By Allan Fox: 46-year-old former WBC heavyweight champion Oliver McCall (56-11, 37 KO’s) defeated 2nd tier heavyweight Damian Willis (30-3-1, 23 KO’s) by a 10 round unanimous decision on Saturday night to win the vacant World Boxing Foundational International heavyweight title at the Houston Athletic Fencing Center in Houston, Texas.

The final judges’ scores were 97-93, 96-94 and 96-94. McCall, still showing good power, landed the harder shots throughout the fight and succeeded in opening up cuts over both of Willis’ eyes. However, you have to put the win in perspective, Willis is a 2nd tier heavyweight who has only stepped it up a level twice and was beaten both times soundly by Chris Arreola and Kevin Johnson. McCall, even at 46, was much too good for Willis.

McCall is scheduled to fight 45-year-old journeyman Bert Cooper on September 10th. That’s kind of a quick turn around if you ask me, because McCall took a lot of solid shots from Willis in this fight. However, McCall will likely have little problems beating Cooper because he looked terrible in getting stopped in the 2nd round in his last fight by Luis Ortiz in April.

McCall could face 41-year-old heavyweight contender Kali Meehan in Australia after the Cooper fight. THis would be a huge step up for McCall. He also could possibly take on contenders Odlanier Solis and Chris Arreola. As you can see, McCall is very much in demand. I can’t see him beating any of those guys but he could make it tough on them by staying on his feet and sticking around for 10 rounds. McCall still has got a great chin, and be a problem when he lands his big shots.