Heorl Graham's best performances?

[Cobra33]

I only have Graham's bouts with Kalambay and Mccallum which by that time Graham was in decline.What bouts show Graham at his best?I heard that his bout with Rod Douglas was a great performance by Graham.

[LiamE]

He was great in the Jackson fight till he got clocked......

[Vantage_West]

performance wise yeah jackson is the one to notice but that has somthing to do with julians style being very square on and mild plodding and jab made a guy who was looking to counter a treat. norris, graham, mcCallum didnt have ease with him but could sit down into a groove in parts of there fights. even tho julians power usually reigned supreme in some intances. he was pretty hitable so, pinch of salt.



his destruction of chris johnson is a top tier performance. johnson who was no mug, who was a olympic bronze medalist and later gave reggie johnson a very close run for his money...lost almost every round before getting stopped very impressive from a seemingly shot, heaviest, short notice graham

[tonysoprano]

His fight with Ayub Kalule was a good performance

[TFFP]

vs McCallum
vs Kalambay I

I don't think he was past his best in either. Take into account quality of opponent here.

Kalambay II he was past his best, both were. It was a mediocre showing from both compared to their past standards.

[Beeston Brawler]

Both of those two were close.

But for the low blow point deduction, I had the McCallum fight a draw.

[TBooze]

He looked mighty good beating Mark Kaylor, arguably with both at their best.

Also he looked as good as ever beating Chris Johnson many years later.

[GazOC]

I agree with TBooze, Kaylor was a very good performance.

[Axl_Nose]

I only have Graham's bouts with Kalambay and Mccallum which by that time Graham was in decline.What bouts show Graham at his best?I heard that his bout with Rod Douglas was a great performance by Graham.

Its a little too convenient to suggest that Graham 'was in decline' when he fought McCallum .. I thought McCallum was comfortable in that fight and as much as i like Herol Graham, i think Mike McCallum was always a far superior fighter who is constantly under-rated by people ..

[brown bomber]

Good call on the Johnson fight that was magic

[Cobra33]

Graham had been a pro for 11 years when he met Mccallum-he was no longer in his peak.Not too many boxers would be in there peak years in the 11th year of being a pro.

[turpinr]

herol v jimmy price ko1 for herol

[TFFP]

That depends how old you are when you turn pro, and how tough you are matched.

Calzaghe and Pacquiao were at their peak beyond 11 years as a pro.

There was nothing in the McCallum/Kalambay fights that would say he was a lesser fighter. He was fighting great opposition, and they were competitive fights. That alone suggests they were two of his better performances.

[hitman_hatton1]

kaylor
douglas
johnson
kalule
mccallum (fought well despite losing a close one)

[Mantequilla]

kalule and Kaylor are his best, most dominant performances against world level fighters imo.Kalule used up whatever he had left though against kalambay and looked completely shot, oferring only the barest resistance of what would have been a very good fight had it happened earlier.keeping that in mind i would go with the Kaylor fight.Mark wasn't really any worse a fighter than the best middles of today like Abraham and pavlik and Graham dismantled him.

I'd suggest the first Kalambay and McCallum fights as well, but think Gutteridge( if i remember correctly it was him)turned in an appallingly biased commentary that has always annoyed me about the kalambay fight...he actually had graham winning the fight more or less.I'd advise turning the sound off when watching that one.

[Claus Holmen]

He was very, very good against Kalule. Kalule may have been past his prime. But he had beaten Kalambay in Italy, KOéd price in 1 (before Graham did it as well) and he was world-class when Graham took him apart. I saw the fight and was very impressed. He was really good against Kaylor - but kaylor was not world-class.

[TBooze]

I'd suggest the first Kalambay and McCallum fights as well, but think Gutteridge( if i remember correctly it was him)turned in an appallingly biased commentary that has always annoyed me about the kalambay fight...he actually had graham winning the fight more or less.I'd advise turning the sound off when watching that one.

The fight was on Radio live and then Sportsnight, so it was not Reg.

[GazOC]

Harry Carpenter "did" Sportsnight.

[Mantequilla]

I think it might have been their second fight where i have a version with Gutteridge doing commentary on his own.Incidentally he didn't have any issue with the decision, other than the dodgy point deduction late on.

Not sure Kalule was world class anymore when he fought Graham, other than as a defensive fighter.he literally threw about 5 powershots the whole fight and was slow as treacle, though i agree Graham looked as good as he ever did.The extremely fast paced kalambay fight seemed to finish off whatever h kalulehad left after a long amatuer and pro career.The turnaround between both those fights was like Conteh's fights with Saad muhammed.

[Mantequilla]

Harry Carpenter "did" Sportsnight.

yeah pretty sure it was carpenter then.I often get the two of them mixed up, which will probably be sacrilege to some.

[Kid Lucky]

I watched the Graham v Douglas fight the other night having dug out some old vids. Was on Sportsnight with 'Arry commentating to save argument. Looks like it was at Wembley or somewhere similar.

Graham's performance was superb against a good quality British operator who would easily be the best MW in UK now IMHO was an excellent amateur and athlete.

Douglas came forward throwing punches and refused to get disheartened so Herol had to be at his best, you can almost see him think his way through the fight as he begins to read Douglas', steps up the power shots knocks him down and stops him.

Shame that Rod suffered career ending injuries from the fight. If I remember right BBC used him on other fights after for a time.

I used to tape all the shows off the telly then so McCauley v Dodie Penalosa to watch at weekend!