It was February 7, 1997 and heavyweights Lennox Lewis and Oliver McCall met in Las Vegas to both decide the vacant WBC title and to box a rematch. Lewis, who had been shocked by McCall in September of 1994, being bowled over in the 2nd-round, had revenge uppermost on his mind. McCall? To this day nobody really knows what the state of his mind truly was.
What followed twenty years ago today ranks as one of the craziest, weirdest and most disturbing of all heavyweight title fights.
It was a big night of boxing in a number of countries last night, yet flying somewhat under the radar was a card that took place in Poland. In action was former WBC heavyweight champion Oliver McCall – a fighter and a man who has been through just about as many ups and downs as can be imagined during his 48-years – and the old “Atomic Bull” proved his is amazingly not quite finished yet.
Facing the much younger and unbeaten, 12-0(10) coming in, Marcin Rekowswki, McCall dropped his man in the 3rd-round and ultimately won an eight-round split decision (77-75 twice, with the loser getting a 76-75 nod on the third card) – this after the result was initially and erroneously announced as a win for the Pole. McCall, in improving his astonishing record to 57-13(37) boxed his 70th pro fight. An added bonus for the tough old geezer (McCall has never been close to hitting the mat, in the ring or in the gym and has never been legitimately stopped in almost 30-years of paid fighting) came in the form of revenge, as Rekowski had previously beaten Oliver’s fighting son, Elijah.