Big Time’s Big Letdown!

September 19, 2007

by Marc Lichtenfeld

Jameel McCline was a bit confused when he was asked by a distant relative why his fight with Vitali Klitschko was canceled. “I had no idea what she was talking about,” he says. According to the heavyweight, his wife’s cousin in Europe read about Klitschko’s back surgery in a Hungarian newspaper. “They didn’t call us or anything,” McCline states. “But to be fair, Shelly Finkel said he didn’t know anything about it. He was shocked himself.”

McCline suspects Klitschko, who he refers to as “Brittley,” would be better served by seeing a cardiologist or perhaps the Wizard of Oz, rather than a back specialist.

“People in training camps talk. I had heard that he was having some difficulties in camp,” he declares. When asked if those difficulties referred to an injury, McCline responds, “No. He wasn’t sharp.”

McCline also thinks that the word got out that he was in tremendous shape and was “a beast,” as he put it.

The former heavyweight title challenger believes he was picked by team Klitschko because they figured that McCline’s knee, which was injured in his fight against Nikolay Valuev, would not be fully healed.

However, “Big Time” had a very rapid recovery and says the knee was giving him no problems at all. He feels this was his best camp in a long while.

McCline claims that while RTL (German television) was filming his training camp, a representative asked him if he wanted to remove any of the footage because, “we don’t know who will see this.” McCline took that to mean that Team Klitschko would be examining the tape.

“I’m sure once they saw the tape of me working out, they canceled,” he thunders. “I sparred thirteen rounds with five different guys on Saturday. There’s no way they expected this Jameel McCline.”

Jameel and his team put the word out that he wanted to fight soon. Former title challenger DaVarryl Williamson, who was in Klitschko’s camp, answered the call. The bout will take place on the undercard of Maskaev – Peter at Madison Square Garden on October 6. When asked if he saw an injury to Klitschko, Williamson said he couldn’t confirm or deny whether the former champion had been hurt. “All I know was that he was real competitive in camp,” he says. “I don’t know why they’d make up an injury.”

McCline is grateful that his week’s of hard work aren’t going to waste.

“I’m thirty-seven years old. I’ve got two or three more years left and I’ve put my heart and soul into this,” he says emphatically. “I’m ready for anyone.”