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!!!!
OLYMPIC CHAMPION MCCALLUM
STOPPED ON CUTS IN ATLANTIC CITY!
Thursday 29 August 2002
In the weeks leading up to the start of the International Boxing League's World Championship regional qualifiers there was quite a lot of talk in regards to how long it would be until the tournaments saw their first big upset. With so many highly regarded fighters involved it was considered only a matter of time before one of them tripped up. Well, tonight that question was answered and the answer was ... four days. Yes, on just the fourth day of IBL competition one of its biggest favourites suffered defeat in his first professional bout. And it wasn't just any fighter, either: it was Jamaican Olympic Light-Middleweight gold medallist Mike McCallum.
One of eight Sydney gold medallists contracted to the IBL McCallum was defeated by another Carribean fighter, Elisha Obed of the Bahamas in the Co-Feature of tonight's Boardwalk Hall fight card in Atlantic City. The contest was stopped midway through round four after Obed had opened a cut over McCallum's left eye, but according to the Jamaican's handlers his fate was sealed long before that moment. Despite his status as a gold medallist McCallum had been rarely spoken of in the months since the league's formation, even though he was pencilled in as one of the top five favourites for the Middleweight crown. Much of the talk in the US media has focused on the American fighters, a fact that would explain the lack of hype surrounding McCallum. A celebrity in his homeland, his trainers had mentioned in recent days that the 24 year-old's preparation for his debut had been "far from ideal" and at yesterday's weigh-in those words were seen to be true. McCallum looked underdone and uninterested, surprising many when he tipped the scales right at the Middleweight limit of 160 pounds. He didn't smile and his responses to the many questions posed by the media contingent were short and abrupt.
"He is his own man," said McCallum's trainer Bunnie Greenidge. "We can't help him be ready to fight if he doesn't want to help himself. If you ask me why he has turned up like this, you just have to look to the three P's: partying, pot and pu$$y. Still, I think he'll be okay tomorrow night. He's excited about the fight, despite how he looks today."
When asked if he felt responsible for McCallum's apparent lack of fitness, Greenidge replied in the negative.
"Like I said, he is his own man," he said. "He is 24 years old. He's not a boy anymore. We worked with what he was prepared to give us but you have to understand that life in Jamaica is very laid-back, relaxed. Mikey likes a good party just as much as anyone else but if something happens tomorrow night he'll know exactly who is to blame."
(to be continued)
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