Oliver McCall, 61, stops Jeremiah Williams in Nashville as age debate intensifies

Former WBC heavyweight champion Oliver McCall, 61, stopped Jeremiah Williams, 54, at 2:55 of round five in a heavyweight bout on Tuesday night at Country Box 45 in Nashville, Tennessee, after a cut over Williams' eye forced the referee to end the contest.

McCall improved to 62-14-1 with 41 knockouts. Williams fell to 19-15-2. The combined age in the ring was 115, a figure that immediately renewed criticism of how and why the fight was sanctioned.

How the stoppage unfolded

According to BoxingScene and BoxingInsider, a cut opened earlier from what appeared to be a clash of heads. In the fifth round McCall landed a right hand that worsened the injury; as the fighters clinched, Williams alerted the referee to the cut eye. After an inspection, the bout was waved off.

Bloody Elbow reported the scheduled distance was six three-minute rounds and that Williams put McCall on the canvas in round four, only for the referee to rule it a slip. McCall has never been officially knocked down in his professional career, a streak that survived Tuesday on that call.

Why the ages matter

Promoter Lou DiBella had already called the matchup "immoral, dangerous, and just sad" before the first bell. BoxingScene asked why the Tennessee Athletic Commission sanctioned a professional boxing match between two fighters with a combined age of 115.

BoxingInsider noted that since returning from a multi-year layoff in late 2024, McCall has fought only in Nashville on Country Box cards, repeatedly against opponents in their late 40s and 50s. A planned Thanksgiving bout with Ike Ibeabuchi was canceled for lack of interest; the Williams fight was arranged soon afterward.

McCall's place in heavyweight history

McCall turned professional in 1985 and shocked the sport in September 1994 by knocking out Lennox Lewis to win the WBC heavyweight title in London. He lost the belt to Frank Bruno on points at Wembley Stadium in 1995. His 1997 rematch with Lewis ended in a deeply distressing stoppage when McCall refused to engage and referee Mills Lane halted the contest.

A long career marked by addiction battles and legal trouble followed. McCall remained on the fringes of title contention into the late 2000s before fading, then launching sporadic comebacks. Bloody Elbow reported that after Tuesday's win he again floated names such as Hasim Rahman, Shannon Briggs and Jake Paul as potential future opponents — matchups widely viewed as unlikely on major platforms.

What comes next

The result is already on both men's official records. Whether other commissions would have approved the bout is an open question: BoxingInsider contrasted Tennessee's approval with New York and New Jersey rules that allow a commission to reject a match as not in the best interest of boxing even when medical paperwork is in order.

For now, McCall remains active at 61. The debate over whether state regulators should keep signing off on fights of this age profile is likely to follow him to whatever small-hall card comes next.