Thomas Hearns. It was Hearns (some say Hearns’ brother Billy) who gave him his distinctive nickname, “Bodysnatcher.” It was a perfect fit. “The old dictum, ‘kill the body and the head dies,’ can seldom be so earnestly put into practice as by McCallum,” wrote Hall of Fame boxing writer Graham Houston.

McCallum made six defenses of this title, winning all six inside the distance, climaxing with arguably his finest moment, a one-punch knockout of Donald Curry on July 18, 1997, at the Caesars Palace Sports Pavilion in Las Vegas. In round five, McCallum unleashed a ferocious left hook, knocking the former undisputed welterweight champion out cold.

McCallum moved up in weight after this fight and suffered his first defeat, losing a 12-round decision to WBA middleweight champion Sumbu Kalambay, a setback he would later avenge.

Kalambay would have the title stripped from him for failing to fight Michael Nunn and the roles would be reversed when the Bodysnatcher caught up with him again. McCallum was now the champion, having won a hard-earned decision over England’s 41-1 Herol “Bomber” Graham at London’s Prince Albert Hall.

McCallum abandoned the WBA title rather than pay the organization’s sanctioning fee — $125,000, $50,000 above the norm – for fighting James Toney. When they met in Atlantic City on Dec. 13, 1991, only Toney’s IBF diadem was at stake. This match, the consensus Fight of the Year, ended in a draw. The rematch eight months later in Reno, a relatively tame affair, went Toney’s way.

Mike McCallum had one more title in his future before he hung up his gloves. On July 23, 1994, at age 37 (but perhaps older), McCallum won the WBC light heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Australia’s rugged Jeff Harding. They fought in Bismarck, North Dakota, on a show that also featured North Dakota native Virgil Hill. A Don King production, the event was  billed the “Battle of the Badlands.”

After one successful defense, McCallum lost the title to the Frenchman Fabrice Tiozzo in France. He retired after losing to James Toney in their third encounter, a match contested at cruiserweight. His final record was 49-5-1 (36 KOs) and he was never stopped. (McCallum, wrote Pat Putnam in Sports Illustrated, had “one of the five best chins in the country; the other four are on Mount Rushmore.”)

In retirement, Mike McCallum became a trainer in Las Vegas, often working alongside Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. It was probably inevitable that he would go this route. In his early title fights, when he lived in Brooklyn, he was trained by George Benton. Later, after moving west, he was trained by another legendary trainer, Eddie Futch.

Funeral arrangements are pending. We here at TSS send our condolences to his family and loved ones.

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