BoxRec

True, but the manner of Bomber's win was very impressive and demonstrated he had a lot more to offer at a higher level.

Graham was atrocious against McCallum and Kalambay (first fight) but gave The body snatcher fits and barely lost & also made Sumbu work very hard for his win, with Herol almost fighting with his face at times, which was due to him not having Brendan in charge that night.

Graham was on the way to a close win vs Kalambay until Kalambay rocked and nearly dropped Graham in the last round and also Graham adopted a more aggressive style against Kalambay - Kalambay was an excellent fighter but if it wasn't got that final round and Graham's daft tactics - Graham would have won the fight and gone on to fight Barkley - and won!

The facts are his best years were at light middleweight but couldn't get title shots at that weight for whatever reason and moved up..

THEBUTCH wrote: ↑12 Apr 2020, 19:25 True, but the manner of Bomber's win was very impressive and demonstrated he had a lot more to offer at a higher level.

Graham was atrocious against McCallum and Kalambay (first fight) but gave The body snatcher fits and barely lost & also made Sumbu work very hard for his win, with Herol almost fighting with his face at times, which was due to him not having Brendan in charge that night.

Completely agree!

Carlos wrote: ↑12 Apr 2020, 19:34 Graham was on the way to a close win vs Kalambay until Kalambay rocked and nearly dropped Graham in the last round and also Graham adopted a more aggressive style against Kalambay - Kalambay was an excellent fighter but if it wasn't got that final round and Graham's daft tactics - Graham would have won the fight and gone on to fight Barkley - and won!

The facts are his best years were at light middleweight but couldn't get title shots at that weight for whatever reason and moved up..

Herol won the second fight hands down. Dropped him twice in the second.
The ref was appalling but the fight was in Italy and Herol had no chance if it went to the cards

That second Graham Kalambay fight was an absolute farce of a decision. The ref was a complete fkn tool as well. He even raised Graham's arm by mistake when the scores where read out.

Armand Krief that was his name. The very definition of a house referee in this fight.

I'm very biased in favour of Kirk, but my answer would be that he was the most talented British fighter never to get a world title shot. Some would say that was his own fault, but I prefer to focus on the performances when he was at his best. The Duran one was sensational even if Duran was not in prime shape - remember that one BBC commentator wrote to Boxing News saying that he was concerned Laing would die if the fight went ahead, and that Don King allegedly didn't speak to Mickey Duff for about four years afterwards. It was very big stuff back then. Laing's win over Mike Picciotti (American fringe top-10 contender being groomed for a world title shot) was also a thing of beauty, plus the wins over Kelly, Collins, Trevor Smith and others. In his win for the European title, he basically melted Fernandez's mind - Laing didn't throw a punch for over a minute, then took him out with a couple of clean shots in round 2, with Fernandez just seeming totally perplexed throughout. Even when Kirk performed badly, he was always totally watchable.

As for comparisons, Herol Graham's boxing CV is probably better overall (more wins over highly ranked former world champs such as Kalule, Holmes, Pazienza) but I loved watching both of them.

I completely agree with the other posts that point out that other (often less talented) boxers have achieved much more. The OP's question is unanswerable in some ways - it all depends whether you are judging pure raw ability (i.e. innate, instinctive skill) alone or the other factors such as mental strength, persistence and the odd touch of luck that together turn ability into results. Depends what your criteria are, really. I've always enjoyed the former more than the latter - in snooker terms, Jimmy White more than Stephen Hendry even though Hendry won more.

With a better chin (and preferably less of the jazz cabbage) he would have been a consistent world-class fighter. Without, he gets one-punched by Buck Smith and Colin Jones twice and never quite gets there.

Having said that: Auntie, bollocks, uncle, etc...give Calzaghe's chin to Amir Khan and he might conceivably have been post-war British PFP top 10. It's the stuff you can't train that makes boxing unique (and uniquely cruel).

Just as if Mike Tyson has been a spartan trainer, instead of falling foul of the game and riches side of the sport, he could conceivably put a dent into the Holyfield/Bowe/Lewis era.

why not make a thread about herol?

How good was Kirkland Laing ,,,, Mmmm ,, well to start with ,he was good enough to become a well known international boxer , who mixed at the highest level ,,,, So i guess that makes him EXCEPTIONALY GOOD

There was a post yesterday on Twitter where Steve Bunce has asked about any info on Laings whereabouts and someone has posted a recent photo of Laing standing next to his care worker, it doesn’t say where it was taken though but he’s still alive and kicking.