Jamaica's Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, has expressed deep sorrow following the sudden death of three-time world boxing champion and national icon Mike "The Body Snatcher" McCallum, who passed away on Saturday in Las Vegas, United States.

“It is with utter and complete sadness that I learned of the death of Jamaica’s three-time World Boxing Champion Michael McKenzie McCallum,” Minister Grange said in a statement issued late Saturday.

Preliminary reports indicate that McCallum, 68, was on his way to the gym when he reportedly began feeling unwell and pulled off the road. He was later found unresponsive by local police and subsequently pronounced dead.

McCallum holds a unique place in Jamaican sporting history as the first Jamaican to win a world boxing title. That historic moment came in 1984 when he defeated Ireland’s Sean Mannion at Madison Square Garden to capture the WBA Junior Middleweight (super welterweight) crown. He would go on to add the WBA Middleweight title in 1989 and the WBC Light Heavyweight title in 1994, cementing his legacy as one of the sport’s elite.

A true technician and fierce competitor in the ring, McCallum was renowned for his rugged durability and devastating body punches, earning him the moniker “The Bodysnatcher.” Remarkably, throughout his professional career, which spanned from 1981 to 1997, he was never stopped in any of his five defeats.

His excellence was acknowledged with multiple Sportsman of the Year titles in Jamaica, and in 2003 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. In 2011, The Ring magazine ranked him eighth among the top 10 middleweight title holders of the previous 50 years.

“I express my personal condolences to his mother, siblings and his children,” Minister Grange said. “On behalf of the Ministry of Sport, I take this opportunity to extend our sympathies to the family and friends of this legendary Jamaican. We hope they find strength in this time of bereavement. I urge you to keep them in your prayers.”

Grange also indicated that she is in contact with McCallum’s family and promised that additional details will be shared in due course.

Mike McCallum’s passing marks the end of a remarkable chapter in Jamaica’s sporting history, but his legacy as a trailblazer and champion remains etched in the hearts of boxing fans around the world.