Father and Son Fighters Oliver McCall and Elijah McCall Make History in Losing
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Correspondent
Oliver McCall is a former world heavyweight champion, and his son Elijah McCall is a rising heavyweight prospect. At age 48, Oliver McCall ahs been stopped only once, in a rematch with Lennox Lewis for the World Boxing Council World Heavyweight title in 1997. Oliver’s career record is 56-13 with 37 knockouts.
Oliver’s son, Elijah McCall, 25, is a rising heavyweight prospect with a record of 11-3, with 10 knockouts. Both fighters hail from Virginia, where our sad story begins.
This brief but sad story ends with boxing history in a sense, as father and son both appeared on a fight card at Arena Hall, in Legionowo, Poland, on May 18, 2013. Oliver lost an eight round decision to 14-0-1 Krzysztof Zimnoch. If one more round had gone Oliver’s way, the bout would have been a draw, but as it stands it was McCall’s third loss in his past five fights. Son Elijah McCall got stopped in the fifth round by 8-0 Marcin Rekowski. Elijah was also stopped in three rounds by 16-0 Andy Ruiz in Las Vegas in February 2013.
The father and son McCall team probably made fighting history by fighting on the same professional boxing card, only to learn an old lesson today’s promoters know too well. Unless you can knock your man out in Poland, the Polish fighter will get the decision over 99% of the time. Rarely, talented fighters like Roy Jones Jr., Steve Cunningham, Dr. Vitali Klitschko, Nate Campbell and Ola Ofolabi have gone into Poland and come out with the victory. Even for experienced fighters like Oliver ‘The Atomic Bull’ McCall, there was no chance of overcoming such overwhelming odds.
P.S. I doubt fight fans will see Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Floyd Mayweather Jr., or Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., going to Poland anytime soon, Fighters travel to Poland for the money from elsewhere, but victory for foreign fighters in Poland is such a rarity it has to be a miracle to win there if when the decision is merited. And don’t forget, it’s a long trip from wherever a fighter is coming form to get to whatever part of Poland they are scheduled to fight, and the time chance and length of trip affects many a traveling fighter far from home.
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