Thursday, May 15, 2003 | 9:20 a.m.
He had one of the greatest nicknames in the history of boxing. And his brutal attacks to the midsection made the moniker apropos.
"The Body Snatcher" is how Mike McCallum was known during his fighting career, and it's how he'll be introduced as he's inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, N.Y., during the June 8 ceremony.
A longtime resident of Las Vegas, McCallum is one of five fighters from the "modern era" who will be honored this year.
"I'm very elated and really looking forward to this," McCallum said. "It's a wonderful thing.
"It'll be a time for me to enjoy the fruits of my labors."
McCallum, 46, is a former junior middleweight and middleweight world champion who went 49-5-1 with 36 knockouts during his career. He keeps his hand in the game by training fighters.
"You never know," he said, when asked if he thought his accomplishments would merit Hall of Fame consideration. "There not only are a lot of fighters, there are a lot of fighters who did great things and had great careers. My only hope was that they would consider the things I'd done and the work I'd put in."
A native of Jamaica who lived in Nashville and New York City before moving here, McCallum has never visited the Hall of Fame but says he's excited about it now. He also said he's going to take part in the ancillary activities that weekend, which include lectures, a golf tournament, a 5K race walk, a parade and various breakfasts and dinners.
"I'm going to do it all," he said. "Everything they have sounds kind of fun."
His wife and three children will accompanying him to Canastota, where McCallum will be on the dais with fellow inductees George Foreman, Fred Apostoli, Curtis Cokes and Nicolino Locche.
"Boxing is like a big family," he said. "Going to the Hall of Fame ceremony will be like attending a family reunion.
"I'll see guys I've been working with for years, from the amateurs to the pros."
McCallum was 15 when he first fought as an amateur and he quickly developed into a Jamaican national champion, which led him to the United States in 1973. "I won a Florida & Caribbean tournament. That's how I emerged," he said, tracing his path onward to a friend's amateur program in Nashville and then to New York in 1979.
By 1984 he was being trained by Emanuel Steward and was poised for a title shot, although he said Steward manipulated the scenario and "did me wrong."
Nonetheless, the World Boxing Association junior middleweight championship came open that year when Thomas Hearns vacated the title to move up in weight, and McCallum was matched with Sean Mannion with the WBA belt at stake.
McCallum won that fight, in New York, by decision and was thrust into a busy few years against an array of quality opponents. He made notable title defenses against David Braxton in Miami, Said Skouma in Paris, Julian Jackson in Miami, Milton McCrory in Phoenix and -- in the most noteworthy fight of his career -- against Donald Curry at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
"That has to be the biggest fight of my career," McCallum said. "Curry was hot ... he'd been knocking everyone out and he was moving up to junior middleweight and a lot of people thought he would win."
McCallum was in trouble in the second round of that 1987 fight and nearly off his feet for the only time in his career, but he battled back to win by fifth-round knockout as referee Richard Steele counted Curry out.
"He hit me with one of his best shots, but I recovered," McCallum said of the difference in the fight. "Then I hit him with one of my best shots and he went down.
"It was a great fight for me."
Or, as McCallum himself said moments after the fight: "Do you think everybody knows me now?"
The fight was Curry was McCallum's sixth title defense but at 30 years old he was having trouble making 154 pounds and decided to move up to 160.
He lost by decision to WBA middleweight champ Sambu Kalambay in 1988 in Italy, but defeated Herol Graham later that year for the same title after Kalambay had surrendered the belt. That victory against Graham ranks as one of McCallum's favorites as well.
"That was a big one," he said of going to England and winning by decision. "Graham was a cagy guy, a southpaw, and he had the crowd behind him."
McCallum followed with wins against Steve Collins in Boston and Kalambay in Monte Carlo, before a couple of tough fights with James Toney marked the final stage of his career. Their first fight, in Atlantic City, was scored a draw, then Toney won the 1992 rematch by decision in Reno.
"I had a lot of natural ability," McCallum said of the keys to his success. "But I also believed in hard work and prayer."
Each, it might be said, is a Hall of Fame characteristic.
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