Herol Bomber Graham

As far as I am aware ,there hasn't been any topic on 606 on Herol Graham, so thought that I would post a simple appraisal of the man.
anybody who followed boxing in the late eighties and early nineties would know the name instantly.He was blessed with the kind of reflexes that made him literally untouchable for eight years.He was almost legendary in Sheffield before starting a professional career , by having his hands tied behind his back and offering money to anyone who could lay a hand on him.Naturally nobody ever did.
With inspirational trainer Brendan Ingle he won the British middleweight title, a Lonsdale belt, the Commonwealth title,and the European belt.He lost that to future world champion and great Sumbo Kalambay in 1987.Ingle put that loss down to Herol's main weakness-an emotional vulnerabilty, and " if he had women troubles,only then was he in trouble".
He fought for a world title three times. Unfortunately for him he was fighting in an era with two of the best middleweights of recent times, Mike McCallum and Julian Jackson. He gave McCallum one of his toughest fights but lost the decision due to deductions for low blows.Needless to say Graham confused the heck out of him and to the mind of some observers, clearly won the fight.
His fight against Julian Jackson was another sad story.According to Brendan Ingle, Graham had recently had a denture fitted.After the third round he pulled out his fighters gumshield, and there it was, embedded. Graham had been giving Jackson a lesson, closing his eye in the process, and the referee told both camps that he was going to give Jackson one more round before pulling him out.
However, Graham ignored Ingle's advice to stay away from him, and went for the kill, smarting about his ruined denture.He commited himself leaving himself wide open for a hook that landed flush on the chin.He was out before he hit the floor.
At the age of 38, once more challenging for the title, this time at super-middle, he outfoxed and humiliated the IBF champion Charles Brewer, before once more succumbing to the brute force of a lesser fighter.

Graham's ability was, in my opinion, at least the equal of Hamed's, and considering the cakewalk that Eubank had with his WBO belt,and his Sky contract, I think it's desperately unlucky of him not to have been around four years later. I believe that he would have been a fairly long-reigning champion, certainly having the beating of Eubank for example, and a tear-up between Watson or Benn likewise would have been fascinating.But it wasn't to be.
Any other thoughts or recollections of Bomber floating about?

Recently had the pleasure of meeting Bomber briefly at a book signing for his biography (worth a read BTW) is mad as a box of frogs but comes across as a genuinely lovely bloke. As a Sheffield lad I have a soft spot for Bomber, his performance against Douglas is worth watching for anyone who has not seen it, is him at about his best toying with a solid but not great opponent almost at will.

Surely the best brit of the modern era not to win a world title. Have read most other books from the Brit middle and super middles such as Benn and Eubank and pretty much all admit they did not want any of Graham and you can understand why, could make even the best look foolish, desperately unlucky against McCallum in a fight that could have gone either way and who knows how well he would be regarded had he got the nod in that one.

What I did not know until reading his biography is post boxing Graham attempted to take his own life, thankfully he survived and now appears to have found some happiness which he well deserves.

Great article, mate - Graham was certainly a supremely gifted athlete. I think he'd have had Eubank tied up in knots, personally, and Eubank has more or less admitted as much. Sadly, his lapses in concentration may well have cost him against Benn, but it would have been a fascinating fight all the same.

I think much of the problem with Graham was that he had a ridiculously stubborn streak. Didn't he part company with Ingle for a short while over some truly childish matter? Either way, I remember seeing one such fight where he didn't have Ingle in his corner and he got hit more than I'd ever seen before.

Similarly, he really had no need to be boxing going forward as aggressively as he was when he got caught by Jackson, particularly as Ingle was begging him not to. Again, this is where he needed that little something more between the ears.

Don't think he beat McCallum by any kind of margin as some others do, mind. I had it a draw, but it was the epitome of a fight of two halves. For the first six rounds, Herol looked every bit the world champion when the fight was at range; beating McCallum to the punch, scoring with the jab, making McCallum look clumsy at times, no mean feat. But in the second half, he dropped his workrate alarmingly and let McCallum dominate on the inside. From round six onwards, there was only really one man in the fight. Very frustrating to watch, as McCallum was far from his best that night, and still Herol couldn't capitalise.

Big waste of talent.

Cheers..There's something on Youtube about his book and his attempt to take his own life, unfortunately we have to put up with Buncey too but there you are. Kicking myself I didn't know about the booklaunch, but will deffo give his book a read;if anyone deserves a few quid it's him!
Yes Chris he parted company briefly with Brendan over a money dispute. Something of a hard one to fathom(surprised?!), it's something to do with him feeling hard done by financially.Ingle put his family and his club first, and was unapologetic about this. To work again together, Ingle was asked to apologise to Herol which he duly did, however he had by this time put the word around Sheffield that Ingle had ripped him off, so I suspect the relationship was always rather fractious.

Ingle has a admirable but tricky way of working, he takes far more than the normal trainers cut I believe, something like 25% on the grounds that he drives kids round shows all over the country irrespective of whether they will ever make anything out of the game and obviously this costs him a lot, he works on the theory that when he eventually gets a fighter like Naz or Graham who make a lot of money this covers what he has shelled out supporting guys who will never make anything out of the game and keeping the gyms doors open and cheap to use. All very admirable and socialist but perhaps less so when you are the guy earning the big bucks in the ring

Yes indeed, he's done a lot of good on a local and national level, and our old friend Johnny "The Entertainer" Nelson was always quick to point out that without Ingle he would not have had his (latter)success.Ingle really could teach people how to box.However I always found it a bit naive of him to expect ,say, Hamed to stick by him once he tasted success.I can't imagine many boxers liking that financial set-up to be honest. And for the record Hamed went on the record also saying that Inlge was a great man and owed him everything.
Chris, Buncey addresses the JJ knockout, and asks him if he watches the film and shouts "DANCE!" at the screen. Graham replies No, he wanted to knock the guy out, plain and simple. A case of the "warrior" spirit not paying off this time,though!

As a Sheffield lad am well aware of the amount Ingle does in the community, regularly works with offenders and problem children and raises plenty for charity, is definitely one of the good guys, however as you say his financial arrangements are always likely to lead to problems. However would say there are very few fighters who have left Ingle who you could say have improved greatly as fighters.

As an aside and perhaps controversially I don't think Ingle gets anywhere near the credit he deserves for Johnny Nelson, I know people don't much care for Nelson's style but this was a guy who used to get laughed out of the gym and lost his first six, to take those raw materials coupled with Johnny's obvious problems with freezing as witnessed against Wareing and DeLeon and turn him into a solid enough and pretty long reigning world champion, even in these times is a remarkable bit of work

Bomber Graham the best British fighter never to win a world title, my opinion he stands this era of Middleweights on their head.

Bomber at 38 ran out of steam against Brewer after dominating the fight,and to take Mike McCallum so close shows how good a fighter he was,only the points deduction stopped him getting at least a draw.

Jackson was the luckiest man alive the night he beat Bomber Graham threw a punch with his eyes virtually shut and it connected,wont repeat on here what I said at the time.

I was at ringside when Graham lost to Grant and remember speaking to my mate after 3 rounds and saying somethings not right with Bomber,he was unrecognisable from the slick hard to hit fighter I was used to seeing.

Bomber Graham is the one boxer that truly saddens me that he never won a world title,god knows what he would have done to Macklin,Murray and Barker,Bomber was class.

Yes he was Nico, and let's wish him all the best and I do hope he's bounced back.

Not sure if it's still available online or not, but Bomber's performance against Mark Kaylor was top class, too. Utterly exhausted and bewildered, Kaylor (himself no mug) quit on his stool, saying to his trainer "How can I beat a man who I can't even hit?"

Sure if we ask him nicely Union could be persuaded to add Graham to the career in video section.

Strange isn't it when two of britains most talented fighters left ingle it became a steep decline for them, I admire Ingles idea actually its a brilliant and thoughtful one which actually is a credit to boxing because its one of those things that help. But I can't help but think that perhaps he ought to make lower demands of his top fighters - perhaps by 5% so he can still maintain hs excellent work and still keep some of his best opponents, it will work for him and the boxer in question.

Echo the sentiments above... A big fan back in the day. Could never really work out whether he just didn't have the big fight temperament or whether his style didn't quite cut it against the very best. I suspect it was more the former, but the better guys more likely to make him pay for his mistakes.

I wouldn't say he was especially unlucky though... Just didnt quite deliver when it mattered. You'd expect him to have too much for kalambay but was awful that night, the McCallum fight could have gone either way, but it seemed like he let the fight slip from his grasp... And as for Jackson, just one of those things but he got careless. He was just too old really for brewer. Sad he didn't get the title his talents deserved, but you have to take your chances, and regretfully bomber didnt

Graham was very good but I didn't remember him as being as good as some people think.

Woeful in defence at times and foolhardy in attack. The fact he kept his chin up in the air the entire Julian Jackson fight was asking for trouble. If he'd done as he should he would have ended up with a fractured cheekbone but been able to carry on and win in about 2 more rounds as Jackson was all busted up. Instead chin in the air and bang.

Also felt that McCallum had an off night against Graham and was far better against Watson in the subsequent fight.

You do make a reasonable point milky that the word unlucky should be used cautiously when applied to a guy who got three world title shots, particuarly when the history of the sport is riddled with guys comfortably as talented as Bomber who never received one. Would guess where he can be considered a little unfortunate is he operated before the world title picture really gout silly, sure there were three governing bodies but not the penchant for interim, diamond, super champions and the like which would have all but guaranteed Bomber would have won a world title at some point.

On another thread I told about the local professional boxing trainer who was telling me he was in Sheffield when Bomber dropped Eroll Christie 3 times in sparring,that's why Christie called everyone out bar Bomber.

True story that, still training the man who told me.

Bomber's would be a worthy career on video.

Only got stopped 3 times in his career one of them when he was 38, and knocked out by one of the hardest hiters in boxing.
McCallum was made to have an off night.

McCallum/Graham is one of the first fights I remember and couldn't understand at the time why McCallum was so well rated, not knowing much about him and seeing what I saw as a fairly passionless and tepid performance from him against Graham.

Graham on the other hand was inexplicably lacking in any real urgency in the second half of the fight and having shaken up McCallum early on just seemed to take the foot off the gas thereafter.

Then I saw McCallum against Watson who I thought would have too much for McCallum and favoured to win. McCallum was awesome that night.

So then, Graham-Toney, 1990 / 1991, how do we see it?

Toney was showing signs of greatness in 1993 / 1994 at 168 lb, but at the lower weight he flattered to deceive a little. Every chance that Graham could have outscored him, I feel. Toney was counter-punched to within an inch of his life against Tiberi, for instance, and relied solely on his chin (rather than his defensive skills, which again didn't come in to full fruition until he hit Super-Middleweight) to get him through the Nunn fight. Given that he was a little tight at 160 lb, his workrate - which is just about the only reason McCallum was able to scrape past Bomber - wasn't all that great, either.

I don't think a close decision in Graham's favour would have been out of the question.

Toney beats Graham by TKO10th having been trailing 6-3 on the cards??

I put Graham in with the likes of Laing in that he was a bit too good for his own good, his arrogance cost him dearly against Jackson. He made Jackson look like a fool if only when he opened up he didn't do so with his chin hanging in the air.

Very real possibility of that scenario playing out, Boon. Meant to add in my original question that Graham would need to stay switched on for the full twelve!

I think Graham is a nightmare for anyone given his style and elusiveness,don't get me wrong Toney was a class act but if Bomber boxes quite capable.

Bombers chin wasn't that bad only stopped 3 times in 48 fights,one of them a devastating KO,but ran out of gas against Brewer after dropping him twice, and the other I thought Bomber Graham's twin brother had turned up against Grant,like I say unrecognisable.

Probably if you asked Graham would he have done it differently against Jackson in the fourth he'd say yes,but hindsights a great thing.

I dont think Graham is the sort of fighter that ever gets dominated on points except by the very best middleweights. He will always be competitive in that regard. But I do think hes more beatable than some might say. At the end of the day he was 0-4 against the Hawk, McCallum and Kalambay which I dont think can be all just hard luck episodes. I can see what people mean when they say he was unlucky though to some extent though because he was no worse than Eubank or Benn who got titles coming along later and didnt have to face those guys.

He was unlucky in the respect he suffered impaired judgement when it mattered most but the situations he got himself into were all in his control. Frustratingly he could have/should have maybe won all three world title opportunities (never watched the Brewer fight) but he either suffered a lack of gas, took the foot off the pedal or got careless. It's for these reasons I can't see him as a hard luck story either.

Benn and Eubank stayed well clear of Graham, far too clever for them by their own admittance.

Definitely gassed out in the Brewer fight SuperD,38 year old a bridge too far,but agree with you in regards to bad decisions during the fights.

1. Sumbu Kalambay wasn't a great.......

2. Graham was the most talented middleweight in the last thirty years never to win a World title...

and all because he was a loser.....Simple as....

If he'd interracted more in the mccallum fight he'd have won.....

If he hadn't of gone to sleep against Kalambay he'd have won........

Julian Jackson well how stupid and dumb can you get....

Brewer well blew that as well...........

Just think though you could be related to the guy how frustrating would that be!!!!

Sorry but no time for him.....All the gear and no idea!!!!

Massive underachiever...

I agree Sumbu was not in any way shape or form a great.

Graham was gifted and reacherd world level but could not progress to champion. Still European, Commonwealth and British champion is an achievment in my book. He lost to 2 great middleweight champions and held his own in those fights.

Who were the two great middleweight champions he lost to ????

Mccallum wasn't a great middle........Kalambay by your own accord isn't!!!

if Kalambay and Mccallum are great then Nunn must be top 10 alltime great!!

Mccallum was a great middle and Jackson was the other.

Kalambay was better than Jackson in my opinion.

Mccallum wasn't a great middle..................great 154 er who won a midd title ( good champ) and then light heavy etc........

Jackson was a garbage middle champ.............Humiliated in winning the title..

manos de piedra wrote:Kalambay was better than Jackson in my opinion.

a better boxer maybe manos, but hard to say who was the better fighter imo. Hard guy to fathom sambu... on the one hand he has wins over mccallum and graham... on the other defeats to kalule and a fairly humiliating one to nunn. Will say this for him... one of the dullest fighters to watch i can remember.

On a head to head, its hard to call but i'd probably take jackson to spark him.

Graham made him look like a joke.....

Jackson was nearly blind at middle............

Pick Sumbu unless he walks into a hayemaker.......

take your point that jackson's best work was at light middle truss, but graham looked great against him and still got knocked out cold.

nearly as good a shot as the one that took norris out... but then terry was rubbish

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:I agree Sumbu was not in any way shape or form a great.

Graham was gifted and reacherd world level but could not progress to champion. Still European, Commonwealth and British champion is an achievment in my book. He lost to 2 great middleweight champions and held his own in those fights.

With you on this ONETWO, only points deduction cost him the fight against McCallum and that's a fact,a 38yearold Graham dropped Brewer twice, and as I've said before age beat him his legs gave out.

A peak Calzaghe couldn't put a dent in Brewer.

Backus beat Napoles........Vaca beat Honey (s**t happens) wouldn't pick jackson to do either again!!!!!

Oh forgot Honey beat Curry!!!!

Peak Calzaghe beats Brewer......everytime..

Peak Graham beats Brewer if he can drop him twice when his 38 he puts paid to him when his in his prime and has his legs.

Calzaghe never looked like having Brewer in trouble.

I assume Herol Graham was limited by his defensive style and lack of punching power at the top level?

Being light on ones toes suggests he didn't plant his feet as securely as he could have done in delivering energy into the punch ...

... or maybe his wrists were relatively small etc so more a mechanical deficiency rather than a punch technique deficiency - at the highest level?

What's interesting about the Youtube footage is that he did have knockout power but he couldn't quite compete with the big boys on this front.
Nore Staat I would say that as Graham's natural physiology was of the slim,rangy type,with long muscles , he was not a guy who could put on weight easily,and seeing the recent footage of this bears this out. Benn as a smaller squatter guy, or the Watson/Turpin mould of excellent shoulder / upper arms development, could naturally pack a wallop. Would like to know if Ingle was concerned about this issue, and if he worked on say, sitting back on his punches. Suspect that the higher the opposition the more likely it was that he won fights with accumalitive flurries.
Thought that I remembered the Brewer fight well, but Nico reminds us that he had Brewer over twice, which suggests he still had very much the whole package in his latter years.His punch resistance was pretty poor in the final round, gutting to see after a great performance up til then, and Brewer looked very confused indeed and celebrated wildly with the victory, like he'd got out of jail!
As for whether he was unlucky, I think it's fair that he was his own worst enemy, yes, but it's also undeniable that he would have picked up a bauble or two these days no problem at all.
Oh, and Sumbu probably doesn't count as a great...but I've decided to continue putting one deliberate mistake in my articles to flush out a response...hem hem..

Would love, once again, to see the schooling that Graham dished out to Rod Douglas in 1989.