Hollywood, FL, June 19 — Despite fighting in his opponent’s backyard in Ankara, Turkey, former world heavyweight champion Oliver McCall moved a step closer to regaining the crown he once held on Saturday, as he battered and outpointed Sinan Samil Sam over 12 rounds to win the WBC international championship and earn a shot at the WBC crown currently held by Oleg Maskaev.
“Maskaev, Sam Peter, Vitali Klitschko, it don’t matter,” said McCall when discussing the fighters currently embroiled in their own battles for the WBC crown. “I already knocked out Maskaev once, I wouldn’t mind exposing Peter as all hype, and I could send Klitschko back into retirement. I just want my title shot and I’m gonna get my belt back. Mr. Sulaiman said the winner of my fight with Sam will get a title shot, and I know him to be a man of his word. I can’t wait!”
Last Saturday, McCall stunned Sam’s hometown fans, who didn’t take too kindly to ‘The Atomic Bull’s crisp 1-2’s and the heavy hooks which bloodied and bruised the local hero. The atmosphere at the Ataturk Sport Salonu got so tense that McCall’s promoter, Leon Margules of Seminole Warriors Boxing, needed a security escort at ringside. But McCall, determined to take home the victory and in shape to go hard for all 12 rounds, prevailed.
“I wasn’t gonna lose,” said McCall. “I felt like I was fighting in his living room, but that’s okay, I wiped my feet before I went in there, did my business, and got out of there with a well-earned victory. No one was gonna stop me then, and no one’s gonna stop me now.”
McCall, 42 years young, is currently on an 11 fight unbeaten streak, and has only lost once in his last 26 fights, leading back almost a decade. In 1994, he stunned the boxing world when he stopped Lennox Lewis in two rounds to win the WBC heavyweight title. Now, 13 years later, he’s ready to do it again.
“I’m at the top of my game and ready to clean this division up,” said McCall, now 51-8 with 36 KOs. “No one has my track record, my experience, my determination, and my power, and I can’t be stopped. All I need is the chance to prove it.”
“For a forty-two old former champion like McCall who traveled to the other side of the world and win a hard twelve round fight against a local hero is an amazing feat, said Leon Margules, Executive Director of Seminole Warriors Boxing. “He clearly deserves another shot at the title.”