Rod Douglas/Herol Graham

Floyd · Post by **Floyd** » 02 Sep 2004, 13:51

I've read were Douglas sustained serious injury in this bout. Can anyone tell me about the fight? Did Douglas take a beating or was it competitive? Was Douglas a slugger who just waded into herol? Any info would be appreciated.

galway jack · Post by **galway jack** » 03 Sep 2004, 03:45

As I recall the fight it was a case of Douglas being outboxed and exhausting himself rather than being hammered . Herol's punching power was decent though .
Not sure if its right to call Douglas a slugger . He had decent skills . He was ABA champ 3 or 4 times . Maybe he stayed Amateur a bit too long . The British Middleweight division was stacked with talent at that time with Benn and Eubank about as well as Graham so it was always difficult for Douglas to find room to progress . There wasn't the 'Micky Mouse' world titles available then that a fighter can make a career of nowadays .

Slapsie Maxie · Post by **Slapsie Maxie** » 03 Sep 2004, 05:16

Douglas was a decent fighter who had a reputation as a banger, but really had more class than that suggests

However, he was tailor made for Bomber who out thought and out boxed him without really ever raising a sweat. I think it was stopped in the 9th

He sustained a head injury that led to bleeding on the brain and was in a critical condition for a while

As he recovered, he appeared on a number of fight shows as a colour man but was not kept on. Last I heard, he was doing security work and has made a full recovery, but I wouldn't know that for a fact

Slapsie

Boxingmad · Post by **Boxingmad** » 03 Sep 2004, 08:20

Rod Douglas was a member of the British Olympic team in the 1984 LA Olympic Games. Lost to Nigel Benn in the 1986 ABAs. Highly regarded amateur.

Floyd · Post by **Floyd** » 03 Sep 2004, 10:20

Thanks for the responses fella's

THEBUTCH · Post by **THEBUTCH** » 03 Sep 2004, 11:12

He also won a Commonwealth Gold (1986 I think) and he beat the Aussie Jeff Harding in a very tough bout in the final. He was a very loyal amatuer.

Douglas was stricktly a head-hunter with good, often aggressive boxing skills. As the others suggest, he got heavily outclassed by Graham, but that's not a disgrace. Graham seemed impressed and praised him for lasting as long as he did (nine rounds I believe, some of the other British challengers did well to go 5).

After his recovery he did a bit of commentary for the BBC alongside Harry Carpenter and was pretty good.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 03 Sep 2004, 12:05

Didn't he at one point express an intrest in joining the Police force?

For Douglas the Bomber fight was too much too soon, although I know it's easy to say that with hindfight.

I think Rod Douglas won the ABA's about four times, I think he split two fights with Benn, with Benn winning the second.

Floyd · Post by **Floyd** » 03 Sep 2004, 12:17

Glad to here he is doing well. I have to agree being put in with the Bomber in only your 13th or 14th fight is a bit much.