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BY ROBERT SAMUELS
rsamuels@MiamiHerald.com
Boxing's former world heavyweight champion pulled on his Everlast sweat jacket, grabbed his reading glasses and embarked on his 90-minute trek to the only gig he has at the moment -- handing out bus passes to the homeless.
''Sorry, bus was late,'' Oliver McCall told Millicent Lindo, head of Fort Lauderdale's Community Hope Center, as he plopped himself at his desk.
A man with a gray hair and torn gloves was his first visitor. He recognized that face, those tree trunk-like arms. ''You still fightin'?'' the man asked.
The champ let out out a big laugh.
In so many ways, yes. Oliver ''The Atomic Bull'' McCall is on a mission to reclaim his status as the world's best boxer. But he also wants to reclaim something even more powerful and elusive: his dignity.
''The truth is, I want to be a better Oliver McCall,'' he said the day after his last incarceration. ``My past isn't pretty -- with all the drinking and drugging. I hung on to my addiction like a fish on a hook. But I can conquer this. I still got what it takes to be a champion -- inside and outside the ring.''
In the 1990s, McCall was renowned for his stubborn chin and calamitous punch. In 1994, he shocked the world when he became the first man to knock out fighter Lennox Lewis.
As Lewis struggled to figure out where he was, McCall jumped in a Russian split more reminiscent of a figure skater than of a pugilist.
But despite the triumph over the next decade, McCall's addiction caused him to lose it all: fame, money, sanity and the confidence of others.
McCall walked out of jail again in January after at least his 10th arrest, declaring his last bout with addiction over. But for boxing experts, McCall's dream of reclaiming his past glory in the ring is no more than that.
''Oliver McCall was a bit of an underachiever because he didn't have the discipline and then had a host of personal problems,'' said Nigel Collins, editor of boxing magazine The Ring. ``That's how he's always been.''
• • •
Before there were leather gloves, there was pigskin. McCall chose his profession while playing on a Park High School Panthers football team in Racine, Wis. He fell to the ground, and a player ran his cleats over his left hand.
''The worst pain I ever felt,'' he said.
His jaw proved tougher than his fingers, so he boxed. In 1984, he won Chicago's Golden Gloves amateur competition.
The ring is a refuge for a troublemaker, as McCall was. In his teens, he provided for his family by stealing clothes from shops, hiding under train platforms and burglarizing houses.
He was the kind of kid who sees his mother getting drunk and starts sneaking sips, then finds the taste inescapable by 14. Marijuana came next, then *******. By 20, he says he was drinking 24 cans of beer in a day.
His coaches loathed his work ethic. He'd drink in the night, then miss his jogging sessions in the morning. When he got there, he couldn't focus on his regimen.
SOARING CAREER
He went to rehab and his career soared. In the 1990s, he knocked down Mike Tyson during a sparring session. And in 1994, there was the match with Lewis.
Training for the fight, McCall had four rules: No drinking, no drugging, no sex and no haircuts. One swift punch in the second round knocked Lewis out. Lewis got back on his feet, but was so dizzy the referee declared him unable to continue.
After the fight, Lewis complained the referee stopped the match too early. McCall responded: ``What was he supposed to let me do? Kill him?''
rsamuels@MiamiHerald.com
Boxing's former world heavyweight champion pulled on his Everlast sweat jacket, grabbed his reading glasses and embarked on his 90-minute trek to the only gig he has at the moment -- handing out bus passes to the homeless.
''Sorry, bus was late,'' Oliver McCall told Millicent Lindo, head of Fort Lauderdale's Community Hope Center, as he plopped himself at his desk.
A man with a gray hair and torn gloves was his first visitor. He recognized that face, those tree trunk-like arms. ''You still fightin'?'' the man asked.
The champ let out out a big laugh.
In so many ways, yes. Oliver ''The Atomic Bull'' McCall is on a mission to reclaim his status as the world's best boxer. But he also wants to reclaim something even more powerful and elusive: his dignity.
''The truth is, I want to be a better Oliver McCall,'' he said the day after his last incarceration. ``My past isn't pretty -- with all the drinking and drugging. I hung on to my addiction like a fish on a hook. But I can conquer this. I still got what it takes to be a champion -- inside and outside the ring.''
In the 1990s, McCall was renowned for his stubborn chin and calamitous punch. In 1994, he shocked the world when he became the first man to knock out fighter Lennox Lewis.
As Lewis struggled to figure out where he was, McCall jumped in a Russian split more reminiscent of a figure skater than of a pugilist.
But despite the triumph over the next decade, McCall's addiction caused him to lose it all: fame, money, sanity and the confidence of others.
McCall walked out of jail again in January after at least his 10th arrest, declaring his last bout with addiction over. But for boxing experts, McCall's dream of reclaiming his past glory in the ring is no more than that.
''Oliver McCall was a bit of an underachiever because he didn't have the discipline and then had a host of personal problems,'' said Nigel Collins, editor of boxing magazine The Ring. ``That's how he's always been.''
• • •
Before there were leather gloves, there was pigskin. McCall chose his profession while playing on a Park High School Panthers football team in Racine, Wis. He fell to the ground, and a player ran his cleats over his left hand.
''The worst pain I ever felt,'' he said.
His jaw proved tougher than his fingers, so he boxed. In 1984, he won Chicago's Golden Gloves amateur competition.
The ring is a refuge for a troublemaker, as McCall was. In his teens, he provided for his family by stealing clothes from shops, hiding under train platforms and burglarizing houses.
He was the kind of kid who sees his mother getting drunk and starts sneaking sips, then finds the taste inescapable by 14. Marijuana came next, then *******. By 20, he says he was drinking 24 cans of beer in a day.
His coaches loathed his work ethic. He'd drink in the night, then miss his jogging sessions in the morning. When he got there, he couldn't focus on his regimen.
SOARING CAREER
He went to rehab and his career soared. In the 1990s, he knocked down Mike Tyson during a sparring session. And in 1994, there was the match with Lewis.
Training for the fight, McCall had four rules: No drinking, no drugging, no sex and no haircuts. One swift punch in the second round knocked Lewis out. Lewis got back on his feet, but was so dizzy the referee declared him unable to continue.
After the fight, Lewis complained the referee stopped the match too early. McCall responded: ``What was he supposed to let me do? Kill him?''
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