Fighters who have no one to blame but themselves

According to the piece I sent, Brendan Ingle advised him to stick to the plan, box him and don’t get involved.” Ingle’s son who was also in the corner basically said Graham didn’t follow advice and went for the KO instead of sticking to the” box him” plan.
Maybe if they said “Don’t fall for his traps,” Herol might have won, eh!

As for the fight, I disagree that there was no difference to the previous three rounds, though I’ll watch it again to refresh my memory. The previous three, Herol was more hit and move out, didn’t hang around, and he was always on his guard, prepared for what Jackson was throwing back.

In the 4th it seemed to me that he did what he was told not to…he got involved. He saw JJ on the ropes, and basically forgot himself…threw some shots, left himself open…which he hadn’t done in the previous rounds …and paid the price.

Anyway my homework for tonight is to watch the fight again, from the start to the horrific finish!

 

Probably nearly all of them.

 

I don’t know why this doesn’t go to Julian’s credit, how I remember it is very similar he knew his limitations and acted accordingly by letting Herol come to him.

 

According to one of the Ingle boys in the corner that night…running for 3 minutes is all he had to do…

Dominic Ingle: “If he had run around for 3 minutes he’d have won.”

 

I credit JJ, I really do. That was one helluva punch. Perfectly executed. I’m just saying Herol maybe shouldn’t have come to him

 

I mean, yeah Herol could’ve beat him 100% but I think sometimes people get caught up in the “What could’ve been” opposed to what happened. I’m not directing that at anyone but it has become the narrative- Herol > Julian.

 

Yep true to an extent with me. Herol was one of my favourites…from round my neck of the woods in Yorkshire, I saw him sparring a few times. So I’m obviously going to be a bit butthurt by that KO haha. I actually try not to think about that fight too often, but seeing Pat’s thread brought it all back again…

 

George Foreman on his loss to Jimmy Young, he did dehydrate but he did not take the time to train in Puerto Rico to get used to the humidity like Jimmy Young did, instead he paraded around scowling like his hero Sonny Liston on various sports shows promoting his upcoming fight, that is what promoters are for.

 

Yep. I always contest those who say similar, you often get this with Lewis-Bruno ("ooh, Frank was ahead after 6"), I even heard it about Bellew-Usyk- when it was clear Usyk, began to step up his work after the midway stage. Like you said, if it's late in the fight the guy leading can take some credit for a fine performance (ala Tommy vs Ray) but after round 3? Or round 6? No.

 

ESPN did a documentary about the No Mas fight …at the end of the documentary they had Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran standing in the middle of a boxing ring facing each other…Roberto Duran did not say anything about cramps …he didn’t say anything about being overweight…

 

I think this was different to Lewis/Bruno and Usyk/Bellew though because neither Usyk or Lewis had doctors examining them, and discussing whether or not either fighter should be “given one more round.” Very different scenarios.

If anything it has shades of Lewis/Mason when poor Gary’s eye was being mercilessly targeted by Lennox and a stoppage was imminent. The differences are…that particular fight was closer in points and more importantly, Mason didn’t do what Jackson did to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

 

Good call, I'd forgotten about the doctors inspection. Makes me even sadder for Herol now you've reminded me of that. Pity he didn't take the paper-title route (ala Eubank) to win a strap. But I was mainly referring to when people talk about a good performance, when we're only in the first half (or early stages of the fight) far away from the 'championship' rounds. The Mason fight is another example though, even though he's having a go, Lewis is always looking the winner. So any 'the cards were close' excuse doesn't wash with me- as it's too early in the fight.

 

Agreed. I’m with you definitely when people go on about “Boxer A was beating Boxer B by 5 points after 6 rounds, but Boxer B KO’d him. Lucky win!” Nope, not lucky, that’s boxing. You either win on points after 12 or you win by KO/TKO. Or if you’re fighting Andrew Golota, you likely win by DQ!

My talk throughout this thread wasn’t whether Julian Jackson was lucky, because in my opinion he wasn’t…he did what he had to do. But whether the defeat was Graham’s own fault. I say he contributed to his own downfall, others disagree. But either way, he got KO’d fair and square.

That Jackson shot had its foundations from the bowels of hell!

 

Definitely. I remember playing football the next morning and all's everyone was talking about was that punch. I was a fan of Herol and always rooted for him, but I've never really liked any boxer enough to not want to see an all-time great spectacular KO. Great moments will always trump anything for me, whether it's KOs, comebacks or upsets.