 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | April 8, 1995 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Caesars Palace, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBC Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| McCall wins via 12-round unanimous decision (115-112, 115-114, 114-113) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Oliver McCall vs. Larry Holmes , billed as "Burden of Proof", was a professional boxing match contested on April 8, 1995 for the WBC Heavyweight Championship. [1] The undercard included world championship bouts in four other categories.
After Oliver McCall stunned Lennox Lewis in the second round to become WBC Heavyweight Champion, he turned down a $10 million offer from Lewis for an immediate rematch. Instead he agreed to fight 46 year old former WBC, IBF and lineal heavyweight champion Larry Holmes, who was making his fourth attempt at regaining a heavyweight title after losing to Michael Spinks in 1985. [2] Each of his previous three attempts (against Spinks in 1986 in a rematch, against Mike Tyson in 1988, and against Evander Holyfield in 1992) ended in defeat, although he went the distance in two of the three fights.
In addition to the main event title fight, four other world championship bouts were contested that evening.
There were wins Carl Daniels, Frans Botha, Henry Akinwande, Tim Austin and Nana Konadu on the undercard.
| Title(s) on the line | WBA Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seldon defeated Tucker by 7th round corner retirement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The first bout of the televised portion of the card was between Bruce Seldon and former IBF champion Tony Tucker for the WBA heavyweight title that had been stripped from George Foreman after he refused to fight top contender Tucker. [3]
Seldon used his left jab to control the action, landing frequently on Tucker's head. After round 7 the ringside physician Flip Homansky examined Tucker's badly swollen left eye and told referee Mills Lane that Tucker could not continue.
At the time of the stoppage Seldon led all three scorecards 67-66, 67-66 and 68-65
Ringside physician Flip Homansky explained his decision saying "I was checking the fight for three rounds and I was concerned about the orbital rim and nasal fractures, I was more concerned (Tucker's) eye than the title shot. Tucker was gradually losing vision out of the left eye. It was going to close totally. And that is just how I had to handle it."
Tucker was unhappy with the stoppage saying "I was winning the fight clearly, I was ahead on all the scorecards. They'd better give me a rematch. It was wrong for them to stop the fight."
Seldon meanwhile would say "If I have to beat him up again, I'll beat him up again, it's all right with me."
It was later determined that Tucker's eye socket was fractured.
In the next fight, IBF welterweight champion Félix Trinidad made the sixth defence of his championship he had held since 1993 against Roger Turner. [4]
Trinidad made quick work of Turner, knocking him out in the second round to run his record to 26-0.
Julio César Chávez faced Giovanni Parisi in the third defence of his WBC and lineal junior welterweight championships that he had won back from Frankie Randall in June 1994 to avenge what was, to that point in his career, his only defeat.
Chavez won a lopsided unanimous decision to win his 93rd career fight.
The final match before the main event was a rematch for the WBC super welterweight crown, in which former champion Terry Norris looked to regain the championship he lost to Luis Santana under controversial circumstances in November 1994. [5]
Norris was a 13-1 favorite.
Norris started well knocking Santana down once in round two and once in round three.
However, as he had been in the first fight, Norris was disqualified. This time, he hit Santana after the bell to end the third round and referee Kenny Bayless awarded the fight to Santana.
For most of the 12 rounds Holmes was often hanging on the ropes, allowing McCall to open a flurry, before countering with quick rights. McCall tried to jab with Holmes throwing right leads and connecting with McCall's chin.
In the ninth round a McCall left backed Holmes backward into the ropes, which were the only thing that kept him from falling. From then on, McCall dominated the fight. There were no knockdowns, but McCall gave Holmes a severe gash on his left cheekbone.
Judge Barbara Perez scored the fight 114–113, judge Tomi Tomihari had it 115–114 and judge Chuck Giampa called it 115–112, all three to McCall. [6]
Oliver McCall's next bout was against British veteran Frank Bruno, who defeated him later in 1995 to win the title. Bruno in turn would immediately lose the title in his first defence against Mike Tyson, whom the winner of the fight was contractually obligated to face.
Bruce Seldon would make one successful defence of his WBA title, defeating Joe Hipp by TKO in the tenth round on the undercard of Tyson's comeback fight event. In his next fight after that, he defended the title against Tyson, who knocked him out in the first round.
Félix Trinidad would hold onto the IBF welterweight championship until 1999, making a total of fourteen successful defences. After winning the WBC and lineal championships from Oscar De La Hoya that year, he moved up in weight and by 2001 had also won titles at junior middleweight and middleweight.
Julio César Chávez would make one more sanctioned defence of his WBC and lineal super lightweight titles before losing them to De La Hoya by knockout in June 1996, the first time in his career he had been stopped. He continued fighting until 2005, finishing with a career record of 107 wins, 6 losses, and 2 draws.
Terry Norris and Luis Santana fought for a third time on the Tyson comeback undercard, and this time there was a definitive winner as Norris knocked Santana out in the second round to regain the WBC super welterweight title. Norris then added the IBF championship and the lineal championship to his resume by beating Paul Vaden in his next fight. He would hold those titles until 1997.
Confirmed bouts: [7]
| Winner | Loser | Weight division/title belt(s) disputed | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
 Luis Santana |  Terry Norris | WBC World super welterweight title | 3rd round DQ. |
 Julio César Chávez |  Giovanni Parisi | WBC World super lightweight title | Unanimous Decision. |
 Félix Trinidad | Roger Turner | IBF World welterweight title | 2nd-round TKO |
| Bruce Seldon | Tony Tucker | vacant WBA World heavyweight title | 7th-round RTD |
| Non-TV bouts | |||
| Carl Daniels | James Mason | Middleweight (10 rounds) | 7th round RTD. |
 Frans Botha | Willie Jake | Heavyweight (8 rounds) | Unanimous Decision. |
 Henry Akinwande | Calvin Jones | Heavyweight (8 rounds) | 2nd-round KO. |
| Tim Austin | Javier Diaz | Bantamweight (8 rounds) | 1st round Technical Draw. |
 Nana Konadu | Robert Parra | Super Bantamweight (8 rounds) | 1st-round KO. |
| James Stanton | Javier Diaz | Heavyweight (6 rounds) | 6th round PTS. |
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
| Mexico | TV Azteca |
| United States | Showtime |
Lennox Claudius Lewis is a boxing commentator and former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and held the undisputed championship. Holding dual British and Canadian citizenship, Lewis represented Canada as an amateur at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics; in the latter, he won a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division. Lewis is regarded by many as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, and one of the greatest British fighters of all time.
Tony Craig Tucker is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1998. He won the IBF heavyweight title in 1987, and was the shortest-reigning world heavyweight champion at just 64 days. In an interview with Barry Tompkins, he referred to himself as the "invisible champion," due to the press and general public largely neglecting him. He is best known for giving Mike Tyson in his prime a relatively close fight, in which he, in the words of Larry Merchant, "rocked Tyson" in the first round. However, Tyson went on to win a unanimous decision. As an amateur, he won the 1979 United States national championships, the 1979 World Cup, and a gold medal at the 1979 Pan American Games, all in the light heavyweight division.
Boxing in the 1980s was filled with important fights, events and personalities that shaped the sport. Boxing in the 1980s was shaped by many different situations, such as the continuous corporate battles between the different world sanctioning organizations, the void left by Muhammad Ali as the sport's ambassador and consequent search for a new boxing hero, the continuous presence of Don King as the sport's most famous promoter, the surge of rival promoters as Bob Arum, Butch Lewis and Murad Muhammad, and major rule changes. In 1986, Mike Tyson emerged as a fresh new face in the heavyweight division, which had seen a decline in champion quality level after Ali's retirement and, later on, after longtime WBC ruler Larry Holmes' prime. In addition, the IBF and WBO began operating.
Jesse Ferguson is a retired American boxer who was a Heavyweight Title Challenger and Top Contender who Beat Undisputed Heavyweight World Champion Buster Douglas, Heavyweight World Champion Ray Mercer and Cruiserweight World Champion Tyrone Booze. His professional career is filled with matches with champions and contenders and his name is linked with numerous boxing stars of the 1980s and 1990s.
Terry Wayne Norris is an American former boxer, prizefighter and a three time world champion in the light-middleweight (super-welterweight) division. Originally from Lubbock, Texas, he fought out of San Diego.
As in the 1980s, the 1990s in boxing's popularity focused on all divisions. When 1980s legends Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, as well as others retired, newer superstars filled the void: Pernell Whitaker, Julio César Chávez, in the early 1990s, Oscar De La Hoya, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr. and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the mid to late 1990s.
Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield, billed as Finally, was a professional boxing match fought between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson for the WBA heavyweight championship on November 9, 1996, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The bout was Tyson's first defence of the WBA title that he had won from Bruce Seldon on September 7 of that year.
Félix Trinidad vs. Bernard Hopkins, billed as And Then There Was One, was a boxing match that took place on September 29, 2001, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, between WBC and IBF middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins and WBA middleweight champion Félix Trinidad to unify all three titles and decide the first undisputed middleweight champion since Marvin Hagler. The winner would also become The Ring middleweight champion. The undercard featured championship fights in three other weight classes.
Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks, billed as Once and For All, was a professional boxing match which took place on June 27, 1988. Both fighters were undefeated and each had a claim to being the legitimate heavyweight champion. At the time, Tyson held the belts of all three of the major sanctioning organizations while Spinks was The Ring and Lineal champion. The fight was held at the Convention Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey U.S., it was at the time the richest fight in boxing history, grossing some $70 million, of which Tyson earned a record purse of around $22 million and Spinks $13.5 million. Tyson won the fight, knocking out Spinks in 91 seconds.
Mike Tyson vs. Peter McNeeley, billed as He's Back, was a professional boxing match contested on August 19, 1995. The match marked the return of Mike Tyson to professional boxing after over four years away due to his 1991 arrest and subsequent conviction for rape in 1992 which led to Tyson serving three years in prison.
Evander Holyfield vs. Michael Moorer II, billed as Return to Glory, was a professional boxing match contested November 8, 1997 for the WBA and IBF heavyweight championships.
Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis, billed as Undisputed, was a professional boxing match contested on March 13, 1999 for the WBA, WBC, and IBF undisputed heavyweight championship.
Bruce Seldon vs. Mike Tyson, billed as Liberation, was a professional boxing match fought on September 7, 1996 for the WBA heavyweight championship.
Frank Bruno vs. Mike Tyson II, billed as The Championship: Part I, was a professional boxing match contested on March 16, 1996 for the WBC heavyweight championship.
Mike Tyson vs. Tony Tucker, billed as The Ultimate, was a professional boxing match contested on August 1, 1987 for the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight championships.
Mike Tyson vs. Larry Holmes, billed as Heavyweight History, was a professional boxing match contested on January 22, 1988, for the WBA, WBC, and IBF Heavyweight Championships.
Mike Tyson vs. Donovan Ruddock, billed as Fight of the Year, was a professional boxing match contested on March 18, 1991 at the Mirage in Paradise, Nevada. At the time the two fighters were the top two ranked contenders for the WBC, WBA, and IBF world heavyweight championships that were at the time held by Evander Holyfield. The bout was a twelve-round championship eliminator fight, with the winner becoming the mandatory challenger to Holyfield's crown.
Mike Tyson vs. Buster Mathis Jr., billed as Presumption of Innocence, was a professional boxing match contested on December 16, 1995.
Lennox Lewis vs. Oliver McCall, billed "Whose Moment of Glory", was a professional boxing match contested on 24 September 1994 for the WBC Heavyweight Championship.