“I WILL GET MY LICENSE,” said Billy Graham boxing news, was revived by his recovery from two hernias that affected his quality of life for a long time. “I don’t have any big ideas about going back to being a top coach – I don’t want to work that hard. I’m too old to be a coach again. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I need to be with her more.
“It’s not that I stopped loving boxing. [that I left it]. It was because I had enough people around Ricky Hatton. My daughter’s mother kept telling me, ‘You have to stop – it’s making you sick,’ and she did. When I got out, I was damned. My hands were ruined – now they are ruined. The doctors went crazy when I stopped. But as a watchman, and as a tactician, I was at my peak. I want a lot of experience.
“I think, in my heart, I always wanted to come back. When I retired, I never stopped learning. I continue, because you always see more. I have practiced. Distance judgment; punching force; BALANCE; lever. That’s what I love.
“So yeah, I’ll do it again. I’m not delusional – it’s not that I have ambitions to go back in time. But if I’m vague, it’s because I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Halcyon Days: Graham with Ricky Hatton (Tara Carvalho/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
The last time Graham took a corner was in 2008 when Ojay Abrahams played Jamie Ambler at Watford in the last of Abrahams’ 100 games. The fact that he led Ricky Hatton to a recent win over Juan Lazcano means he is still recognized as one of England’s top coaches, but it’s not just Hatton who has long since retired, his fellow countrymen. Graham’s longtime career Enzo Calzaghe and Brendan Ingle have passed away, meaning that if he ever returns to the sport, he’ll be back in a sport with a very different setting to what he used to be. known.
“I thought Enzo really didn’t like me all those years,” says Graham, 67. “I see him all the time. Then, all of a sudden, he called me — there’s always a lot to complain about about boxing. Then when [Joe Calzaghe] fought Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jnr, he called me on the nights of the fights. ‘He’s definitely going to retire – if not, I’ll cut off his hand.’ He probably asked me who I thought would win. That’s definitely not my advice; it was just a conversation. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to his funeral – I couldn’t find out where it was until it was too late. Enzo [dying] was a shock, because I didn’t know he was sick.
“I was against [Ingle] heaps of time. The road we used to go through quite a lot. He can talk; there are great stories; be really funny. I know he has a lot of good fighters, but I also know he has a lot of fighters no one wants to see. We are rivals. We are not friends. But he also respects me.
“I was 18, 19 years old – just a kid – when I had me for the first time [professional] battle. I was in the dressing room alone, and Brendan walked in – he looked older than he really was. I don’t know who he is. He asked who I was fighting with. ‘I know him. I have seen you fight – you will defeat him. Are you alone? ‘Yes, Phil Martin is in the ring.’ He was with me all the time, and came down with me. That was the first time I knew him. I never said that to Brendan. [But] that’s a nice thing to do.
If Graham is best remembered as someone who appeared on HBO 24/7 while he was crucial to Hatton’s identity and success, in the years before Hatton became a pay-per-turn boxer See, Graham’s fame and enthusiasm meant that even more important figures visited his gym. Among those who used The Phoenix Camp while it was in Salford were the great Tommy Hearns and the late Emanuel Stewart; before Graham became an independent trainer, he also spent time in Helsinki with none other than Angelo Dundee.
“That’s great,” Graham said, puffing on his cigarette reassuringly as he replayed the memory of Hearns. “He is one of my all time favorite fighters. Great to see. F** deadly king. Unlike Nicky Boyd, I’ve never trained a tall boxer – I fell in love with one. That was amazing, and he loved my daughter Billie so much. She’s a toddler, has to go to daycare, and he’s gutted, Thomas.
“Just being with him and watching him train – he was over it by then. [April 1999], fighting in the class of cruisers. He will be sitting in my office. He has these little soldiers and bought one for Billie. She usually sits on his knees. He used to be great. Unfortunately, what I can see the most is slippage. [But] his leverage and balance, as he moves around the ring [stands up to demonstrate]; he died a long time ago. A goddamn movement.
“[Steward’s] someone I have always admired as a coach. I love his warriors. There is no advantage on him; died politely.
“[Dundee] also great. I didn’t even know he was going to be there – Helsinki isn’t exactly a king’s battleground. It [March 1992] was my first time working in a corner by myself. Henry Armstrong [against Jyrki Vierela]. Good fighter.
“I was desperate to learn anything. No one told me that Dundee would be there. fly [Martin] wouldn’t know – I’m sure he outdid himself. I can not believe it. I was shocked when he was there, and went over and told him it was my first time being alone, and he was great. I was worried because I had never held hands with anyone. I feel really self-aware.
“At the breakfast table, he said, ‘Come here – sit here. He remembered my name, then said to me, ‘I love going for a walk after breakfast – would you like to come along?’. We did it every day, for at least a week. He couldn’t believe how much I knew about his career, other than [Muhammad] Ali. I’m talking about Carmen Basilio, and one of my all-time favorite boxers, Jose Napoles. Smooth as butter.
“We talked about all the warriors, from all different eras. I always try to talk about Muhammad Ali, and he doesn’t want to – I can tell. I actually asked him, ‘Why didn’t they tell him to retire?’, and he didn’t like it. I remember, my heart skipped a beat because we were robbed, but we drew. ‘Billy, you come here in another country, fight an undefeated kid, and have a draw – you should celebrate.’ I was green.
October 30, 1997: Graham with Carl Thompson (John Gichigi /Allsport)
His recollections of both Hearns and Dundee are further testament to the complex Graham’s inability to separate the darkness of boxing from its light. There are anecdotes about his time on the phone advising Ronald “Winky” Wright but about how he allowed his fighter, Steve Foster, to fight Wright for so long; about the fact that Michael Katsidis had called him to inquire about his training and subsequent admissions of Katsidis’ decline; about how he once prevented Carl Thompson from participating in a proposed rematch with David Haye.
The Preacher’s eyes still light up when he introduces Pariah as “the best documentary about Sonny Liston” and when he describes himself as “Ellie Scotney’s biggest fan”. He is reluctant to adopt technology because he cannot remain indifferent to the sport that will forever shape his life, but his obsession – as it is, and perhaps that is also what he needs – demands it he endures it to fix.
“I’m the world’s worst at technology,” he said, lighting another cigarette while Mowgli, his Lakeland terrier, played at his feet. “I can work on YouTube. I can work with Netflix. Every day I check on YouTube what’s coming [in boxing]. I also have a DAZN, but I only move on when I have to because that’s a bit too technical for me. I kept brewing and paused it and then I couldn’t turn it back on for years. So I’m afraid to touch things. I haven’t texted anyone in a long time – I have a damn iPhone; My hands are damned and the keyboard is too sensitive for me to touch – I forgot how to text.
“[But] I do that a few times a day. I think half of the time I do it is listening to what someone is going to talk about. Someone is giving wise words, and those are foolish words.
“Joe Gallagher and Jamie Moore are the only two still doing it, from Manchester. They are still in production. From what I remember of Matthew Hatton, he would be a good coach. He is very good at knowing what he is looking at. He was very good at picking winners, from a young age – and I know some good but useless fighters. So did Pat Barrett and Anthony Crolla.
“I’ve always watched women’s boxing – Jane Couch is a very good friend of mine – but I don’t think I’m as interested as I am now. I really like women’s boxing. Matches should be played in 12 two-minute halves. It’s great because there are so many good female fighters these days and the two-minute rounds are why it’s really fun.
“My favorite is Ellie Scotney. She has great balance, predictability; she is a boxer. They’re my favorite fighters to watch – aggressive counter-attackers – and I’ve been watching her since her first professional fight.
“If she is properly coached and managed, she will become a superstar. Americans will love her. She is not the finished post. But she can be a great bodybuilder.
Then – perhaps more than at any other time during the two and a half hours at his home in Mossley, outside Manchester, during which he also revealed that he “couldn’t stand it” royalty” and described selling the home he once owned in Atlanta as his “biggest mistake” – Graham’s need to re-engage with the warriors was most obvious. As for the boxers, he is not only the most compassionate but also the most spiritual; eager to see them properly managed as well as sure he will help them coach again.
“The early days, with Ricky Hatton, were the best days,” he said. “From the first time I saw him. When he first went to the gym. He was made for me. My interests have changed over the years – fighters I prefer to train – and he was made for me. He has been training all the time.
“I would have him practice on pads on the first day, and let him practice for the first week. Since then, even though I have other fighters to train – champions – he has always been on my mind. From day one, as an amateur player.
“I knew he was the perfect man for me. Personality too – he has some of my bad qualities and all. I was already a successful coach when he came to me. It was the most wonderful time. With him, and when he turns pro, coming.
