How the Mighty Have Fattened

When I heard that Jameel McCline had slimmed down for his bout with Calvin Brock, I was psyched for him. But what I saw when he entered the round was just another tubby, slow heavyweight. Big Time came in with a 47 lb. weight "advantage" over Brock, and 4 1/2 inch height advantage which he gave up through most of the fight.

One of the reasons I like McCline is that he stays active, unlike most of the other heavyweights at the top of the pile today. "Fighters are supposed to fight," he says, which is ironic because that's exactly what he didn't do last night. Instead, he spent most of his time grappling with the smaller man, rather than throwing punches. It was infuriating to watch, and seemed to tire him more than his opponent.

All in all, I think Brock steps forward as a legitimate contender, and should make an appearance in Ring's heavyweight rankings. He did some nice work getting inside, using the jab, and taking back rounds late. In the third round, McCline had it won with a nice early spurt of connects, but Brock stole it with a sweet right hand that McCline never saw coming. In round seven, easily the best round of the fight, Brock hit the canvas after a left hook he never saw coming, but got up and won a point back, turning a 10-8 round into a 10-9 round. In the end, I scored it 96-94, 6 rounds to 4, Brock.

If McCline is thinking about staying in boxing, he needs to slim down a bit more (maybe to 250 or 255) and get a new trainer. He's not using his size to his advantage, and he needs to learn to let his hands go.