Oliver McCall is one of the most popular and richest Boxer who was born on April 21, 1965 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. His next challenger was Timur Ibragimov. They fought on McCall’s home venue, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Ibragimov was considered a fringe candidate with a record of 27-2-1. McCall lost the fight in a unanimous decision, scoring the score of 117-111 twice, and 119-109. McCall suffered McCall’s first loss since his return in 2009.
5th Sarge Johnson Memorial Boxing Tournament (super heavyweight), Convention Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, July 1985:
National Golden Gloves (super heavyweight), Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, March 1985:
McCall’s win over Lewis marked Don King’s return to power in the heavyweight division, since none of his stable of fighters had been able to win the heavyweight title since Mike Tyson lost it in 1990 (McCall worked as a sparring partner with Tyson and Cooper, and claimed Cooper is the harder puncher.) He successfully defended the title in a bout against 45-year-old ex-champ Larry Holmes in Las Vegas winning 114–113, 115–114, and 115–112 on the score cards, before returning to London to face Frank Bruno in 1995.
He was referred to for his role as “The Atomic Bull”, McCall made his professional debut in 1985, and gradually made his way through the ranks of heavyweight. His trainer at the time was retired champion Joe Frazier. He was the eighth fighter Al Evans, who scored the TKO victory against Mike Tyson in 1981, McCall beat him by a majority decision. He defeated Jesse Ferguson and future heavyweight champion Bruce Seldon and lost a extremely close fight in the final round to Tony Tucker before landing the shot against Lewis in 1994. After a close opening round McCall was aggressive in the second round and hit his trademark counter right hand when Lewis began to move ahead. Lewis dropped to the ground and regained his balance before the tenth count however, he was unable to stay standing up, which forced the referee’s to signal off the fight. In spite of Lewis protests from the camp, Boxing Monthly editor Glyn Leach emphasized Lewis’s inability to stand. Lewis “only seemed to recover his senses once the fight was waved off,” and “in the opinions of everyone I spoke to at ringside, the decision was correct.”
