herol graham/ roberto duran- did they ever spar?

[mahatma]

a friend of mine tells me they did, if so when and where would be good to know. i know duran sparred with benn when he was once over here i think he may of got them mixed up but maybe wrong

[Quixall]

Your best trying to Speak to Spud, Twenty Six or Big Lennox on this issue, particularly Spud.

[bennie]

a friend of mine tells me they did, if so when and where would be good to know. i know duran sparred with benn when he was once over here i think he may of got them mixed up but maybe wrong

i've seen footage of him sparring with Benn and also read they came close to fighting but Duran didnt fancy it.

Duran didn't fancy it! That is a contradiction in terms.

[Deserter]

Don't know about this, but was lucky enough to have a chat with 'Bomber' on Friday night as he was the guest of honour at a white-collar boxing event I attended in Dubai. Top, top fella and still looks in very good nick. Seemed very humble about his achievements but the tag of best British fighter never to win a world title clearly hurts a bit.
Trevor Sinclair was also in attendance and let's just say that in contrast to Herol, he didn't come across well at all.

[twenty six]

No mate, not to my knowledge.
I just love the bones of the man.

[Pugilist-specialist]

They did spar together.

I've been told Duran became very angry at his inability to hit Graham, and Graham was sacked.

[twenty six]

When ?
UK or abroad ?
News to me.

[bennie]

More of an Ambrose Mendy.

[Rocky Balboa]

They did spar together.

I've been told Duran became very angry at his inability to hit Graham, and Graham was sacked.

"I can't hit you! You are fired!" LOL

[bennie]

Duran and Graham never sparred. Graham was famously knocked out in sparring by Howard Eastman.

[jimglen]

Graham is vastly overated!

[SOUTHPAW]

Duran and Graham never sparred. Graham was famously knocked out in sparring by Howard Eastman.

When he was well past his best

[SOUTHPAW]

Graham is vastly overated!

Why

[jimglen]

He HAD his chances and lost, he wasn't better than Benn, Watson or Eubank and many other British fighters through the years. You'd think he never got the chance at a title shot, the way some people go on, But He DID and lost.

[danfoster]

in my humble opinion, herol would have stood benn on his head

[SOUTHPAW]

in my humble opinion, herol would have stood benn on his head

And the rest of them

[SOUTHPAW]

He HAD his chances and lost, he wasn't better than Benn, Watson or Eubank and many other British fighters through the years. You'd think he never got the chance at a title shot, the way some people go on, But He DID and lost.

And why does that make him over rated. The above fighters did and would have lost to Herols world title opponents

[Collins2000]

Graham is vastly overated!

Not by anyone who knows anything about boxing, Jimbo.

[mahatma]

IMO graham was vastly underrated, he won his first 40 fights, if he'd been based in the south he'd of had a world title shot sooner.when he got his chance he lost by a point to mccallum, changed his style against kalambay and yes was poleaxed by jackson, but was on the verge of winning,
nobody wanted to fight him both benn eubank spoke out about not wanting to fight him.
however the most interesting thing about bomber was his comeback beating johnson,pazienza and getting stopped against brewer when hed had him down twice, hed simply ran out of gas, which was understandable for a man in his late 30's.

[bigjack]

Graham is vastly overated!

Are you talking about the same Graham who only lost to McCallum by a point(graham was deducted a point for throwing McCallum to the floor),therefore would have got a draw,gave julian jackson all sorts of problems and was close to stopping him and was beating brewer until getting caught,yes he was very unlucky not to be champ,but overrated,no way.

[Quixall]

Graham is vastly overated!

Your way out with that statement. Grahm under-achieved, for a variety of reasons, some were around boxing politics, some for personal reasons and lastly because he either changed style (McCallum) or fought the wrong tractics at a particular point in the fight (Jackson). Herol Graham was certainly a world class fighter and one of the very best fighters to come out of this country.

[jimglen]

Graham is a good fighter don't misunderstand, what I say is, he is vastly overated in that for years people keep giving you the impression he NEVER got a title chance, He Did and lost, that's all.

but as far as better than, that's always up for debate and contention. For my money it is/was Watson & Benn and Watson was the best and I think both beat Graham more times than not!

hope that makes it clearer for you.
Jim.

[twenty six]

Sometimes you've just got to agree to disagree.
Boxing is about opinions, and I respect everyone's right to that.
For me, Herol was the best.
I recall fondly watching this immense talent train, then go on public appearances for PR for the gym, raising money.
He would spar for two minutes with his hands tied behind his back, and if you laid a glove on him he owed you a tenner.
If you didn't you owed him a tenner.
Poetry in montion, Herol.
Never paid out once - be it a young lad just trying for fun, or the local hard man wanting to make a name for himself.
And there on the sidelines would be a couple of young kids taking it all in, trying to emulate him the next day in the gym.
A couple of close mates called Hamed and Rhodes.
Herol was the Chief Executive of the "who wants / needs him" Club.
Avoided like the plague.

[forcefraser]

He was without doubt a unique fighter. Great movement and skills. He did however (as stated in this thread) get more than enough chances to win a world title and he could not do it.

You have to question whether a man can be "unlucky" three times or whether he just did not have it in him? Either way, I thought he was a special boxer.

[bennie]

No offence to twenty six, but to me he was a leading member of the "Who wants to watch him club?"
He also looked a bit lucky to get the nod over Sanderline Williams.