Jameel McCline Bio

by Ian Clark

The Jameel McCline-Shannon Briggs fight had a certain changing of the guard feel about it, even though McCline, one of the division’s "young" lions, is, at 31, actually older than the veteran Briggs.
Though they’ve been around for years, McCline is just now seeing his star rise, while Briggs still hasn’t overcome the stigma of being a talented but undisciplined fighter whose best days are behind him.

If anything, their fight on Saturday night only reinforced the stereotypes.

McCline pounded out a 10-round decision over Briggs, cementing his claim as a true contender, while Briggs looked alternatively powerful and lazy, determined and spent.

The opening rounds saw Briggs coming out fighting. He backed up the cautious McCline, landing shots that drove all 264lbs of Jameel backwards.

With quick hands for a man his size, Briggs landed power punches early and McCline was showing him an exaggerated respect within the opening minutes of the first round.

“I was aware that if he caught me he would hurt me," said McCline, now 28-2-3 with 16 KOs.

"Shannon hurt me six or seven times throughout the fight. That's why I kept my distance and didn't engage as often as he liked."

Thus McCline, who bulled the 300lb GOOFi around the ring with relative ease, showed no stomach at all for trading with Shannon and adopted a strategy of staying on the outside, landing sharp stinging jabs on his headhunting opponent.

As the rounds progressed, McCline began to loosen up and by the sixth he had found enough confidence to get close enough to Briggs to do some damage. A quick left-right combination landed flush on Shannon’s chin and the big Brooklynite crashed into the canvas with so much force that his legs were almost thrown over his head.

He was up by a count of two and rushed McCline, landing a good combination and then a crackling left hook just as the bell rang.

McCline breathed a sigh of relief and went back to his corner on jello-y legs that looked like they couldn’t have supported a nine-year-old.

It was the first time since the round one that McCline looked at all in danger, and sadly for Briggs it was also the last.

Jameel dominated the next three rounds by landing sharp, clean combinations on an opponent whose heavily muscled arms were too exhausted to guard his body. Both hands often rested on his waist and Shannon looked glaringly open to a rush inside and flush right hand.

McCline stuck to his methodical if workmanlike plan and seemed content to win this fight on decision. The remaining rounds saw little real excitement and Briggs seemed to sense that his opportunity had come and gone.

McCline’s heavy jabs started taking their toll; after the seventh, the prawn-shaped clump of dreadlocks on Brigg’s head stood up like a rearing cat every time Jameel hammed another one home.

The fight sapped out him, Briggs stopped resorting to the taunting that characterized the middle rounds and let the bout slip away. He was gentlemanly in defeat and objectively assessed what went wrong.

“Jameel did what he needed to do,” Briggs mused.

“He outpunched me and outclassed me tonight. He’s going to make some noise in the division.”

Realizing that coming in at 60lb over his weight when he turned pro may not actually be helping him, Briggs promised to loses 30lb and launch another comeback.

McCline’s report card for the night is remarkably clean, though surely a few warning flags will be raised by the way he seemed terrified of trading with the power-punching Briggs. Of course, trading with Briggs almost cost Lennox Lewis his championship, so perhaps we shouldn’t be too hard on Jameel.

"I want to continue to fight the best in the world," was McCline's hopeful message when the contest was over.

"I will be one of the busiest guys in the division."

McCline's strength and intelligence being what they are, it'll be a rough night for whoever wants to help grant his wish.