Oliver McCall TKO1 Gary Cobia... The comeback of the former WBC heavyweight champion Oliver McCall -- age 59-- will continue after "the Atomic Bull" stopped Gary Cobia of Utah in between the first and second rounds. The bout started with Cobia living up to his nickname “The Gentleman” and clapping when they announced McCall. The opening minute saw Cobia backpedaling and throwing jabs a little out of range while McCall patiently stalked. About a minute in, McCall threw a couple of punches that seemed to get Cobia’s attention and McCall seemed to know he was in control. McCall stepped up the pressure and had Cobia fighting on his heels as McCall tried to land a right. About 2:10 of the round Cobia threw a jab that seemed to injure his left arm. A few seconds later McCall succeeded with a flush right hand that backed Cobia into the ropes and had Cobia bleeding from the nose. Cobia survived the round by backpedaling but he ate another right hand. McCall stood up in his corner preapring for the second round, but Cobia indicated that he was not going back out and the fight was stopped. The fight was a nice showcase for McCall and he improved to 61-14 while Cobia, age 52, slides to 3-5, 2 NC’s. After the fight, Cobia indicated to Boxingtalk that he injured the biceps of his left arm. McCall mentioned the possibility of doing fights against other advanced-age fighters as part of CountryBox against fighters like Bruce Seldon or Shannon Briggs.   

 

                                            ***

 

In November, McCall launched his latest campaign, and the knockout was about as bad as you would expect. McCall, a former WBC heavyweight champion, knocked out fellow 50-something Stacy Frazier with an amateurish punch in round two. Frazier hasn't won a fight since 2014, then lost seven in a row and hadn't fought at all since 2019. Now 16-23, truth be told, Frazier was never very good anyway. McCall ended 5 1/2 years of inactivity and is now 60-14.