Oliver’s twist: He claims not fighting was strategic

Ed Schuyler Jr.

Monday, Feb. 10, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Oliver McCall wants a rubber match with Lennox Lewis, saying the referee mistakenly stopped the fight in which he threw only two punches in the fourth round.

McCall said that after the second round, he knew Lewis couldn't hurt him and that he decided to make Lewis punch himself out.

"The referee was looking at the fight and came to the conclusion that I didn't want to fight," McCall said at a Saturday news conference.

Besides throwing only two punches in the fourth round, McCall threw only one in the fifth before referee Mills Lane stopped the fight 55 seconds into the round. He ruled Lewis, of Britain, won the WBC heavyweight title on a technical knockout Friday night at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, said Lane could have disqualified McCall for not competing. McCall's purse of $3,075,500 was held up pending an investigation.

McCall will have to appear before the commission in 30 days.

McCall, who stopped Lewis in the second round Sept. 24, 1994, to win the WBC title, said should he get a third fight, he would donate his purse to charity.

Chances for a rubber match would not seem good in wake of McCall's performance in the bout for the vacant title. He was booed mercilessly by an estimated crowd of 4,000 fans.

McCall stormed out of the ring after the fight, and boxing officials expressed concern for his welfare.

McCall, who has been plagued by drug problems, was given an evaluation Saturday morning by Dr. Leonora Petty, a psychiatrist.

"I think his mental state is fine," she said, while also recommending psychiatric treatment.

"She said I should continue therapy with my counselor (drug counselor Ruth Ferguson, who accompanied McCall to Las Vegas)," McCall said. "She also said I should go ahead and see a psychiatrist, and I will two or three times a week. I think I'm great, personally."

Dr. Robert Voy of the Nevada State Athletic Commission also examined McCall and said he was OK physically. McCall, who has been in an out of drug rehabilitation, was given a post-fight drug test. The results won't be known until today or Tuesday.

Responding to McCall's latest claim that his unusual behavior in the ring was strategy, Lewis said: "McCall is just plain mad.

"He says he was hurting me? Anyone who saw the fight would know that is just not worthy of comment."

McCall refused to go to his corner after the third round, and Lane had to lead him back to the corner after fourth. Lane then stopped the fight in the fifth.

"I'm going to continue to fight," McCall said. "It's not about money now, it's about honor.

McCall said he will go to Nashville, Tenn., "where I have a legal situation to deal with."

McCall, who will be 32 on April 21, was arrested for vandalism, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest for an alcohol-related incident in a Nashville hotel in December. He also was arrested three times for drug possession in 1996.

Lewis is now being lined up to fight WBO champion Henry Akinwande, another British boxer, either in a unification fight or for his own WBC title.

"Bring anyone on, I don't care. Eventually I will unify the titles perhaps in 12 months, but you know what boxing politics are like.

"I don't really feel left out of the picture: let Tyson and Holyfield have their rematch and beat each other up and I'll take the leftovers."

"Winning this title feels better than when I won the first one because this one I won it in the ring," Lewis said.

Lewis got it the last time when Riddick Bowe refused to fight Lewis in a dispute over contracts and publicly dumped the belt in a garbage can in a London hotel. The WBC then gave it to Lewis.

"I was very happy with my own performance and that's what matters," Lewis said.