By Larry Goldberg

Oliver McCall is 61. Jeremiah Williams is 54. On Tuesday night the Tennessee Athletic Commission let them box each other for money at Plaza Mariachi in Nashville on a card called Country Box 45. McCall won by TKO at 2:55 of the fifth when a cut over Williams’ left eye, opened earlier by what looked like a clash of heads, got worse from a right hand and the referee waved it off.

McCall is 62-14-1 now. Williams is 19-15-2. Combined age in the ring, 115. That’s not a typo. It wasn’t a stunt with headgear either. It was a sanctioned pro fight and it’s on both men’s records for good.

Lou DiBella, who has promoted more world champions than most commissions have licensed, said it the day before the fight: “This is immoral, dangerous, and just sad. Take #boxing these days … I can’t anymore with the whole damn thing. There’s something I smh about every fucking day. Used to be the guilty pleasure of sports. Now it’s just guilty.”

DiBella’s right. The issue isn’t really McCall. Old fighters always want to fight. The issue is who keeps telling him yes.

Tennessee does. Since he came back from a five year layoff in November 2024, McCall has fought only in Nashville, only on Country Box shows run by Jimmy Adams, who used to manage him. He stopped 54 year old Stacy Frazier at 59. He stopped 52 year old Gary Cobia in a round a few months later. At 60 he drew with 47 year old Carlos Reyes in a fight where he didn’t throw a punch in the last two rounds. Now he’s beaten a 54 year old who hadn’t fought in almost two years and lost his first eight pro bouts.

Every one of those fights needed a license, a bout approval, a ringside doctor and a commission willing to put its name on the result sheet. Every time, Tennessee did.

World Boxing News asked the commission about this back in January, when the Tyson fight had everybody arguing about age. Here’s what communications director Kevin Walters gave them: “The Commission’s staff reviews all applications for licenses and permits. Combatants who are thirty-five years of age or older submit to additional neurological testing to obtain or renew a license. If an individual qualifies for a permit, the Commission may approve the application.” And: “All applications are reviewed in accordance with Tennessee laws and regulations.”

That’s process, not judgment. Neuro testing at 35 is the floor. The rule says the commission “may” approve. Not must. A commission exists to make the call that a promoter, a manager and a fighter who needs the check are never going to make on their own.

Here’s what makes Tuesday worse. McCall was supposed to fight Ike Ibeabuchi, 53, on Thanksgiving night on a $9.95 pay-per-view. The promoter needed 12,500 advance buys and pulled the plug weeks early because it was never going to get close. The public looked at two heavyweights in their 50s and 60s and said no thanks. Within days somebody found a different 54 year old, and a state commission said yes to the exact thing paying customers had just turned down.

I’m licensed in New Jersey and New York. I’ve run cards for four years and I couldn’t get 61 versus 54 approved in either state and I wouldn’t bother asking, because I know what comes back when you submit a bad fight. New York has a phrase for it.

“This match is not in the best interest of boxing.”

That’s not a figure of speech. It’s written into New York’s rules. The commission can look at the two records, decide they’re not suitable opponents, and kill the bout on those grounds alone. New Jersey has the same language. No neurologist required. Nobody argues about whether the paperwork is in order. The commission looks at the names, decides the sport is worse for the fight existing, and says no.

That’s the system working. Nashville is the system deciding not to.

There’s also the fourth round. Williams put McCall on the canvas and the referee called it a slip. McCall has never been knocked down in 79 pro fights, and that streak survived Tuesday on a ruling. Slip or not, a fight between two men this age where one of them ends up on the floor is not a fight that should be getting the benefit of the doubt.

Afterward McCall was back on Hasim Rahman, Shannon Briggs and Jake Paul. Tennessee has basically become the place where a former champ can keep padding his oldest-ex-titleholder record one age-appropriate opponent at a time, with a regulator that reviews the paperwork and signs it.

The Association of Boxing Commissions exists so a fighter turned down in one state can’t just drive to the next one. That only works if every commission is willing to be the one that says no. Right now one of them keeps saying yes, and the rest of us get to watch a 61 year old chase a cut on a 54 year old and call it boxing.

DiBella’s right. It used to be a guilty pleasure. Tuesday night in Nashville there was no pleasure in it at all. Someone should have said this match is not in the best interest of boxing. In Tennessee, nobody did.