Graham Delehedy - one to watch?

Manos de Oro · Post by **Manos de Oro** » 27 Apr 2006, 15:23

Saw this lad from Liverpool is up to fight Taz Jones tomorrow night. He's got a good stoppage record - stopped Ernie Smith in three and disposed of all the early novices he's faced early. The stats say he might be a small light-middle - assuming he's fit, around 150 seems to be his fighting weight. Jamie Moore was similar in his early days, but Delehedy is the same age as Moore just now, and another 4 might be asking too much... would need to see a picture of him really. Maybe he'll be on tomorrow night...

Anyone know the lowdown on this boxer?

Neri · Post by **Neri** » 27 Apr 2006, 16:01

An article from http://www.icliverpool.co.uk on Nov 25 2004

GRAHAM DELEHEDY is not your usual fresh-faced professional boxing prospect. At 26 he is hardly a juvenile while his 10-bout amateur record, though explosive, is clearly limited.

He also works full-time as a used-car salesman. So why has he become one of the most feared new fighters in British boxing?

Try five straight knockouts from five contests - only once going past three rounds.

Granted, his opponents have hardly been world-beaters, but are all seen as game fighters rarely stopped.

After just 18 months as a pro, Delehedy is already rated inside the British top 15 at light-middleweight. So imagine how strong he will be when he actually starts competing at his natural welterweight?

"It's been going well up to now," reveals the sincere former Stanley ABC amateur. "I always punched hard as an amateur, stopping around six of my eight wins, and it seems I've taken that punch into the pros."

Teamed up with Stockbridge Village trainer John Smith, who has developed a talent for turning raw talent into champions, 'Del' has taken to the paid ring with ease.

Indeed, it seems his laid-back attitude out-side of the ropes is the key to finding knockouts so frequently inside them.

"I'm just happy to be fighting," he adds. "I love boxing, but I'm putting myself under no pressure to win this or that.

"I'm just doing this because I enjoy it and if I one day get the chance to fight for a title, then great."

But when you are new to the game, armed with five straight knockouts, and lack the big-time manager to pay for opponents, getting matched is often the toughest fight.

Twice now this season Delehedy has had opponents pull out, and with less than 48 hours until the show at Altrincham Leisure Centre - topped by Michael Jones' British title fight - he remains unmatched.

"It's frustrating, but something I'm already getting used to," he adds. "I'm definitely on the bill and I really don't care who I box. He's going to have a short night's work, whoever he is."

Neri · Post by **Neri** » 27 Apr 2006, 16:03

And one a few days after:

Earlier in the evening, undefeated Crosby puncher Graham Delehedy extended his exciting pro slate to 6-0 - and for the first time since turning over went the scheduled distance.

The 26-year-old cruised to a shut-out 60-55 points decision over Tony Montana - despite conceding height and weight to the Sheffield stand-in.

Despite loading up early on - not surprising when you're coming in off five straight knockout wins - Delehedy soon settled in behind his jab to prove he can box as well as punch.

Trainer John Smith said: "They were six good rounds for him and, the way Del's been putting them out, it was like two fights for him. He needed the rounds so we're happy."

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 27 Apr 2006, 19:48

Taz Jones will be an interesting fight... Taz is one of those who will probably never win a domestic title, but probably a little too good to call a Journeyman.

Lightsoot · Post by **Lightsoot** » 28 Apr 2006, 05:35

Did a proper job on Ernie Smith but has suffered due to Matchroom's decreasing number of shows.

I seem to recall Delehedy being paired with Michael Lomax last year but the fight fell through for some reason.

Manos de Oro · Post by **Manos de Oro** » 28 Apr 2006, 07:34

Thanks for the info guys. Seems a keen, confident type who's built up some danger momentum and is having a try. Hopefully tonight will give a good idea of his speed and stamina. Hopefully it'll get shown...

THEBUTCH · Post by **THEBUTCH** » 28 Apr 2006, 08:14

I saw him against a Polish boxer on the Moore-Walker undercard and he's obviously strong, fit and solid but doesn't have a great deal of variety to his game. The polish fellow was run ragged by the end of the bout.

Like Stu Jones said, Taz Jones is no pushover so I just hope Sky show this one.

Manos de Oro · Post by **Manos de Oro** » 28 Apr 2006, 20:01

Wow, I just checked the boxrec schedule to see what happened with this fight (thought it had been called off when watching the broadcast), and see Delehedy lost via sixth round knockout. As quick as that - bang goes that danger momentum. Taz Jones now goes into the Doherty rematch with his back straight... anyone think he can do it? Going from memory, from very brief highlights, but wasn't the first closer than the scorecards suggested?

nicnut · Post by **nicnut** » 28 Apr 2006, 22:18

He's already beaten doherty once, so this rematch is all about how far tony has come on. Personally i think he loves the stardom,does not like the grafting side. Thing is at some point he'll have to become a fighter. The broken hand situation was a load of bullshit. Would not be surprised if this fight falls through.
Lee cook who refed the first fight has appolagised to taz's trainer recently for being a total twat in scoring for doherty.

BigEars · Post by **BigEars** » 29 Apr 2006, 04:37

stujones wrote:Taz Jones will be an interesting fight... Taz is one of those who will probably never win a domestic title, but probably a little too good to call a Journeyman.

A domestic gatekeeper is what he could be referred to .

Manos de Oro · Post by **Manos de Oro** » 29 Apr 2006, 12:50

nicnut wrote:He's already beaten doherty once, so this rematch is all about how far tony has come on. Personally i think he loves the stardom,does not like the grafting side. Thing is at some point he'll have to become a fighter. The broken hand situation was a load of bullshit. Would not be surprised if this fight falls through.
Lee cook who refed the first fight has appolagised to taz's trainer recently for being a total twat in scoring for doherty.

Thanks for the post - another twist to this thread. I did a search on here today about the fight, and JimmyJam who posts here had Doherty winning by a point or two, though he said quite a few in the crowd booed. I know fully what you're saying about him becoming a fighter - a year or two back it seemed he was fighting the same circle of journeymen every week. Going by that rate of progress into a fight with Jones you could imagine him slipping up - hell, if Graham Delehedy went in with a confident record and ended up getting stopped. I remember a very brief clip ITV showed were Jones looked angered by the decision, so he certainly wasn't 'beaten' by Doherty. This fight demands a rematch, and for the Celtic title would be good. Would set the winner up nicely for a shot at the British.

Who do you reckon would win a rematch, assuming it happened in their next fights? Also, if you don't mind, could you tell me what you think of Barrie Jones?

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 29 Apr 2006, 14:08

Just a short note on Jones-Delehedy, was curious as to why it wasn't shown or even brief highlights. Every other fight on the card was shown yet this seemed the most attractive other than the main event...strange

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 29 Apr 2006, 14:26

steve689 wrote:Just a short note on Jones-Delehedy, was curious as to why it wasn't shown or even brief highlights. Every other fight on the card was shown yet this seemed the most attractive other than the main event...strange

Did they show the Issac Ward bout? I haven't seen the whole show yet - so far I have only seen the Francis Jones, Paul Appelpy and McGuire vs Odin.

I have yet to see the Hunter performance - will do probably after the Arthur bill tonight.

The only reason I can imagine is time constraints, perhaps they felt oblige to inform the public about Odin (and thus show the fight).... Maybe they then felt they didn't have enough programme time left to edit the Jones fight to "tell the story" of the fight.... Perhaps it needed to be shown in full to fully explain the situation.

I was expending Ward and the Taz Jones fight to be shown in more detail... Ward needs a bit of publicity as he is fighting Power next, and Jones vs Delehedy did sound like the most competitive bout on the card.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 29 Apr 2006, 14:29

Maybe they didn't show every other fight then Stu, i wasn't aware Isaac Ward was on the card.

nicnut · Post by **nicnut** » 30 Apr 2006, 23:07

deledy, jones was due to be shown, their slot was just after odins fight. Due to the circumstances the fight was reduced to 6 del's camp were reluctant for this so it went on after the main event at the original 8 rounds.
Manos, barrie jones has the potential to go far sound skills coupled with a decent bang, he's been sparring alot recently with damian owen only in the sparring do you see his class, more activerty will see this come through
No bullshit with him, is prepared and wants to fight anyone, time will tell.

Manos de Oro · Post by **Manos de Oro** » 01 May 2006, 12:08

nicnut wrote:deledy, jones was due to be shown, their slot was just after odins fight. Due to the circumstances the fight was reduced to 6 del's camp were reluctant for this so it went on after the main event at the original 8 rounds.
Manos, barrie jones has the potential to go far sound skills coupled with a decent bang, he's been sparring alot recently with damian owen only in the sparring do you see his class, more activerty will see this come through
No bullshit with him, is prepared and wants to fight anyone, time will tell.

Nice one on the info, nicnut. That explains why it wasn't shown. That's also great to hear Barrie Jones is actively improving and showing commitment. A year and a half ago I tipped him to be contesting British title honours just now, based on his fight with Lee Handley. Obviously that was a shot in the dark and hasn't come true, though there were some voices calling him feather-fisted then and not many people shared the enthusiasm, but look at the results since...

That's him doing six rounds now and if everything keeps building momentum from here then he has a very bright future, IMO.