Jameel “Big Time” McCline doesn’t float like a butterfly or sting like a bee. He doesn’t have a devastating left hook, like Joe Frazier.
Unfortunately for heavyweight fans, the latest threat in boxing’s most glamorous division, McCline acknowledged after scoring a unanimous decision win over Shannon Briggs Saturday night in The Theatre in The Garden that he didn’t want to engage Briggs in big exchanges.
Was it the smart decision? Absolutely.
Will it capture the fancy of heavyweight fans? Absolutely not.
“Discipline and intelligence are my major assets, not only tonight but throughout my career, without a doubt,” the Port Jefferson native said after the fight.
These are not the words that get a heavyweight fan’s blood pumping through the veins, but give McCline credit for this: He knows how to adjust during a fight.
In his last fight, a unanimous decision win over Goofi Whitaker, McCline recognized early on that his opponent wasn’t a heavy puncher and he willingly exchanged. He wasn’t going to take that chance against the harder hitting Briggs, whom McCline said hurt him eight or nine times during their 10-round bout Saturday.
McCline (28-2-3) patiently and intelligently worked behind his left jab. Midway through the sixth, he stuck the left jab, followed it with a stunning straight right and then dropped Briggs with a thunderous left hook.
Briggs (36-4-1), who fought at a career-high 268 pounds, surprisingly popped up after a five count. The Brooklyn native said after the fight that he would lose 30 pounds and be back in the ring soon, a far cry from his statement made Wednesday that he’d quit after this year.
McCline, who did five years in prison for running guns, hasn’t lost a fight since 1996 and has positioned himself for a Top 10 ranking and a possible title fight a year from now. But it’s going to take a lot of promoting. McCline’s style is smart but, on the excitement meter, it’s hardly big-time.
*
Kudos to judges Steve Weisfeld, Julie Lederman and Tom Kaczmarak, who accurately scored the McCline-Briggs fight 99-90. They got it right on the money.
Shame on judges Melvina Lathan, Tony Paolillo and George Colon, who robbed Manuel Medina of his IBF featherweight title by giving Johnny Tapia a majority decision. Medina threw a featherweight-record 1,466 punches (landing 273 of them) and an all-time fight record 1,005 jabs (landing 128) in dominating the fight. Lathan scored a 114-114 draw. Paolillo and Colon had it 115-113 for Tapia (52-2-2).