This fight has no local connection that I'm aware of, but I still had to be there.  I've been a Mccall fan since the first Lennox fight but for whatever reason have never seen him fight live before now.  

These two fought a 10 rounder at the Orleans in Vegas last Friday.  They both looked in pretty good shape, Whitaker as you might know had about 5 inches of height on Mccall.

Oliver basically bull rushed him to start the fight and kept him on the ropes for a while.  Eventually, he landed a right high on the head and Whitaker dropped.  I thought we might have an early night, but Lance got right back up and seemed to be pretty steady by the end of the round.

After that 10-8 round, Lance bounced back and began to keep McCall at bay for a few rounds with his jab and some decent right crosses.  Some of which would probably have decked a lesser fighter, but Mccall still has the best chin in the Heavyweight division even at age 44.  So he pretty much shrugged everything off.

McCall began to work his way back into the fight by round 5 and the late rounds usually took the shape of:

1. Mccall wins the first minute by rushing Whitaker against the ropes
2. Whitaker wins the next minute by keeping Mccall at bay, and also it seemed like Mccall just ran out of gas after his initial assault; and
3. The last minutes were fought on pretty equal terms.

Some guy behind me kept shouting "Put him away, Lance".  I thought to myself "Fool, don't you know who he's fighting?  Nobody puts McCall away."

It was a decent fight, all things considered.  Too much holding towards the end to really recommend it to anyone, but I've seen much worse.  I've never been a huge Whitaker fan, but he showed good workrate and heart to get up from that knckdown.  In the end, all 3 judges had it 95-94 for McCall.  I could see it as a point either way.

McCall said he was going to fight again next month.  Good to see him stay active, I don't think he had much of a shot against the top of the divison any more, but I could see him making  good fights against some bangers - maybe Cris Arreola or someone like that.

On the undercard, Arthur Williams was TKOd in the 7th against Victor Barragan.  Barragan was fairly crude but very energetic, and he basically wore down Williams before stopping him with a barrage of shots.  No knockdowns, but Williams took some massive shots along the way.

Al Bernstein was pushing for a rematch in the post fight interview, and Williams sure wanted one, but I really wish he would hang it up.  He's so slow it's not funny, it's like he was fighting underwater.  And Barragan is not exactly an elite fighter.  Williams is a true warrior and always has been, I don't want him to be a stepping stone anymore.

Also, Mccall's son Elijah won by 2nd round KO on tbe undercard.  He fought someone named Reginald Jackson who weighed about 60 pounds more than Mccall.  It was a sloppy fight, lot of clinching.  People were screaming for Mccall to hit the body of Jackson.  He hit him with a straight right to the gut in the second and Jackson went down for a 10 count.

Oliver was in his son's corner, and also for a fighter named Lawrence Hughes, who won by 3rd round KO over Michael Gallegos.  That fight was pretty competitive for two rounds but then Hughes went all out in the 3rd and dropped Gallegos 3 times.  Once with a sweet left hook that drove Gallegos about halfway across the ring.  Hughes looked a little crude but he's only had 3 fights so there's plenty of time for improvement.

Mccall has a son who fights? How old am i? Man, that is some hardcore shit to go out to Vegas for that card.