LAS VEGAS -- Mike McCallum, the former three-division boxing champion and International Boxing Hall of Famer, has died. He was 68.
McCallum died May 31 in Las Vegas, according to the Clark County Coroner’s Office. The Kingston, Jamaica, native became ill while driving to the gym and pulled off the road, according to the Jamaica Observer. Police reportedly found McCallum to be unresponsive, and he was later pronounced dead.
Nothing suspicious was found at the scene, and a cause of death for McCallum has not yet been confirmed, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
McCallum represented his native Jamaica at the 1976 Summer Olympic games. He became a professional boxer in 1981 and began his career by winning his first 32 fights, 29 of which were by knockout.
Nicknamed “The Body Snatcher” for his hard-hitting body blows, McCallum became the first Jamaican-born boxer to win a world championship when he defeated Sean Mannion for the WBA super welterweight title in 1984. He won world championships competing in junior middleweight, middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. McCallum retired from boxing in 1997 with a 49-5-1 career record, and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003.
“A national hero in Jamaica, McCallum was one of boxing’s most accomplished world champions and his incredible skills thrilled fans around the world,” Edward Brophy, executive director for the International Boxing Hall of Fame, said in a statement. “The Hall of Fame offers our condolences to the McCallum family and joins the boxing world in mourning his passing.”
Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s sports minister, also issued a statement honoring McCallum.
“It is with utter and complete sadness that I learned of the death of Jamaica’s three-time World Boxing Champion Michael McKenzie McCallum,” Grange wrote in an Instagram post.
“I express my personal condolences to his mother, siblings and his children. On behalf of the Ministry of Sport. I take this opportunity to extend our sympathies to the family and friends of this legendary Jamaican,” the post added.