By Lee Collier

Former British, Commonwealth and WBU champion Graham ‘The Duke’ Earl starts his latest charge towards European and world glory in March under a new promoter in Goodwin Promotions.  Earl is best remembered for his 2007 war with Michael Katsidis for the interim WBO lightweight belt, on a night when Earl’s cornerman Johnny Eames retired him after the fifth round.

The Luton-based fighter, who has recently taken up training and managing young fighters, still feels he has lots to offer in the ring and admits training the young fighters has meant he still has the desire to fight on.

“I still go in the gym and work out and have young fighters coming in, I still train with them and am still the governor and still have loads to give as a fighter,” enthused Earl.

Following on from the Katsidis fight came two first round defeats to future world champion Amir Khan and the largely unheard of Henry Castle.  In both fights it seemed that Earl had lost all punch resistance, a charge that the Luton fighter strenuously denies.

“I can take a punch at lightweight, but when you are weight drained sometimes things go wrong,” claimed Earl.  “For the Amir Khan fight I trained in the States and sparred light welterweights and welterweights and had them down, and they wouldn’t come back so in the end I was sparring a heavyweight who was undefeated after 21 fights.  Your body needs to get used to punch resistance so you need the hard sparring that I have always had.”

Earl knows the pressure is on with calls for him to retire but feels that he is the only person who knows when that time will come.  “I have always acted in a professional manner.  I have never cheated and if I got injured before the fight I would pull out.  There will be no excuses, I will go into the fight 100% and if I get beat then I personally will know if it’s time to retire,” declared Earl.

He continued: “Everyone is saying I should retire, but they are just armchair fans, everyone who is involved in the sport are saying it because they are looking out for me as I get on well with them but deep down I know I still have it.  When I get down to the hard sparring I will know there and then if I need to get out.  What you’ll see on the night is a Graham Earl ready to move forward.”

Earl then reflected on some of the high and low points of his exciting career.  “My best performance boxing wise was against Yuri Romanov”, confirmed Earl, “at the time he was ranked third in the world and it was a great fight.  I am also the only British fighter to beat him.

“Everyone said I wouldn’t be able to handle him but I did it with one hand.  What people don’t know is that two weeks before the fight my right hand got infected and I couldn’t use it.  On the night everything went right and I boxed brilliant with my left hand.”

Earl then talked about his 2007 battle with Australian world champion Katsidis.  “It would be great if every fight was like the Katsidis fight.  If I could have picked a fight to finish on it would have been that one, even though I lost I was still a winner,” beamed Earl.

“I went to America a year later and had radio interviews and people were still talking about it.  It was a TV fight and everyone who saw the fight got their money’s worth.  I have had some great moments in my career the Bennett fight, the Romanov fight, the two Vanzie fights, the Katsidis fight and have had a lot of highlights and a few low points.  The Castle fight is the obvious low point, he is a lovely guy but I should have beaten him on a bad night.  The thing is he was motivated and I wasn’t and it cost me the fight.”

One particular fight, which still rankles with Earl, is the Khan defeat.  “The stoppage was very premature.  To be honest I know they didn’t want the fight to go past two rounds.  I felt the fight was deliberately stopped early, I wasn’t happy about it but I am not the type to sit and moan but I know, and everyone above me knows, what went on,” stressed Earl.
Earl went on to say: “Khan has done well but against carefully picked opponents and now he’s had a great boost changing to Freddie Roach.  He can call himself a world champion but he never won the British title and there are fighters this side of the water who I believe can still beat him.  He is fast and can still grow and he trains well but it was a foregone conclusion before I stepped in the ring with him.”

More recently Earl was scheduled to fight Curtis Woodhouse before the fight fell through.  With Earl still seeking an opponent for his comeback in March, Woodhouse’s manager Dave Coldwell said his fighter was available although Earl has different plans.

“Curtis Woodhouse has no ranking at light welterweight so he has nothing to offer me.  There is no money, no ranking and the weight categories are wrong.  He got beat by a fighter I managed in Jay Morris.  I need to get back to the top and he has nothing to offer me and isn’t in my class,” stated Earl.

“I am going to pick people above me, get in the ring and take them out and I am not going to waste any time playing about with meaningless fights.  Every fight has to mean something from now on.  Before I had time on my side but now I don’t so I want to make it while I can.  I am heading back to the top and am going to make a lot of noise.”