Heavyweight greats Lennox Lewis and Larry Holmes are content commenting on the sport of boxing from the sidelines, but a former rival is still plugging away inside the ropes.
Larry Holmes hung up the gloves in 2002 after scoring 69 wins from 75 fights. ‘The Easton Assassin’ was the only man to beat Muhammad Ali, albeit a depleted version, inside the distance and is considered to have had one of the best and most effective jabs in the business.
Lewis retired one year later, famously having beaten every man he stepped through the ropes with after avenging shock losses to Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman. Unlike Holmes, he left the game very much on top.
It surprises and unsettles fans then that McCall – who beat Lewis in 1994 for the WBC belt and retained it by besting Holmes in ’95 – is still competing to this day, just weeks shy of his 60th birthday.
The former world heavyweight champion ended a five-year break in 2024 when he beat Stacy Frazier inside two rounds. ‘The Atomic Bull’ then built momentum in February with another stoppage win over Gary Cobia. He will now face undefeated but untested 52-year-old James Tanksley on April Fools Day.
All of the bouts are in Nashville, Tennessee and McCall currently holds the record as the oldest former heavyweight champion to win a fight.
Though he is being favourably matched and is not fighting on a stage as big as that of Mike Tyson’s underwhelming and controversial effort against Jake Paul last year, most fans would like to see McCall hang up the gloves for good. That does not look like it will be the case anytime soon.
