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By Terence Dooley - A few weeks ago I went on an interesting road trip with Billy Graham – trainer of Ricky Hatton – as Graham’s charge Matthew Macklin made his comeback from the Jamie Moore defeat, by defeating Antatoliy Udalov in Wolverhampton. [details]
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Good read. I like Billy Graham, he always gives good interviews.Comment
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aye nice interview wonder when billy is gonna retire and hunt snakes in the middle of nowhere
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Yeah Billy is an interesting character for sure. I wonder what this special strategy is. If he fails and gets beat down badly, he is going to look like a ****.Comment
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Thanks for taking the time to comment on my article guys, sorry you did not like it grappler.
It should be a good fight this one, no fighter is unbeatable and if both guys fight the right fight it should be a high quality bout.Comment
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I always hate when trainers say they have this perfect gameplan and it fails miserably and people forget all about it. Well, I don't. Buddy McGirt always claimed he had a gameplan for everybody. I couldn't help but notice how all his guys seem to be on massive losing streaks save Malignaggi and Forrest. Everybody has a plan until they get in the ring.Comment
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McGirt does seem to give good advice but his reputation is also built on getting Gatti to throw the odd jab when at a lower class. As soon as Gatti stepped-up in class McGirt could not teach him a thing or change the fight-plan.
A good trainer can turn a fight with some well-placed between rounds advice. To be fair to McGirt the only advice he could give the likes of Tarver is: "You fell for your own hype, remember your limitations".
For all the dispute over Tszyu's age and ring-rust Graham did give Ricky the key to that fight.Comment
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Graham had worried about Collazo, he felt a mixture of style and stance would make this a really tough fight against a big welterweight. All the while he felt that Floyd himself was a lightweight punching above his weight and that Hatton would be the stronger man at welter.
BG: “I’m not scared of Floyd at welterweight because genetically he’s not bigger than Ricky. Ricky is a pure junior-welterweight and we are not giving Floyd a big advantage.”
So this, as it was with Collazo, is a one-fight gambit at the higher weight.
BG: “I’m not interested in seeing Ricky move through the weights – he’s a short guy – why should you have to move through all the weights to become an all time great? Floyd at welter is no problem at all. My guy is going to be stronger than him so we’ve no fear of him there. I always felt that there were two more fights for Ricky at welterweight – Floyd and Oscar.”
REPLY:
When did Collazo become a "big welterweight"? Collazo is a very average-sized WW, not very strong, and is actually one of the worst punchers in the division.
Baldomir, Cintron, Berto, Clottey, margarito, Williams, etc are all bigger WW's than Collazo.
Graham commented on how Hatton is short and shouldn't have to move up in weight.
1) Whitaker, Duran, etc all were equally short and moved up through the weights.
2) Hatton has been at the same weight that he turned pro ten years ago. How many fighters stay at the same weight from 19 years old to 29 years old?Comment
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