BEHIND the scenes, whip Ernie Draper โ whose job it was to look after all the fighters on the bill โ had an interesting take on McCallโs condition.
โHe was standing there like he was going to a funeral, I thought โblimey, look at him.โ He really did look like a bag of nerves,โ Draper remembers. Another memory of the night โ which remains the only time during Ernieโs 40-year career where he allowed himself to get โover-excitedโ by the action in front of
him โ was the noise that greeted Bruno.
โThe roar when he came out, and Iโve been to most of the major fights [in Britain], was the biggest I have ever heard. I havenโt heard anything like it since. It was a bit like the cheers Ricky Hatton got [in Manchester] but even that did not really compare.โ
That almost deafening support may have affected McCall. Adams felt that somewhere between leaving the dressing room and entering the ring, his fighterโs mind-set crumbled.
โThey took him, by himself, to the top of this ramp and by the time he came down he was cold,โ his then-manager Jimmy Adams explains. โOliver was that type of fighter, heโd cry and get himself hyped up and then heโd fight from the bell. But here he got cold, he lost his momentum and he didnโt start to fight until it was too late.โ
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