McCall Sends Up Distress Signal; Lewis Wins Title

Oliver McCall was scheduled to battle Lennox Lewis on Friday night at the Las Vegas Hilton. Instead, McCall, less than a week out of a drug-rehabilitation clinic, spent most of 13 bizarre minutes of boxing battling his own inner demons.

The demons won.

So did Lewis, who was awarded the vacant World Boxing Council heavyweight title when referee Mills Lane stopped the fight at the 55-second mark of the fifth round after it became obvious that McCall was mentally unfit to compete.

McCall’s behavior included:

--Throwing only three punches over the last four minutes of the fight, and a total of only 26, although he appeared to be unhurt.

--Refusing to go back to his own corner between rounds, preferring instead to march around the ring with an angry frown etched on his face.

--Breaking into a crying spell after the fourth round.

--Constantly walking away from the charging Lewis, glancing over his shoulder in anger as if he were out for an evening stroll and Lewis was a mugger.

“I believe he [McCall] had a nervous breakdown,” WBC President Jose Sulaiman said.

Marc Ratner of the Nevada State Athletic Commission announced after the fight that McCall’s purse, totaling slightly more than $3 million, was being withheld pending an investigation.

“Don King should not have allowed this fight,” promoter Dino Duva said of the rival promoter who handles McCall. “We offered to fight the next guy and said that when McCall was ready, we’ll fight him. Don King conned the WBC. It’s a shame. People buy tickets and we get embarrassed. [McCall] should not have been allowed to fight.”

There can be little argument that McCall had no business being in the ring fighting. Not less than a week after leaving the drug clinic in Nashville where he was believed to be an outpatient. Not less than two months after he was arrested for erratic behavior that included throwing a Christmas tree across a hotel lobby. Not after two arrests for drug possession in the last year.

The last of those incidents occurred in mid-December. McCall threw a glass and an ashtray across a bar, hurled the Christmas tree, spit on a police car, used abusive language and resisted arrest.

He admitted to a drug problem and entered rehabilitation. He insisted he had undergone a religious conversion that had straightened out his life.

McCall arrived in Las Vegas Monday night and was tested by state athletic commission officials for drugs Tuesday. The tests revealed he was drug free. But even in his conversations during the week he appeared to be erratic. On Tuesday, McCall said he would retire after the fight. On Wednesday, he said he would not.

But because he was in good shape physically and was drug free, commission officials saw no reason to cancel the fight that was a rematch of a bout held 2 1/2 years ago in London’s Wembley Stadium. In that 1994 match, Lewis, a 5-1 favorite, was knocked out in the second round by a right hand from McCall, giving McCall Lewis’ WBC title. It was the only loss of Lewis’ career, his record now 30-1 with 25 knockouts.

McCall (28-7, 20 knockouts) subsequently lost the title to Frank Bruno. But he won his next two fights and seemed eager to fight Friday night, according to those who watched him prepare. McCall sat in the locker room before the fight and read the Bible and a book on faith by former President Jimmy Carter.

Did McCall’s trainer, George Benton, know anything was wrong at that point?

“If I’d had a clue,” Benton said, “the fight wouldn’t have happened.”

McCall bounced into the ring and stormed around before the opening bell, a look of enthusiasm and anticipation on his face.

And indeed, for the first two rounds, it was a fight, although Lewis clearly had the edge, peppering McCall with a stinging jab and a strong right hand.

One judge, Larry O’Connell gave the second round to McCall.

But by the third round, McCall seemed to have passed into a different zone mentally. He dropped his hands, he walked away and he showed little interest in countering Lewis’ punches.

“Get in there and fight,” a distressed King yelled from McCall’s corner.

“I came to fight,” Lewis said. “At first, I thought he was trying to trick me. What can I do? I came to win the fight. Emanuel [Steward, his trainer] told me to step it up. It was disappointing. I don’t think he [McCall] was prepared mentally to fight.”

In the fourth round, Lane temporarily stopped the bout to talk to McCall.

“Do you want to fight?” Lane asked.

“I got to fight. I got to fight,” McCall replied.

Finally, early in the fifth round, Lane had seen enough.

“He was running around, not defending himself,” Lane said. “I couldn’t let it go on any longer. When we started the fight, I said, ‘Let’s get it on.’ Later, I said, ‘Let’s get it off.’ ”

When Lane signaled that the bout was over, the crowd of 5,000 booed loudly. But there was no reaction from McCall, who quickly left the ring, seemingly oblivious to his own behavior or its consequences.

When it was over, even Don King, the master wordsmith, had trouble describing what had happened.

“You saw it,” he said. “I don’t even want to venture a guess.”

Rival promoter Bob Arum, a spectator Friday, had no problem expressing an opinion.

“We all learned a lesson tonight,” he said. “If a kid is in rehab, you don’t let him into a major fight. A guy on drugs in withdrawal can do all sorts of crazy things.”

Lewis will now meet World Boxing Organization champion Henry Akinwande within 90 days.

And McCall?

Hopefully, he’ll go back into rehab where he should have been Friday night.