BoxingScene Sits Down with Trainer Billy Graham

Thoughts of a Preacher Man

By Terry Dooley

In boxing, as in life, one rarely comes into contact with the real.  Layers upon layers of spin and rhetoric (although there is nothing wrong with rhetoric) obscure it from us.  This is not the case when speaking with Billy Graham.  Graham spoke with BoxingScene.com about the imminent joust between his charge Ricky Hatton and the mercurially talented Floyd Mayweather Junior.

From the time BoxingScene first met Graham, many moons ago, the trainer has talked about the possibility of this fight.  When thinking about it the trainer, nicknamed ‘The Preacher’, after the nonpareil Billy Graham, has carried with him the confidence and serenity similar to that of a man with true faith who is about to meet his maker. 

Like the man of faith Graham has had a long, some might say almost dogmatic, belief in something and he is now facing the real moment of truth.  The moment when he finds out, definitively, whether he has been thinking along the right lines for all these years.

Before the fight there came the preliminary press tours, a chance for this coach to see the enemy close at hand.  Graham was philosophical about the war of words that had taken place:

Billy Graham: “That stuff just bounces off me, and Ricky.  You expect that from Floyd so it is nothing new.  What is the problem?  It is what Floyd does in the ring that concerns me, not his antics outside the ring.  That does not concern me one iota.”

During their whistle stop press tour Graham had a chance to see the Mayweather act at first hand; he left those initial tours with the firm conviction that what he had seen was merely that, an act put forward by Floyd:

BG: “Well I would have preferred to be in the gym (but) I’m really glad that I went and met Floyd because meeting him made me a little bit more confident and it had the same effect on Ricky.

“The first day was the worst.  Not knowing what to expect.  I was expecting him to be worse to be honest.  I expected him to come out with a load of bullshit.

“Once you’ve seen his act you know it is an act.  Other people see it and don’t think it is an act…he still does it when the cameras are not there a little bit but it is an act and I see straight through it.”

In fact Graham thinks that Floyd puts on the act in much the way a soldier puts on his war face:

BG: “I don’t think he is as nasty as he pretends to be.  Why anyone wants to be seen as nasty I don’t know but that is his image and his gimmick.  I actually think he would like to be a little bit nicer.  That is the vibe I get.  When you get him on his own the guy might be Ok.  We don’t have any animosity towards him or anything like that.  We just want to beat him.

“In a strange way I kind of like the guy.  (His act is just) too much.  The stuff he whispered into Ricky’s ear…I just found that ridiculous.  You just make yourself even more unpopular. 

“He wasted his own energy with the talk anyway.  If it makes him feel better let him do it.  I don’t give a fuck about it.  His own verbals will intimidate him.  It isn’t getting him anywhere.  The two guys will fight on the night and the best man will win, and I’ve got the best man.”

One problem with the Floyd act is that he does not do it with panache.  Once he has flashed the cash, the bling and the entourage there is little left for him to say, he is trapped into a mode that renders him incapable of being engaging, although he is often charming during post-fight interviews, perhaps, with the pressure off, this is where we see the real Floyd.  Graham simply feels that Floyd is adopting a persona he cannot flesh-out:

BG: “Look, Floyd is not Muhammad Ali when it comes to the verbals.  Ali did it and it was funny most of the time.  Floyd tries to do that but does it seriously.  It means nothing to Ricky or me.  We find Floyd quite amusing to be honest.

“He is alright after the fights.  It is just before the fight when he is like that.  I think people make too much of him.  It is pantomime.  You don’t beat another fighter up with words; you do it with your fists.

“Mike Tyson is intimidating.  I don’t find Floyd intimidating.”

So, after the dust of the verbal war has cleared, is there a risk that Hatton will allow a dislike for Floyd’s antics to dictate strategy?

BG: “Ricky has no great animosity towards Floyd; he has it towards all his opponents when he gets in that ring.  He intends to dismantle you.  You could be his friend but he won’t be any less cruel to you.  This is a business.”

The movement, often backwards in recent fights, of Floyd is an element of the fight that is problematic for Hatton.  Seen as a come forward fighter many wonder if Hatton will be able to combat the movement of Floyd but the pragmatics, one guy moving backwards the other forwards, should give an indication of how Team Hatton feel about countering the movement of Floyd:

BG: “People don’t know this.  Only Ricky and me know it…but we never feared Floyd as an opponent for Ricky Hatton because (Hatton) is a master at hunting people down.  He has had to chase people his entire career.  He innately knew how to cut down the ring and corner people back then (when younger) but now he is a master at it.

“It gives Ricky momentum and the sparring partners tried all that movement.  Ricky is very good at hunting people down.  He covers the canvas really fast.  Ricky throws punches as he is coming in.  He doesn’t wait to get you in range he does it as he is cutting the range down. 

“There will come a time when Floyd has to come and sit down with Ricky, it is inevitable, he won’t be able to keep on the outside all night.”

This writer has long felt that the fight might be one that throws up a few surprises.  The most possible of these is the possibility that Floyd, thinking he has the freedom of the Gatti fight, will take centre ring from the get-go:

BG: “Yeah, Floyd might not even fight moving backwards.  He might take the centre of the ring and try backing Ricky up so we have to be prepared for everything and we’ve prepared for that as well.

“Ricky will push him, bully him and all that.  I do worry that Floyd will come out early looking to bomb him out.  He is likely to come out strong the more I think about it.  It won’t last long but it can happen.  He stood there with Gatti and Gatti can bang.

“The main difference is that Ricky throws shots as he moves in.  Other fighters don’t.  They throw a few shots; move across the canvas, stop, (and) then throw a few more shots.  Floyd is gone by then.  Ricky pushes you there, then, bang, gets you there, then, bang, moves you here, and bang.  That is the key.

“Castillo did those things (against Floyd).  (But) he didn’t move in with the shots.  That is where Floyd has the massive problems.  I know how this fight has to be fought and Ricky has the tools to do it.

“Most fighters chase Floyd, trap him, and then they let shots go.  By then he (Floyd) has shut up shop, (he) makes them commit and counters.  There are little subtle things that will change this fight.  I’m really enjoying the tactical training for this fight.  I love studying the tapes.  I like stuff like this, it is fascinating for me.”

Floyd’s defence is not the enigma wrapped in a puzzle that people portray it as.  At long range he uses movement, up close he uses blurring speed, and on the ropes he uses the shoulder blocking method favoured, but rarely mastered, by many US fighters:

BG: “The shoulder blocking is a problem.  Part of the problem is catching Floyd even when you catch him.  It is not going to be a walk in the park doing that and Ricky has to have urgent without being reckless.  You cannot really get Floyd clean on the ropes.  We do have answers for that though.

Common logic would dictate that Hatton’s best hope of countering Floyd when Mayweather goes to the ropes is to attack the body:

BG: “Ricky throws those body shots constantly.  He gets them high up.  You can’t tense your muscle up there.  There is not that much you can do.  I think Ricky is the best body puncher in the world and I’m a good body puncher coach.  If someone else had better bodywork I’d learn it and nick it for Ricky.

“Castillo said it was the best body punch he’d been hit with (when Hatton KO’d him with a left hook to the body).  Between rounds he was telling his corner that Ricky felt like iron and (that Ricky) was ferocious and intense.”

In order to get those shots off, though, Hatton will need to be in the prime positions, a hard task when you have a fighter as finely balanced as Floyd in front of you:

BG: “Floyd has got incredible balance but the thing that makes Ricky great is that he has incredible balance, it is just a different style of balance.  Both are really gifted.  Both have fantastic reflexes, fantastic peripheral vision, and variety…but the balance is where they are both equal.  Ricky can use the leverage a little bit better than Floyd. 

“Ricky is not just a brawler.  A brawler cannot beat Floyd.  What I’m saying is, without giving too much away, (is) that I know what Floyd is about but just because you know what someone is about doesn’t mean you automatically have an easy job. 

“I know how and when he feels comfortable.  I know absolutely everything about Floyd.  Ricky has the tools to offset anything that Floyd tries.  We know what to do with Floyd and more importantly we know what not to do.”

So, all in all, Graham is fully confident, tactically, that they have the winning recipe:

BG: “Course I am.  We always wanted this fight.  Floyd is the best fighter in the world.  How can anyone dispute that?  Look what he’s achieved and who he’s beaten.  I heard yesterday that no one in America is giving Ricky a prayer.  That is bullshit.  If you say Ricky won’t win a round you don’t understand Hatton. 

“As for Ricky getting torn to shreds.  He does cut.  We have a fantastic cuts man in Mick Williamson and he might have to get us out of jail.  Out of all the things I worry about it is the cuts that worry me the most.  Other than that Hatton beats Floyd.”

Despite the confidence of Graham’s talk it is underpinned by a complete understanding of the task his charge faces in fighting Floyd.  Graham feels strongly that Floyd’s power is a much underrated piece of the slick boxer’s makeup:

BG: “Floyd has a lot in his armoury.  We never leave anything to chance.  We will be prepared for however Floyd is going to play it, even if he stands with Ricky.

“Both fighters are in their prime, it is quite rare.  If anyone is going to be shocked (by the power of the other) it is Floyd because I’ve told Ricky to expect Floyd to hit hard…harder than people think…Floyd can hit.  I’m not sure that Floyd is even going to run that much.  I think he’ll stand and have a go early and Ricky is prepared for that.  We are prepared for him if he runs and if he comes.

“Floyd is a real sharp puncher…(he has) fast hands and some meat on his shots when he sits down.  He’ll never be found wanting under fire.  Floyd will be everything he is supposed to be.  I’d be stupid to underestimate him…but if they underestimate Ricky then they’d be stupid.”

You do not win as many titles as Floyd has by mistake.  His skills are a big help but there is also grit in Floyd, this cannot be underestimated, and is not underestimated, by Graham:

BG: “Floyd is mentally tough.  It is a wicked style match.  We know what we’ve got to do.”

Watching the fight tapes of Floyd in action has been Graham’s extra curricular activity of choice over the past few years.  One fight in particular, the close 1st fight between Mayweather and Castillo, is seen as the blueprint for beating Floyd:

BG: “I get a lot of inspiration from that fight.  I know Floyd’s weaknesses but I don’t take them all from that fight, or any one fight.  I’d have grave concerns if I were going in against Floyd without a world-class fighter, as Floyd would outclass him easily.  He does it constantly with the lower guys but Ricky is not one of those guys.

“Forget what they’ve got in their corner.  I know what I’ve got in my corner.  Ricky Hatton is a world-class talent so the things Floyd has shown, against lesser fighters, that have frightened me don’t frighten me when I think of Ricky being in there with him.  It is all relative to the other fighter but (the) Castillo (fight) shows me a lot.

 “I’ve watched countless hours of Floyd fighting.  I’ll get more DVDs over there (in Vegas) as well and keep on watching him.  I’ve watched him from the start.  He is fantastic, but he is beatable.  I think Ricky Hatton is destined to beat him.”

One thing that stood out when listening to Floyd’s interviews were his references to how badly Hatton was hurt by right hands thrown by southpaws Eamon Magee and Luis Collazo; Floyd can fight in the southpaw stance, did in fact at times, with mixed results, against Castillo in the 1st bout:

BG: “Floyd can do that (fight southpaw), and do it well, but he cannot do it for any long period of time because he is not a southpaw.  It is not natural to him.  Collazo and Magee were southpaws and Floyd is taking about a fight, Magee, which was years ago, and, in terms of what Ricky can do now, is light years away.”

Another aspect of the fight is the possibility that we might see Hatton using clinches to negate Floyd.  Graham bristles at the negative connotations of the word ‘clinch’ preferring instead to think that his fighter works on the inside.  Graham differs with those who think Hatton is more John Ruiz than Roberto Duran:

BG: “Well I wish they would say that (Hatton grapples like Ruiz) to me when I get to the States because I’ll tell them they don’t know fuck all about boxing and should talk about a different sport.  If you can come out with shite like that after watching Ricky Hatton you must be brain dead.

“I don’t know what they fucking see when they look at Ricky and they always bring (Juan) Urango into it.  We had to make the best of a difficult situation so why not praise that fact?”

So far it has all been what Ricky can do to counter Floyd yet the possibility is that Hatton will be unable to deal with Floyd.  Given his weaker skin tissue Hatton could be cut to shreds by the sharp punching of Floyd.  What, then, is the plan if this is the case:

BG: “It is a case of doing what Ricky always does when he gets cut…fight as if the cut wasn’t there.  If you get cut in the last round, and you are in front, you stay out of the way of your opponent.  Get cut early and you cannot let the cut interfere with your fight…if he gets cut he will fight his fight.”

To counterbalance this flaw on the side of Hatton there is, on the other hand, the question mark over Floyd’s hands. 

Graham, whilst not wanting to accuse Floyd of mind games, is sceptical about just how bad Floyd’s hands are:

BG: “It is strange.  You talk about his bad hands.  I’ve spent a lifetime weighing fighters up.  I look at their hands and I can tell when they have really damaged hands, you see the ridges and that…I can’t see anything like that on Floyd’s hands.  I’m a bit sceptical about how bad his hands really are.  Put it this way I hope his hands are as bad as mine!  What a bonus that would be.”

There is also the possibility that Hatton could come out wild on the night:

BG: “Walking in wild would be a mistake.  Sticking his (Ricky’s) chin in the air and leaving it open for a shot would be a mistake.  He has to be smart.  He has to see how Floyd wants to play this.  That is what dictates what Ricky will do.”

Again, with that said, is there a possibility that Ricky spends a frustrating 12-rounds following Floyd around unsuccessfully a la Carlos Baldomir:

BG: “I have heard a lot of reporters saying that Floyd has said he is going to do exactly what he did to Baldomir and Ricky won’t win a round.  Some reporter wrote that (Hatton not winning a round) would happen.  I’d love to meet that reporter personally and ask if he gets paid for this shit.  Do they really get paid for writing this bollocks?  If he wrote for me I’d sack him.  Ricky Hatton and Baldomir are not the same type of fighter.

“If Floyd boxes that negative type of fight against Ricky Hatton he’ll find that Ricky won’t allow him to do it.  Ricky will bring the best out of Floyd…Floyd will show us something in this fight.”

That something, in the opinion of Graham, will be his skill, his talent, his speed and, lest we forget, his toughness:

BG: “Absolutely, Floyd is a man…but Ricky will have too much for him.  Ricky is intense, the ferocity is there and the variety on his punches is there.

“Sugar Ray Leonard had even more advantages than Floyd has but (Roberto) Duran found him and I actually think Leonard is better than Floyd.  Floyd is an all-time great but he is not as good as Ray Leonard.

“I came to the conclusion yesterday that Floyd has changed as he has gone through the weights.  The combinations are gone.”  

Graham also feels that Floyd’s recently preferred method of victory, a points win, is not going to happen in this fight:

BG: “I cannot see Floyd out-pointing Ricky.  I really don’t think he can do it.  He has to win inside the distance.”

That would indicate that Graham feels that a points win for Hatton is the likely scenario.  That was certainly used to be the case but, since starting work on this fight, Graham’s opinion has shifted somewhat:

BG: “For years I’ve thought about this fight and could always see Ricky grinding out a points decision win but the closer it gets, and the more I see from Ricky, the more I think that we could stop him.  If we find his ribcage with any regularity we will stop him. You cannot cover-up everywhere on your body.  He does a good job of covering up and if anyone can block all the shots it would be Floyd but it is not possible.

“Ricky can do really bad damage with the single body shots.  He doesn’t need to be whacking away at your body all the time.  He does that anyway…but it is the single (shots) that cripple you.”

For this fight, as was the case with the Tszyu bout in particular, Graham is also aware that he is taking on a trainer, Roger Mayweather, who has had great success.  I asked him for his thoughts on Roger:

BG: “I don’t know.  I’m not going to say anything derogatory about Roger Mayweather.  We both know that he was a really good fighter and he is a successful trainer.  You cannot knock success.  All I can say is that I’ve got belief and confidence in myself and I love it when there is a top trainer in the other corner.  I prefer that.

“As the weeks go by I found out more about Roger and have seen him in the gym before but I’m not about to rubbish other trainers.  They did not get where they are by being puddings. 

“I’m confident in myself and I like the fact that we are going against a world class trainer.  It is more than a challenge.  They might try disrespecting me but that is water off a duck’s back.  I believe in myself and in Ricky.”

This belief was keenly felt by the team prior to Ricky’s biggest win to date, the breakout win over Tszyu.  That was their first taste of a big fight.  Is there a chance that, beyond the pre-fight talk, this new occasion might stifle Hatton:

BG: “Absolutely not!  No chance.  It will get to us, but in a positive way.  We might even get into a drastic situation and have to take drastic measure but we’re not going to be complacent.  We are going to be alert and the adrenaline is going to be pumping.  We are used to being on the big stage and having big fights in the States.  This one is the icing on the cake and we’re not going to let this occasion fuck us up.  We’ll thrive on this.

“We’ve wanted this all our lives.  You don’t wish for something only for your arse to fall out when it happens.  I’m enjoying this fight.  My heart will be pounding on the night but there is nowhere I’d rather be on the 8th.

“It feels like a super fight in the way Tszyu did.  It is funny you know…when everyone picks against you the pressure goes off you.  I only realised the other day that the Americans are all writing Ricky off.  To be honest that makes me feel better.  Only one (American) guy has gone for Hatton?  I hope he changes his mind before we get there and they are all against us.”

As we finished our final interview Graham was noticeably excited, itching to get too Vegas and soak up the occasion:

BG: “I love training in Manchester but I am looking forward to getting too Vegas.  It is real then.  I want to be around it (the fight) now, it becomes real then.  I just want it to happen.  I’m going to wallow in it and so will Ricky.

“As far as we’re concerned this is it, this is history.  This is what we will talk about in years to come; this is what people will write about in years to come.”

With all that said I asked Graham if he had any lurking fears about the fight that he had not yet addressed:

BG: “Nothing.  Well, apart from the travelling…carrying big bags around, packing your case going (there), packing it (when) coming back (here).  People give you stuff over there and you have to put it in your fucking case and then the case is too big to pack.  I just leave half my stuff at the hotel when I leave.  I hate that shit.  That is stressing me out…never mind the fight.”