Herol Graham: I don't get the love

If Graham had a bit more punching power how good do you think he would have been?

 

It would of made little difference. If he was not so cocky, that might of made things more interesting....

 

Very good fight. I had Sumbu, but can obviously see the reverse. Great start from Mike, great surge from Sumbu, and all-round technical action to indulge in.

I agree, a peach indeed

 

The British love a gallant loser or trier. Look at Frank Bruno with him finally winning a world title at the fourth attempt. The same in more recent times with George Groves.

 

In my opinion he is overrated and is one of the fighters on here who is getting better the further he gets from his career.
He was the best exponent of the Ingle school, but the trouble with that style is when you fight the top guys your bad habits which you got away with on the way up against the lesser fighters start to be exposed by the top guys.
It was the same with Hamed.
Graham was good but not of the level that some on this side of the pond rate him.

 

Brining up a 6 year old thread, how sad. Go to hell troll.

 

He's not overrated, he's underrated actually.

 

He was robbed against Kalambay the second time actually.

 

Here in the UK he's nowhere near as well remembered as Eubank and Benn who were/are far more famous and marketable.
But proper hardcore boxing fans generally consider him the better fighter. That's why he deserves to be spoken of.

He wasn't a great fighter. He wasn't good enough to beat the top fighters of his day. But he was pretty good for a British fighter.

 

Graham was a very good fighter but didn't help himself based in Sheffield not London didn't help. he didn't push himself into the limelight fighters avoided him and Errol and his management just ignored them .basing himself in the states like Andres and Benn after his defeat to kalambay would of been interesting imagine him at the Kronk gym or with Eddie Futch .Bomber was a very talented fighter who didn't make the most of his skills.

 

He would of beaten McCallum but for the point deduction and heat Kalambay the second time in reality and they were top fighters of his day.

 

The scorecards for Graham/McCallum were:

117-114 Graham
117-115-McCallum
115-114 McCallum

So Graham wouldn't have won without the point deduction actually, it would have been a draw.

 

Even though his career overlapped with Benn and Eubank, they almost seemed to be from different eras in terms of the path they followed.

Graham went through the traditional British/Commonwealth/European route, and was a decade into his career before he was contesting for world titles, which is a long time for a fighter with a style heavily reliant on speed and reflexes. Although he fought for vacant titles against McCallum and Jackson, he was fighting established elite fighters who had already been champions at 154.

Benn and Eubank on the other hand were beneficiaries of the introduction of the WBO to the mix, which was clearly a lesser title at the time despite how it was marketed to the unsuspecting British public. They were comparatively fast-tracked to world titles via the path of least resistance / most commercial reward.

That isn't to compare their abilities as fighters, and both Benn and Eubank proved themselves many times over against world class opposition, more so than Graham did. However, you have to wonder how their careers would have panned out had Graham been able to ambush a Doug Dewitt level fighter and then build from there, or if Benn or Eubank had to get through McCallum or Jackson on route to becoming household names.

 

Excellent post .Spot on .if Graham had been better managed and more ambitious things could of been different.

 

I'm sure both Benn and Eubank admitted that they avoided any possible matchup with Graham when he was in his pomp. little reward for a high level risk.