Agree with a lot of the points you make about joe and there will always be what-if's asked about his career.i think you are way however in saying he was the same or around the same level as Hatton tbh.Joe was simply a higher calibre of fighter and the history books will agree.
This is how I’ve always seen things: Ricky never had the talent to match his ambition. Joe never had the ambition to match his talent.
Roy was 7 pounds up. There’s a reason he literally starved himself to make SMW, in order to fight guys like Mario Veit twice.
This. Calzaghes chin, recovery and boxing brain were all a couple of levels above Hatton. I do have issues with Calzaghe but he's a different class of fighter to Hatton.
Yeah, because people always say why didn't he win a world title? But I don't think he was meant to be a world champion, because I was watching him the other day and his technique is quite weird, he throws the back hand when out of range, he leans back with his chin in the air, he looks tense and nervous when fighting, and leaves himself open and that is why he never became world champion
The reason he didn't win a world title is because to do so he would have had to beat one of the best technicians of the modern era, or one of the best punchers. With a bit more luck he could have won both fights. For three years of his prime prior to that there was one champion at middleweight who was fighting once a year. Graham was the archetype of the Ingle style, even more so than Hamed (another guy with a "weird" style who wasn't too bad). If Graham had the opportunities that a lot of other modern British fighters had, he would have won at least one world title. He almost managed to win one when a decade past his prime against Brewer. Graham wasn't a perfect fighter; he wasn't made of granite and he had a way of coming out of the wrong end of winnable fights. However, he was considerably better than a lot of British fighters who won world titles, and fully deserves his status as one of the best British fighters never to win one.
He was very unorthodox boxing out of Brendan Ingle’s gym. But he honestly has to be one of the unluckiest fighters. He was definitely world class and capable of winning a title. In an other era, he’d definitely have won a version of it. He fought prime versions of Mike McCallum and Sumbu Kalambay. Those two were elite fighters. He came very close to beating Mike McCallum. Mike was an incredible talent. He was then out boxing Jackson, before he got hit with that bomb. Then years past his prime up at SMW in his late 30’s, he dropped Charles Brewer twice before coming unstuck. Personally, I wouldn’t say he was overrated. There’s been a fair few MW champs who wouldn’t have been able to have beaten McCallum, Kalambay and Jackson.
I think what often gets overlooked is that he could easily have won one in his own era if the stars had aligned. I don't normally buy into "I coulda been a contender" type stories, but Graham's is one of the most credible. The stupid turnbuckle **** against McCallum, chasing Jackson into the corner...such fine margins between a nearly man and being an ATG British fighter.
That’s right. He was clearly on their level. There’s been other champions who wouldn’t have beaten those guys.
Fitz was out every night boozing still was able to finish strongly in rounds 8-10 and beat that clown in his back yard. The most satisfying boxing fight ever. He should never give him a rematch, Fowler wouldn't.
Herol Graham was at his peak in the early 80s at 154lb. Manny Steward saw one tape of Herol when he was #1 contender to Tommy's 154lb belt and they kept him away. He stood Kalule on his head when still with Ingle, the same Kalule who gave Leonard his trickiest fight and beat Kalambay. After leaving Ingle, Graham was encouraged by Eastwood to change his style to an offensive fighter to sell tickets, and had already signed to face Barkley for the title (Hagler gave up the title rather than face mandatory Graham, to fight an easier task against Leonard) when he took an unnecessary warm-up fight against Kalambay and attacked him instead of bamboozle him. He was robbed blind against Sumbu in the rematch. Was bamboozling huge punchers Holmes and Jackson (World champions). Bamboozled McCallum for the first half of the fight. Boxed rings around Kaylor and Douglas etc.