dandantheweatherman wrote:I seem to recall Graham lost a point in the McCallum fight (low blow or wrestling McCallum to the floor I think) and this cost him a draw or split decision win.
Had he beaten Kalambay in May 1987 he'd, presumably, have been in against somebody for one of the vacant world middleweight titles after Leonard retired. Kalambay went on to beat Iran Barkley and you'd have to have fancied Graham to do the same. Similarly I'd have fancied Graham to have beaten Olajide, Tate and Roldan and who knows, Tommy Hearns beat Roldan for the vacant WBC title and maybe Graham would have had a chance against Hearns.
Such a shame he never won the title at his peak.
i think it was a move where he turned mccallum and hit him to the back of the head. i haven't watched that fight in a while, i might stick it on later and find out.
i think it's one of the closest fights i've ever seen. easily one of the toughest fights to score.
don curry-marlon starling 1 is another one i find bloody hard to score.
i was right on the point deduction. it was actually a move that graham did numerous times in the fight, unfortunately on the deduction he hit mccallum with a rabbit shot.
the ref gave graham a previous warning for throwing mccallum off when they got tangled up. a british ref would never have taken a point off graham for 2 nothing fouls really.
it's a dead close fight. graham starts well and wins 5 of the first 7 rds on my card. mccallum comes back well and starts outhustling graham in the inside exchanges.
It could all have been so different for Herol - if he'd won the title against McCallum, he could have held it for quite a while due to (a) his abilities and (b) he'd probably have been avoided by some of the other 160 pounders out there.
Didn't an up and coming Eubank get thoroughly schooled by Herol in sparring, and then pronounce that he'd never step into the ring with him ? If I recall correctly, Eubank admitted that he just couldn't hit the guy.
Graham used to spin and throw fighters about all the time.
He was extremely strong and great at manipulating the opponents balance with sneaky fouls.
However, i don't think he was anywhere near as elusive as his reputation would suggest.McCallum had no trouble at all hitting him and neither did most of the other good technical fighters he fought like Kalambay and Sanderline Williams.He's lucky he fought an Ayub kalule that used up what he had left to beat Kalambay, or he would have been outclassed.
JimJim wrote:It could all have been so different for Herol - if he'd won the title against McCallum, he could have held it for quite a while due to (a) his abilities and (b) he'd probably have been avoided by some of the other 160 pounders out there.
Didn't an up and coming Eubank get thoroughly schooled by Herol in sparring, and then pronounce that he'd never step into the ring with him ? If I recall correctly, Eubank admitted that he just couldn't hit the guy.
Herol got the better of the sparring but Eubank did floor him very heavily in one session
remember Daniel Teasdale? won loads of schoolboy titles from Ingles
gym.
Turned pro with Graham as trainer signed by SN -looked terrible
Now working as pub doorman in Rotherham
remember Daniel Teasdale? won loads of schoolboy titles from Ingles
gym.
Turned pro with Graham as trainer signed by SN -looked terrible
Now working as pub doorman in Rotherham
To be fair, Teasdale never proved he had the dedication to make it at pro either.
Too busy putting 'Soul Glo' on his hair and boozing.
JimJim wrote:It could all have been so different for Herol - if he'd won the title against McCallum, he could have held it for quite a while due to (a) his abilities and (b) he'd probably have been avoided by some of the other 160 pounders out there.
Didn't an up and coming Eubank get thoroughly schooled by Herol in sparring, and then pronounce that he'd never step into the ring with him ? If I recall correctly, Eubank admitted that he just couldn't hit the guy.
If your auntie had bollocks she'd be your uncle....
Fact is, Herol got found out at top level each time, and that's because he just wasn't quite good enough. He'd probably have been a title holder today, but even now he wouldn't have been the main man.
JimJim wrote:The stories are apparently true ! While I didn't see Herol do this in person, a few years ago I went to a charity evening at Doncaster prison when Brendan Ingle took along his fighters to take on convicts in a boxing ring; the pro fighters couldn't hit back although they tended to tap the other guy every now and then to wind them up.
Rhodes, Thaxton, Nelson, Clifton Mitchell & others were all taking part, and so did Herbie Hide, as this was during his brief spell under Ingle (as trainer). Herbie got caught on the chin by a convict and while he wasn't hurt, he immediately opened up and hurt the other guy. Prince Naz was there but he had a title defence coming up so he didn't actually get into the ring to "box".
I remember Ringside doing an all to short feature on that prison visit, looked like it was great fun.
JimJim wrote:It could all have been so different for Herol - if he'd won the title against McCallum, he could have held it for quite a while due to (a) his abilities and (b) he'd probably have been avoided by some of the other 160 pounders out there.
Didn't an up and coming Eubank get thoroughly schooled by Herol in sparring, and then pronounce that he'd never step into the ring with him ? If I recall correctly, Eubank admitted that he just couldn't hit the guy.
If your auntie had bollocks she'd be your uncle....
Fact is, Herol got found out at top level each time, and that's because he just wasn't quite good enough. He'd probably have been a title holder today, but even now he wouldn't have been the main man.
I see where you are coming from, those are the cold, hard facts. He was more than good enough against both Jackson and McCallum though - freakishly knocked out in the first after dominating and touched off in the second against an underrated all-time great. Was past his best against 'The Hatchet'.
