Unfinished Business: Jameel McCline

[H2O Man]

A few hours after Vitali Klitschko's September 10th defense of his title against an undersized and overmatched Tomasz Adamec, former top contender Jameel “Big Time” McCline told his friends on FaceBook that he was going to return to the ring. McCline's 39-10-3 record does not, without closer examination, explain why he has long been so popular among boxing fans, or held in such high regard among other fighters. More, in my opinion, boxing's top promoters -- and thus the members of the Boxing Writers Association who are uncomfortably close to them – have never really promoted this top American heavyweight contender.

That is not to say that Jameel has not had opportunities. He is the only contender who has challenged for all four of the versions of the heavyweight title. Each time, he came up short. He has also lost several disputed decisions, including in non-title bouts, along the way. The result has been that members of the boxing community ask not if he has the ability to win “big time,” but what factors have kept him from winning in the emphatic manner that he is so capable of?

For the past month, I prepared to interview Jameel McCline by reading numerous articles, both about him and interviews with him; watched films of his previous fights; and talked with his trainer. I came up with a list of questions that I thought were most important, and had some assistence from my son Darren.

Jameel McCline is 41 years old. He has only fought once in the past three years, a disappointing loss to tough Chris Arreola in April, 2009. He is fully aware that it is not uncommon for retired boxers to watch a fight, either from ringside or couchside, and think, “I could lick either of these guys!” But that, as we will see, is not the case with Jameel.

Q: Why have you decided to make this comeback to the ring now?

A: The answer to that is three-fold. First, I have been aware of the lack of a strong American presence in the heavyweight division. That has an impact on the popularity of boxing in this country. In fact, it led directly to step two.

I was at a fight, and ran into Lennox Lewis. He asked me when I was making a comeback? I said, “I'm not.” He said that I really should.

A short time later, I saw Antonio Tarver. He asked me the same thing. I went away thinking, “Now, this is strange!”

Then I saw Bernard Hopkins. And B-Hop told me it was time for me to make my comeback.


Q: Bernard is a serious man.

A: All three of them are serious men. All three have been great champions of the sport. When they talk, you have to listen. And so I found myself thinking about my conversations with these three champions. And that led to the third factor.

I turned pro at the age of 25. I did not have any amateur boxing experience. Everything I learned was “on the job” experience. On one hand, this was clearly a disadvantage. But in life, you have to turn things around to your advantage. And I realized that I do not have the wear-and-tear that guys who began fighting amateur when they were eight or nine years old have. Boxing is a brutal business, but I didn't really get beat up.

So I'm thinking about my conversations with these three, and about my career. And I realized that I have some unfinished business. That is why I am making my comeback at this time.


Q: Do you have a fight scheduled?

A: I have a date. My plan is to fight on February 11th, at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Hollywood, Florida.


Q: How is training going?

A: Good. Very good. It's very hard, too. I understand that I'm older now. Like your son Darren said, this isn't going to be easy. But I am fully prepared to do all of the hard work necessary to accomplish my goal of winning the heavyweight title. I'm focused on taking it one step at a time.


Q: The great heavyweight champions tend to reflect American culture in a way no other athlete can. Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s; Joe Louis and WW2; Ali and the turbulent '60s. What would you bring to this tradition?

A: What I have to offer is the “Five Wells.” I am well-dressed. I am well-spoken. I am well-read. I am well-traveled. I am well-balanced. As heavyweight champion, I will offer a special style of leadership. And not just in the ring. I will serve as the ambassador of American heavyweights, to the world.

I'm a global traveler. In the United States, I've fought from New York City to Las Vegas. And I've fought in Switzerland, in Mexico, and in China. I've stayed in Russia, studied their culture, and learned their language. And that has helped me, for example, to understand the Klitschko brothers.


Q: The Klitschkos are an interesting pair. Most boxing people recognize they are great fighters, but neither has really appealed to the American audience. First, they are usually fighting much smaller opponents. Also, a number of writers and commentators say that they are not great technical fighters. I think they are both, in their own unique ways, absolutely technicians: they always break their opponents down in every fight.

A: Exactly. They break their opponents down. They do not rush it. Exactly right.


Q: Why do you think they aren't popular in the US?

A: I never talk smack about anyone. And, I'll tell you what, anyone who really knows the sport of boxing knows that both Vitali and Wladimir rank among the all-time greats. It's not just that there are so few loses between them – what, maybe five? – but it is the manner in which they systematically break their opponents down.

You have to rank both of them among the top thirty or forty of all-time. And obviously higher among the heavyweight division. I think that Wladimir ranks a little higher than Vitali, but I respect both of these men as great heavyweight champions. Both brothers are simply amazing. I just hope that they both remain amazing and active, and that they give me the opportunity to match skills with them.


Q: I want to go back to something for a moment …. about what you will represent as heavyweight champion. As a retired social worker, who has trained a lot of teenaged amateur boxers – including a number who had problems at home, in school, and in the community, and who benefitted from the discipline boxing instills, I think that you are a perfect role model. There are a lot of kids in this country that need a proper role model, someone they can identify with.

A: Thank you. It means a lot to me to be able to be a role model for young people. To be able to show them that there are rewards for working hard and living right. Thank you, Pat.


Q: Now, there are already too many weight classes in boxing. Some are only about four pounds. But the heavyweight division is unlimited. Guys who are 201 pounds are expected to fight guys who are 260 pounds. Do you think there should be a Super Heavyweight division?

A: No, not really. Once you are a “big man,” you are big enough to compete against other big men. Just look at Chris Byrd. Or look at the great Joe Frazier. They were not big heavyweights. But they were great champions who could compete against anyone in the ring.

I do agree that there are too many divisions. I look back at boxing magazines from the 1950s and '60s. There weren't nearly as many divisions. But there were certainly great champions, and boxing fans loved it that way. And boxing can only become more popular again when the focus is on making it competitive, where the best boxers fight each other.

Hey, speaking of Chris Byrd. That was a good fight.I put him down in the second round. I thought I won; he thought he won; and he got the split-decision. No hard feelings at all. I'm telling you, at his best, Chris Byrd could have fought anybody.


Q: You tended to do your best when fighting the division's other big men. In a 13-month stretch, you knocked out Michael Grant in one round; decisioned Lance Whitaker; and then decisioned two-time heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs. What advantages do you have in these fights?

A: Wow! You are the first person to ask me that. No other reporter has ever talked to me about that. You are astute.

This is another three-part answer. I'm big like them. I'm at least as strong as any of them, and much stronger than most of them. But the third part is key: I'm faster than any of the other big men in boxing.


Q: What has impressed me is that you seem to be most comfortable against them. You create the distance and positioning that allows you to get off your best shots.

A: Yes. Even against (Nikola) Valuev in 2007, I was comfortable in there. I had a strategy going into the fight, and everything was going as planned. I was feeling good, until my knee blew out.


Q: Your next fight after Valuev was against Samuel Peter at Madison Square Garden. That was one of a few very close decision loses that you had. As both a former amateur boxer, and trainer of pro and amateur fighters, I know how that can feel. How much of a role do you think that promoters have in influencing state commissions and even officials?

A: The pre-fight press conference told the story. Usually, the promoter speaks, and then both of the fighters and their trainers say a few words. As you know, that helps build interest in the fight. But Don is up there, on stage, and he brings up a Nigerian diplomat to speak. That would be like me having John McCain get on stage to promote me if we had been fighting in Nigeria

When the diplomat finished, Don called two of Nigeria's top actors up on stage to talk. I whispered to my manager, “The fix is in,” and got up and walked out. That is the only time in my career that I have done anything like that. It seemed like there was some kind of business deal going on, that didn't include my interests.

Now, remember, I had been scheduled to fight Vitali Klitschko earlier in the summer. Vitali pulled out of the fight, due to an injury. It was then that I was matched with Sam Peter. I ended up training too long, a total of 18 weeks. I knew beforehand that I was overtrained. When you have overtrained, you know that you risk losing your edge. You can go flat by the middle rounds. So going into the ring, I was intent upon taking him out early.

I'm not making excuses. Peter was a tough fighter. But I knocked him down three times early in the fight. And if you watch the films, you'll see that with the second knockdown, the referee gave Sam a full 17 seconds, before letting us fight again.

I also think that I won enough of the later rounds that, combined with three knockdowns, I should have gotten the decision.


Q: I remember that after the fight, Peter's manager attributed those knockdowns to Sam having a punctured ear drum. My impression was that you damaged his ear drum late in the first round. I'm also glad that you mentioned the issue of overtraining, which I think happens more often than boxing fans realize.

That brings us to another question: what do you think is a bigger problem for young fighters – overconfidence, or pre-fight anxiety?

A: I can only speak for myself. For me, being nervous before fights was an issue early in my career. This goes back to my not having any amateur experience. A boxer needs to be relaxed before a bout, or they risk burning up a lot of energy. Most boxers gain that ability while fighting as amateurs. It's not that you don't still get nervous after some experience, of course. But it's learning how to deal with it.


Q: The late trainer Cus D'Amato used to say that the hero and the coward feel the same fear. The hero learns to channel it for fuel, while the coward is consumed by it.

A: Well said. That is right on target. And in most cases, I think, self-confidence is an internal process. It isn't just there. It's a growth process. And, again, without having that amateur experience, there were times, Pat, that I had to deal with self-doubt.

I knew that my trainer was impressed with my abilities. And I knew that the crowds were impressed by my performances. There were times when, after scoring a good victory, my corner would tell me how impressive I had been; the crowd would cheer me as I raised my hands; and my family and friends would embrace me after the fight was over. Still, late at night, alone in my thoughts, I would wonder: was I really that good?

Even when I started to become a ranked contender, that lack of real experience would sometimes effect me. I remember being in the gym, and questioning something my trainer said. My cousin confronted me afterwards, asking why I was actually questioning myself? We had a good talk that day. He made me look at myself, and for the first time, I really recognized that inside of that boxing ring, I was a beast. Stronger than other men. A beast. Able to accomplish more than other people. “Stop thinking that other guy is anything like you,” my cousin told me. Since that day, I have had self-confidence.

It takes that proper state of mind to put both wins and loses into the proper perspective. Now, Pat, you mentioned Grant, Whitaker, and Briggs. Those were really good wins. Knocking Michael Grant out in one round was impressive. Whitaker was a talented fighter. Shannon Briggs was a champion. Briggs won the first round on all three officials' cards, and I won the next nine. That was an impressive win.


Q: I like what you are saying about putting every fight into the proper perspective. I'm thinking back to your 2005 fight with Calvin Brock. He was very talented. He was also very tough, or he couldn't have gotten off the canvas that night. But that fight is a good example of the wear-and-tear that fighters endure. He won the decision, but six years later, you are the one in a position to make a meaningful comeback to the ring.

A: Yes, Calvin Brock was a really talented fighter. We put on a good fight for the fans that night. And I was surprised when I saw him starting to get up.

The time that I've had off has given me an opportunity to think. If you get one shot at the heavyweight title, you've accomplished something. Getting two shots is very hard. Three is almost impossible. Four is unheard of. I earned those fights. And the fans wanted to see them. Boxing fans do not have any financial stake, or promotional agenda. They pick out fighters they like. I'm one of the guys that the fans like to see win.