ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, February 10, 1997              TAG: 9702100123
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: B-4  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: LAS VEGAS
SOURCE: Associated Press

MCCALL WON'T PUT UP A FIGHT LEWIS WINS WBC CROWN IN 5TH ROUND

Lennox Lewis became a champion again, while Oliver McCall became a bum in the eyes of fight fans Friday night.

McCall refused to do any fighting in the fourth and fifth rounds and referee Mills Lane stopped the fight in the fifth.

``McCall was disqualified and we'll have an examination,'' said Mark Ratner, head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

He also said McCall's $3 million purse would be held up.

``I don't know what happened. I can't even make a venture,'' said promoter Don King.

``It was a sad, sad thing,'' said Lou DiBella of HBO, which televised the fight.

Lewis became the WBC heavyweight champion for the second time. He lost the title when he was stopped in the second round by McCall at Wembley, England, on Sept.24, 1994.

McCall then lost the title to Frank Bruno, who lost it to Mike Tyson. It became vacant when Tyson relinquished it.

McCall was credited with throwing only 75 punches in the fight, only two in the fourth round and one jab in the fifth before Lane disgustedly stopped it.

``He was in there with a lunatic,'' said George Benton, McCall's trainer. ``He was talking incoherently, but he'd been doing it all week. It started a long time ago and it caught up with him.''

The 31-year-old McCall has been in and out of drug rehabilitation for the past 18 months and he was accompanied to Las Vegas by a drug counselor.

``I came to fight,'' said Lewis. ``At first, when he was walking away, I thought he was trying to trick me or something. What can I do? I just went out there to win the championship belt.''

The 31-year-old Lewis, at 251 pounds, controlled the first three rounds with stiff left jabs and occasional hard rights to the head.

In the fourth round, McCall began his walkabout as the crowd of about 4,000 spectators began to boo lustily.

McCall, 237, who had refused to go to his corner after the third round, refused again after the fourth, but Lane took him by the arm and led him to the corner.

Lewis, from Britain, is 30-1 with 24 knockouts. McCall is 28-7 with 20 knockouts.

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