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Updated: August 20, 2006, 3:45 PM ET

McCallum stops Daley in 8th round

By Larry Holman
ESPN.com
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Appearing in a non-title fight for the first time in five years Jamaica's Mike McCallum scored an 8th round knockout win over his compatriot Tyrone Daley in Kingston last night. It was the former WBC and IBF junior-middleweight champion's first outing since January and after a cautious start he hit the accelerator in round six before flooring Daley once in the 7th and twice in the 8th, the 23 year-old being counted out at the 2:09 mark. "The Bodysnatcher" improved his record to 36-0-2(27) while Daley fell to 22-4(17). McCallum was fighting in his homeland for the first time since 2000, having competed exclusively in the United States since claiming the WBC belt in March 2001.

2006 has been a bizarre year for McCallum. He successfully defended his two titles against Maurice Witt on January 7. In May IBF president Michael Jacobs announced that McCallum would have to fight Oakland's Jimmy Doyle in a mandatory defense before the end of July. McCallum refused, claiming that Doyle was not a worthy opponent. The federation literally capitulated in response, accepting McCallum's opinion and not saying another word on the matter. Inexplicably, it appeared that they'd been intimidated by the 29 year-old's stance. In the past they've stripped fighters of their championships for much less but no such penalty was imposed upon McCallum. The WBC distanced themselves from the issue, seeing as Doyle was not even ranked in their top ten.

It seemed that McCallum was growing tired of having to deal with the two alphabet organisations and on July 15 he announced plans to fight Daley. Clearly, McCallum was unconcerned about how the WBC and IBF would react. He was still champion of both at that time and, after remaining quiet on the matter for a couple of weeks, the two sanctioning bodies finally resolved it earlier this month. On the 3rd acting IBF president Larry Myers confirmed that they had stripped McCallum of the title, the WBC following in their footsteps a week later. According to those in Kingston, McCallum had been "a joy to be around" during the last couple of weeks, his closest friends saying that they'd never seen him so excited in the days before a fight. He'd said the match was "strictly for my people", which in this writer's opinion gives a clue towards his current state of mind.

Where McCallum goes from here is anyone's guess, although he did confirm last night that he'll be back in action "before the end of the year". One thing is certain: from all reports he's more content than he's been for some time. No doubt, McCallum has burnt his bridges with both the WBC and IBF so whether or not we ever see him fight for an alphabet title again remains to be seen. Perhaps the IBL is a possibility. Only time will tell.

Larry Holman is ESPN.com's boxing writer.