โIโM GOING to get my licence back,โ Billy Graham tells Boxing News, reinvigorated by his recovery from two hernias that for so long had affected his quality of life. โIโve got no big ideas about becoming a top trainer again โย Iโve got no desire to work that hard. Iโm too old to be a trainer again. I donโt know what Iโm going to do, but I need to be around it more.
โIt wasnโt because Iโd fallen out of love with boxing [that I left it]. It was because Iโd had enough of the people around Ricky Hatton. Me daughterโs mother kept on saying to me, โYouโve got to stop โย itโs making you illโ, and it did. When I got out, I was physically f**ked. Me hands was ruined โ theyโre ruined now. The doctors was going crazy at me to stop. But as a cornerman, and as a tactician, I was at me peak. Iโd so much experience.
โI think, in the back of me mind, Iโd always intended to come back. When I retired, I didnโt stop learning. I carried on, because youโre seeing more all the time. I was hands-on. Judgement of distance; punching power; balance; leverages. Thatโs what I love.
โSo, yeah, Iโm going to do it again. Iโm under no illusions โ itโs not that Iโve got aspirations of turning back the clock. But if Iโm being vague, itโs because I donโt know what Iโm going to do.โ
Graham last worked a corner in 2008 when Ojay Abrahams fought Jamie Ambler in Watford in the last of Abrahamsโ 100 fights. That he had so recently led Ricky Hatton to victory over Juan Lazcano meant that he was still recognised as one of Britainโs leading trainers, but not only has Hatton long since retired, Grahamโs long-term peers Enzo Calzaghe and Brendan Ingle have died, meaning that if he is to return to the sport he will be returning to one with a vastly different landscape to that he had known.
โI thought Enzo really didnโt like me for all those years,โ says Graham, 67. โIโd come across him all the time. Then, out of the blue, he phoned me up โย thereโs always a lot to moan about in boxing. Then, when [Joe Calzaghe] fought Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jnr, he phoned me on the nights of the fights. โHeโs definitely going to retire โย if he doesnโt Iโll chop his hands off.โ He probably asked me who I thought was going to win. It certainly wasnโt for my advice; it was just a chat. I was gutted I couldnโt go to his funeral โย I couldnโt find out where it was until it was too late. Enzo [dying] was a shock, because I didnโt know he was ill.
โIโve been against [Ingle] loads of times. Our paths used to cross quite a lot. He could talk; had great stories; be really funny. I knew he had a lot of good fighters, but I also knew he had a lot of fighters nobody wanted to see. We was rivals. We wasnโt friends. But he had respect for me as well.
โI was 18, 19 โย only a kid โย by the time I had me first [professional] fight. I was in the dressing room on me own, and Brendan walked in โย he looked older than he actually was. I didnโt know who he was. He asked who I was fighting. โI know him. Iโve seen you fight โย youโll beat him. Are you on your own?โ โYeah, Phil Martinโs in the ring.โ He stayed with me all the time, and walked down with me. That was the first time I knew him. I never brought that up to Brendan. [But] it was a nice thing to do.โ
If the Graham most widely remembered is the one who featured on HBOโs 24/7 while he was so crucial to Hattonโs identity and success, in the years before Hatton became a pay-per-view fighter Grahamโs reputation and enthusiasm meant that even more significant figures visited his gym. Among those to use The Phoenix Camp when it was in Salford are the great Tommy Hearns and the late Emanuel Steward; before Graham became an independent trainer he also spent time in Helsinki with none other than Angelo Dundee.
โThat was great,โ says Graham, reassuringly puffing on a cigarette while revisiting his memories of Hearns. โHeโs one of me favourite all time fighters. Fantastic to watch. F**king deadly. Other than Nicky Boyd I never trained a tall fighter โ Iโd have loved one. That was fantastic, and he absolutely loved my daughter Billie. Sheโd have been a toddler, had to go to nursery, and he was gutted, Thomas.
โJust to be around him and watch him working out โย he was well past it then [April 1999], fighting at cruiserweight. Heโd be sat in my office. He had these little soldiers, and bought one in for Billie. She used to sit on his knee. He was great. Unfortunately, what I could see the most was the slippage. [But] his leverages and his balance, as heโd be moving around the ring [stands up to demonstrate]; heโs dead long. One fucking movement.
โ[Stewardโs] someone Iโve always admired as a coach. I loved his fighters. Had no edge on him; was dead polite.
โ[Dundee] was great as well. I didnโt even know he was going to be thereย โย Helsinkiโs not exactly a f**king fight place. It [March 1992] was the first time Iโd ever worked a corner on my own. Henry Armstrong [against Jyrki Vierela]. Good fighter.
โI was desperate to learn anything. Nobody told me Dundee was going to be there. Phil [Martin] wouldnโt have known โย Iโm sure heโd have gone over himself. I couldnโt fucking believe it. I was shocked he was there, and went up and told him it was the first time on my own, and he was great. I was worried because Iโd never wrapped anybodyโs hands. I felt really self-conscious.
โAt the breakfast table he went, โCome here โย sit hereโ. He remembered my name, and then said to me, โI like to go for a walk after breakfast โ do you fancy coming?โ. We ended up doing that every day, for at least a week. He couldnโt believe how much I knew about his career, other than [Muhammad] Ali. I was talking about Carmen Basilio, and one of my favourite all-time fighters, Jose Napoles. Smooth as butter.
โWe talked about all fighters, from all different eras. I always tried to talk about Muhammad Ali, and he didnโt want to โย I could tell. I actually asked him, โWhy didnโt they tell him to retire?โ, and he didnโt like that. I remember, I was gutted because we was robbed, but we got a draw. โBilly, you come over here to another country, fought an unbeaten kid, and got a draw โย you should be celebrating.โ I was green.โ
His recollections of even Hearns and Dundee are further demonstrations of the complex Grahamโs inability to separate boxingโs dark from its light. There are anecdotes about time spent on the phone advising Ronald โWinkyโ Wright but of how he allowed his fighter, Steve Foster, to fight on against Wright for too long; about how Michael Katsidis once phoned him to enquire about being trained by him and then acknowledgments of Katsidisโ decline; about how he once discouraged Carl Thompson from taking a proposed rematch with David Haye.
โThe Preacherโsโ eyes regardless light up when he recommends Pariah as the โbest documentary on Sonny Listonโ, and when he describes himself as โEllie Scotneyโs biggest fanโ. He is as reluctant to embrace technology as he is incapable of being dispassionate about the sport that will forever define his life, and yet his obsession โ for that is what it is, and perhaps that is also what he needs it to be โ demands that he tolerates it to get his fix.
โIโm the worldโs worst at technology,โ he says, lighting another cigarette while Mowgli, his lakeland terrier puppy, plays at his feet. โI can work YouTube. I can work Netflix. Every day I check on YouTube whatโs coming up [in boxing]. Iโve got DAZN as well, but I only go on that when I have to because thatโs a bit too technical for me. I keep going to brew up and pause it and then I canโt f**king get it back on again for ages. So, Iโm scared to touch things. Iโve not text anybody for that long โย Iโve got a fucking iPhone; me hands are fucked and the keyboardโs too delicate for me to touch โย Iโve forgot how to text.
โ[But] I do it a couple of times a day. I think half the time I do it as much as to hear what tripe somebodyโs going to be talking about. Someoneโs coming out with words of wisdom, and itโs bollocks.
โJoe Gallagher and Jamie Moore are the only two who are still doing it, from Manchester. Theyโre still producing. From what I remember about Matthew Hatton, he should be a good coach. He was good at knowing what he was looking at. He was good at picking winners, from being young โย and I know some good fighters whoโve been useless. Pat Barrett and Anthony Crolla, too.
โIโve always watched womenโs boxing โ Jane Couch was a very good friend of mine โ but I didnโt think Iโd be as interested as I am now. Iโm really enjoying womenโs boxing. The fights should be 12 two-minute rounds. Itโs great because thereโs loads of good women fighters now, and two-minute rounds are why itโs really exciting.
โMe favourite to watch is Ellie Scotney. Sheโs got fantastic balance, anticipation; sheโs a box-fighter. Theyโre my favourite fighters to watch โย aggressive counter-punchers โ and Iโve watched her since her first pro fight.
โIf sheโs coached and managed correctly, sheโll be a superstar. The Americans would love her. Sheโs not the finished article. But she could be a fantastic body puncher.โ
It is then โ perhaps more than at any other time during the course of two-and-a-half hours at his house in Mossley on the outskirts of Manchester, during which he also reveals he โcanโt stand the royalsโ and describes selling the house he once owned in Atlanta as his โbiggest mistakeโ โ that Grahamโs need to again be involved with fighters is most clear. It is with fighters that he is not only at his most compassionate, but his most spirited; as eager to see them managed correctly as he will no doubt again be to help them train.
โThe early days, with Ricky Hatton, were the best days,โ he says. โRight from the first time I see him. When he first came to the gym. He was made for me. My tastes changed over the years โ the fighters I preferred to train โย and he was made for me. He was training all the time.
โI would have taken him on the pads the first day, and let him spar the first week. From then, even though I had other fighters to train โ champions โย he was constantly on my mind. From day one, as a junior amateur.
โI knew he was perfect for me. Personality-wise as well โย heโs got some of my bad traits anโ all. I was a successful trainer when he come to me. That was the best times. With him, and when he turned pro, coming up.โ