Jameel McCline

Jameel McCline
Jameel McCline (right), 2007 versus Sam Peter
Data
Birth Name	Jameel McCline
Fight name	Big time
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	May 20, 1970
place of birth	new York
style	Left delivery
size	1.98 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	56
Victories	41
Knockout victories	24
Defeats	12
draw	3

Jameel McCline (born May 20, 1970 in Harlem , New York ), called "Big Time" McCline, is an American heavyweight boxer.

Professional career

After a lengthy prison sentence for illicit arms trafficking and only one amateur fight, McCline began his professional career in 1995. He simply lied to the well-known coach Kevin Rooney (ex-coach of Mike Tyson ) that he had already gained a lot of experience. With his appearance (fully trained 115-120 kilograms), he caused interest. Without any significant boxing training and wrestling experience, he lost his second fight against Gary Bell by knocking out in the first round. As a result, it did not receive much attention subsequently.

McCline remained consistently loyal to the sport and regularly won fights at Cedric Kushner's "Heavyweight Explosion" events over the next few years . From 1996 to 2002 he remained undefeated.

In 2001 Michael Grant should be rebuilt after his demoralizing knockout loss to Lennox Lewis . Promoter Kushner chose McCline as an opponent, but he took the opportunity and surprised Grant with a knockdown in the first round, who injured himself and had to give up.

McCline was now in the limelight and got to play against puncher Lance Whitaker , who had just landed the biggest win of his career. He managed the second surprise in a row, beating Whitaker on points. He was listed in the top ten at Ring Magazine . He then confirmed the ranking position with a high point victory over Shannon Briggs .

He rose to the mandatory challenger of the WBO world champion Wladimir Klitschko . In this fight on December 7, 2002, however, he boxed cautiously, was presented and gave up after a knockdown in the tenth round.

In the next fights McCline get KOs against Charles Shufford and the undefeated Cedric Boswell, so that he got another title fight at the IBF against world champion Chris Byrd . He had Byrd on the ground in the second round, but still lost on points. In 2005 he was defeated by the undefeated Calvin Brock and Zuri Lawrence.

On January 20, 2007, McCline challenged the WBA title holder Nikolai Valujew in Basel . By the end of the third round, he sustained a knee injury that prevented him from fighting any further. After the fight, McCline said he was likely to retire from his career. The title defense was the hardest title fight in professional boxing so far. Together, the two opponents weighed 270 kg. Following the fight, McCline was diagnosed with a torn patellar tendon in his left knee. The injury requires an operation, and it is estimated that the healing process will take half a year.

On June 15, Vitali Klitschko's agent Shelly Finkel announced that Klitschko would fight McCline on his comeback. Since he was injured in preparation for the fight, the fight was canceled. McCline should then initially compete against DaVarryl Williamson in the framework program of the World Cup fight between WBC title holder Oleg Maskajew and Samuel Peter . A little later, however, Maskayev also had to cancel his fight due to a training injury, so that McCline rose to the opponent of Samuel Peter. The fight for the WBC interim title took place on October 6, 2007 in New York's Madison Square Garden . McCline, who is not known for his clout, surprisingly got three knockdowns in the second and third round, but he could not decide the fight. Instead, Peter won on points after twelve rounds. Also his next fight, an elimination match of the WBC federation against the former WBA world champion John Ruiz , he lost on March 8, 2008 unanimously on points.

Web links

• Jameel McCline in the BoxRec database