Former WBC Cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew has named former WBC Heavyweight champion Oliver McCall as the fighter with the ‘greatest chin of all time.’
Bellew’s comment was made under a video showcasing the anniversary of McCall’s loss in a rematch with Lennox Lewis for the vacant WBC title back in 1997.
The fight was remembered as one of the strangest fights of all time, as McCall didn’t engage in battle in the fourth round and began to cry, eventually forcing legendary referee Mills Lane to intervene and stop the fight in the fifth round, after McCall had not defended himself for two rounds, crowning Lewis as the new world champion.
Bellew’s comment saw him praise the chin of McCall, stating that Lewis is one of the biggest punchers the game has seen, and it wasn’t damaging McCall whilst he was crying.
You’ll not see a chin like McCalls in boxing ever again! Greatest chin of all time! Lennox is a monster and was teeing off on him while he was crying and it was doing no damage and believe me Lennox is amongst the biggest punchers the games seen! #IronJawMcCall
— Tony Bellew (@TonyBellew) February 7, 2024
McCall was the first man to inflict a loss onto Lewis’s record, stopping him in two rounds, in 1994 to begin his only world title reign, but his rematch with Lewis three years on is still remembered as one of boxing’s most bizarre nights.
Lewis went on to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion two years after the McCall rematch, defeating Evander Holyfield to capture the IBF, IBO and WBA titles to accompany his WBC belt. Lewis was the last man to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion, before Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury square off on May 18th in Riyadh for all the heavyweight gold.