Herol Graham - How Avoided?

Speed kills old fighters. Leonard still had it which made the fight such a good one. Herol just didn't have it, as well as a lot of other things.

 

Lets end this rubbish about Hagler avoiding him. Herol was never in a prominent position to challenge Hagler above others pre Leonard. Not even close.

 

Hagler did avoid him... but not because he was scared he would lose.... more a case of perhaps being part of an ugly/boring fight with a relitively unknown unpopular fighter... it comes down to risk vs reward... He was a lot of risk (because of his awkward style) and not much reward

Mike Mccallum is reported to havesaid he was his most awkward opponent

He was both number 1 challenger to Hagler and Hearns as has been mentioned before. IMO they both would've beat him... but they didn't think he was worth fighting.

 

I saw an interview with Graham the other day on youtube, and he stated he spared with Eubank and really frustraited him, and Chris came up to Herol afterward and stated something like "Herol I will never ever box you."

Here it is - 4 mins 30 in. Benn also states at the of the You tube clip that he never fancied boxing Herol because of his style; not being a toe to toe come forward fighter. Benn states he liked to get involved.

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Yes, I saw that clip too

Here Brendan Ingle confirms what happened when Graham faced Eubank... I do think Ingle goes too far though and is very disrespectful... typical of him really. ....see min 2:25
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Eubank like many others wanted to avoid Graham... that doesn't neccessarily mean he would beat Eubank. Eubank had great stamina, a granite chin and could KO with a single punch especially late on when opponents worn out. So I could've seen the fight going 12 rounds Eubank made to look silly, but like Juior Jackson fight... if Eubank catches him he could be in trouble. Granted Jackson was probably P4P best puncher ever, but I could still see Eubank flooring Graham if he had the chance...

 

Questions

When was Graham number 1 challenger for Hagler's title and what faction was it?

When was he made the official number 1?

When was Haglers mandatory actually due?

Did beating Kalule give him the number one ranking?

 

I believe he was #1 contender for the WBA

Hagler's alphabet crap mandatories were due and he gave up (stripped?) the WBA and IBF titles to fight Leonard.

I do not think the Kalule fight gave him the #1 ranking; I think in their alphabet crap wisdom as Graham was a WBA mandatory for the 154 crown he soon got the same rating at 160 when he moved up.

 

Ok, had a bo peep. WBA demanded a mandatory every 9 months. Graham signed to fight Barkley for the stripped title and fought Sumbu in a supposed tuneup for the title bout but got beat.

Hagler may not have even known who Graham was.

 

The Marvelous one knew who Graham was.

But he did not avoid him; Graham was not well known in the USA, and when Leonard decided to come back, money wise Hagler/Leonard was a no brainer.

I think Graham probably lacked the mental ability to beat even 87 Hagler, although physically he would of been capable of getting the job done.

 

During Hagler's reign,Graham was ranked by the Ring magazine as follows
1980-0
1981-0
1982-0
1983-0
1984-0
1985-5
1986-3
1987[title vacant]-0
1988[Kalambay champ]-6
1989[title vacant] -7

 

Hearns and ............... Olajide 1 and 2?

 

1986
1 Hearns
2 Sims
3 Graham
4 Barkley
5 Olajide
6 Kinchen
7 McCrory
8 Nunn
9 Holmes
10 Tate.

 

Not bad one out of two.... atsch Mind you Tommy was a kind of given.

 

Not bad,Hagler could have met Davison ,Lee,Shuler ,Kinchen,all of whom would,imo have been more entertaining than Graham.

 

I would of been more entertaining than Graham!

Hagler was always only going to fight Graham if he absolutely had to. And like you suggest it was not because he was scared of losing, it was that the chances are the fight would suck and Hagler would not get the money he wanted.