Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 22, 1994 TAG: 9411160076
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWIGHT FOXX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BASSETT LENGTH: Long
Oliver McCall lived practically unnoticed in this small Virginia town for two years. Now that everyone knows who he is, he's leaving.
Promoter Don King wants the new WBC heavyweight champion closer to King's headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Jimmy Adams, McCall's manager, said the boxer is in the process of moving his family from Bassett into the South Florida area.
``He's looking for a house,'' Adams said. ``He plans to keep his house here, but he is moving his family to Fort Lauderdale.''
Even if McCall doesn't win another fight, Bassett will always be somewhere a heavyweight champion once lived. It became past tense when McCall's life as an unknown ended on Sept.24.
On that day in Wembley, England, McCall shocked the boxing world by upsetting Lennox Lewis for the WBC heavyweight championship. The Bassett resident won by a technical knockout in the second round and as a result is becoming a household name. He's been on The Late Show with David Letterman and has been working on an endorsement deal with Reebok.
McCall, however, would prefer spending time with his wife, Althea, and their six kids.
``I've been trying to relax but I can't seem to do that,'' the new champion said at a recent news conference at Adams' home.
It was Adams who brought McCall to his hometown of Bassett two years ago to monitor McCall's career. McCall, who knocked out Lewis on his manager's 42nd birthday, is Adams' first heavyweight champion. But he is not the first heavyweight boxer that Adams has helped bring to prominence.
James ``Quick'' Tillis, Bert Cooper and Earnie Shavers all lived and trained with Adams in Bassett at one time. On Oct.13, Tony Tucker, ranked the No. 1 heavyweight contender by the WBA, signed Adams on as his manager.
``He [Tucker] won't be moving to Bassett,'' Adams said. ``He's a little bit more established. One reason why I bring them [boxers] here is so they can concentrate on boxing. The atmosphere is good. There's no distractions that might get them in trouble like the big cities. There's nothing to do.''
Adams, an admitted high school dropout and former wrestler in the now-defunct East Coast Wrestling Association, says he's an example of a dreamer who made his dreams come true. He became involved in the boxing business after meeting Shavers in a Las Vegas Airport in 1980.
``I was with a friend of mine, Jim Westmoreland, and I said, `Man, there's Isaac Hayes,''' he said.
``He said, `No, that's Earnie Shavers.'''
The two were introduced and quickly became friends. Shavers, who now lives in Phoenix, moved to Bassett, where Adams helped rejuvenate the boxer's career and rescue Shavers from financial debt.
Adams and McCall have been a team for five years since meeting in Winston-Salem, N.C. Both admit that the significant money didn't start coming in until King began promoting McCall. As a bonus for winning the heavyweight crown, King gave McCall a black Mercedes-Benz 600 SL convertible.
``Don King has been great,'' Adams said. ``He treated Oliver like a champion before he was a champion. He took him to the best restaurants, hotels, first-class airfare ... It really gets to me when I see so much negative press about Don King. He's one of the most intelligent men that I have ever met. Don King was always there for us.''
McCall made approximately $1 million to fight Lewis, who made $3.5 million. The McCall camp recently rejected a $10 million offer to fight Lewis again. Lewis' promoter, Dan Duva, and King are not exactly the best of friends.
``We can fight for millions now,'' Adams said. ``It's not just the money, it's the principle. Lennox Lewis disrespected us, big time. They tried to say we stole the fight. If they had acted like men [before the first fight and the postfight press conference], there might have been a rematch.''
McCall's first title defense will be against Peter McNeeley in the Boston Garden in January. McNeeley's grandfather, Tom, fought in a preliminary card that opened the Garden on November 19, 1928, and his dad, Tom Jr., was knocked out by Floyd Patterson in the fourth round of a heavyweight championship bout on December 4, 1962, in Toronto.
McNeeley's title chance will mark the second time in heavyweight history that father and son have fought for the world championship. Marvin and Joe Frazier were the first.
In the future, McCall and Adams want a title fight with former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, who is in an Indiana prison serving a sentence on a rape conviction. Tyson is scheduled to be released in May of 1995 and could fight in late 1995 or early 1996.
McCall, who sparred with Tyson for nine fights, has said he will probably retire after reaching his ``ultimate goal'' of fighting Tyson.
``Oliver told Mike on the phone that he had done it [beaten Lewis],'' Adams recalled. ``Then he told Tyson, as serious as I've ever seen Oliver, that he wanted to show him what he had learned. They probably won't fight as soon as he gets out. Mike will probably have one or two warm-up fights. Tyson has a lot of anger in him. I wouldn't want to be the first person he fights when he gets out. He's going to kill somebody.''
It will be up to trainers Emanuel Steward and Greg Page to make sure that McCall does not suffer a letdown before his expected big showdown with Tyson.
``[McCall's] strong-minded, he's willing to learn and he has a good, strong attention span,'' said Page, a former WBA champion ``I'm not going to let that happen - complacency. If I had had somebody like me pushing me, I might still be a champion.''
by CNB