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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Boxer Claims A Method To Madness Controversy Surrounds Mccall’s Non-Fight

Associated Press

Oliver McCall says he didn’t quit against Lennox Lewis, but that he was just following a revised fight plan designed to tire his opponent.

Referee Mills Lane stopped the fight for the vacant WBC heavyweight championship Friday night after McCall threw only two punches in the fourth round and one in the fifth.

“They didn’t give me an opportunity to play out my fight plan,” McCall said during a Saturday afternoon news conference.

McCall stormed out of the ring after the fight, and boxing officials expressed concern for his welfare.

“The fight affected Oliver mentally,” said Lewis, who had lost the title when stopped by McCall in the second round Sept. 24, 1994.

“I believe he had a nervous breakdown, and maybe a reaction to how he was living outside the ring,” Jose Sulaiman, WBC president, said immediately after the fight.

McCall, who has been plagued by drug problems, was given an evaluation Saturday morning by Dr. Leonora Petty, a psychiatrist. She said, “I think his mental state is fine,” but she also recommended psychiatric treatment.

“She said I should continue therapy with my counselor,” Ruth Ferguson, who accompanied McCall to Las Vegas, McCall said. “She also said I should go ahead and see a psychiatrist, and I will two or three times a week. I think I’m great, personally.”

Dr. Robert Voy of the Nevada State Athletic Commission also examined McCall and said he was OK physically. McCall, who has been in and out of drug rehabilitation, was given a post-fight drug test. The results won’t be known until Monday or Tuesday.

McCall refused to go to his corner after the third round, and Lane had to lead him back to the corner after the fourth. Lane then stopped the fight 55 seconds into the fifth round.

Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada commission, said McCall’s purse of $3,075,500 was being held up pending an investigation.

Dr. Elias Ghanem, commission chairman, said McCall would have to appear before the commission in 30 days.

“I just hope they understand and give me the benefit of the doubt that I went in to win the fight, but that the referee didn’t understand my fight plan.”

In London, Naseem Hamed unleashed a right uppercut to knock Tom “Boom Boom” Johnson out in the eighth round to add the IBF featherweight title to his WBO crown and likely end the American’s career.

The unbeaten 22-year-old British fighter had Johnson wobbling with his unorthodox long-range shots in rounds three and seven before ending the contest at 2:27 of the eighth.

Also in London, Robin Reid floored South Africa’s Giovanni Pretorius for the third time for a knockout victory in the seventh round, his first defense of the WBC super-middleweight title.

The unbeaten British fighter also downed the South African in the first and fifth rounds, and Pretorius always appeared to be an easy target for the champion.