Former heavyweight champion Oliver McCall had famous fights with Lennox Lewis and sparred rounds with Mike Tyson.
Lewis got his revenge in 1997 to win the vacant WBC title back, but in between times McCall lost to another Brit in Frank Bruno who took the WBC title off him only to lose it to Tyson in his next fight. 58-year-old Tyson, who fought and lost to Jake Paul this month, never fought McCall in the professional ring, but did spar many rounds.
Speaking to BoxingInsider.com, McCall revealed who hit him the hardest out of everyone he faced.
“Bert Cooper. Left hook. That was the hardest punch that I ever felt and that I had to overcome. It felt like a truck had hit me. I never got hit by a truck but it felt like if a truck would have hit me.”
He then dismissed the power of Lewis but acknowledged Tyson was up there, even though ‘Iron Mike’ never managed to knock him down despite hundreds of rounds of sparring.
“Lennox wasn’t one of the hardest punchers – Buster Douglas hit me harder than Lennox did. Right hand. Tyson’s right there too. Lennox would probably be about fifth. I guess I sparred more than 300 rounds with Tyson and he never knocked me down once. But I put him down once. We had a hell of a battle every time. That’s why he paid me $2,000 a week.”
McCall is still fighting aged 59 and got a TKO win as recently as this November so his record stands at 60 wins and 14 losses with two no contests.
