The Hatton Graham split: Much Ado About Nonsense by Terry Dooley Dec 20th 2007

Recent rumours have stated, and since been refuted by the fighter, that Ricky Hatton was going to go the route of blaming, and sacking, trainer Billy Graham for his recent loss at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr.  I never quite bought into this theory for a number of reasons. Pragmatically there is the question of who would take over the training duties. Manny Steward, Freddie Roach and the like are good names but they also train in a different style than the fighting one favoured by Hatton. Steward works best with rangy boxers. Manny gets them throwing the left-hook off the 1-2 as well as giving them in-ring smarts for when they are hurt. Roach seems to work well with combination punchers, his pad technique is very good, yet I tried to imagine Hatton working out with Freddie and could not buy that theory. Both seem to be underpinned by the general geographical reason for Hatton not being trained by those trainers, or any US-based trainer for that matter. Hatton strikes as a homebody; someone who is happiest when around his family, friends and, crucially, his young son. Leaving Manchester does not seem an option. It all seemed a case of idle lips making mischief but the underpinning glue was the fact that Hatton did make mistakes, did fight the wrong fight and was ultimately knocked out against Floyd. Blaming Graham would be the initial course of deflection but it would be the wrong one.  It is easy, from the comfort of our own keyboards, to say that they should have done this, that and the other. Yet we have the benefit of hindsight, distance and lack the best fighter in the world blocking our every attempt at beating him up. Blaming Hatton, and by extension Graham, for not putting the plans into action ignores their proximity to the situation. Similar to those who accuse Herge, the inventor of Tintin, for not speaking out against the Nazis when his country was under Nazi occupation. Hatton, on December 8th , was occupied by the puzzle of Floyd Mayweather and did not have time to sit there stroking his chin whilst trying to solve this problem. You disagree? Start doing a jigsaw puzzle, a really complex one, and pay someone bigger than you to smack you on your chin repeatedly. Then see how your concentration stands-up. You could say Hatton looked as though he was not listening to Graham between rounds but I imagine, and hope a fighter will not think I am presuming to know what it is like in there, that in a fight, one that is running against you, a fighter might very well stop listening to the corner. It could be that your mind starts recoiling in the face of what is transpiring before you. As Jim Watt pointed out, when you get to the rarefied level your previous moves no longer bring the same successes, this must cause you to ask questions, even during the heat of the fight. If this is case, if it breaks your concentration, or Joe Cortez does, no amount of cajoling from the corner will get it back. Certainly, as the fight went on, Hatton seemed to be fighting on pure heart and instinct, smart enough to know he was behind on points and spooked also by the referee. It is unlikely that Hatton and Graham's relationship broke down in the fight. It is more likely that Ricky Hatton found out early in the fight that he was facing an exceptional fighter who was also a tough nut.  As long as lessons are taken onboard one cannot be hugely critical of the fighter and trainer. Both men dared to dream of a victory over Floyd, yet found out that Floyd had his own ideas of how the fight would pan-out. Not content with endless defences of his WBU title, or dropping down to that level again clutching the scalp of Kostya Tszyu, Hatton went for broke in doggedly pursuing a fight with the mercurial Mayweather. With the fight over, also with differing perspectives on how close it was early on, Hatton can take the positives from the experience without getting rid of a trusted ally. So, with the first loss came the blame and intrigue, some of it from highly subjective sources, about Hatton and Graham. In reality there has been no cull, and the waters seem calm now. There were no Las Vegas bust-ups in relation to the relationship between fighter and trainer. There was no deviation from the usual leaving Las Vegas pattern; Graham, who has a house in Georgia, always stays in the States longer then the rest of the team. However there were others things to be considered when the situation was broken down in my mind earlier in the week. My first thought was how getting rid of Graham would sit with Hatton as a person, and as a famous personality. It is probably going to disappoint some to find out this but Hatton is a genuinely approachable person who also seems to care about the perception of him held by other people. This was brought into the frame vividly for this writer during one particular gym visit in the build-up to the fight.  It was a hectic day, official channels had long been dumped, or had dumped me, in favour of approaching Hatton directly for interviews, and the fighter was always willing to comply.  On this particular day the interview was set-up with the fighter and we were good to go. Unfortunately a raft of commitments had piled-up leaving the fighter with very little time. With a genuine sense of apology Hatton approached me to explain that we would have to take a rain check. Fair enough. Then he came into the gym office shortly after to again offer his apologies, a further explanation and assurances that he would make sure he had time for me on my next visit. A final apology was made before he left to fulfil his media commitments. It was a telling exchange, in which the fighter showed that the image of a decent person portrayed in the press is true. Rather than take the line, has he could have rightfully done, of “Fuck it. I don't need to explain myself to you. I defeated Kostya Tszyu!”, Hatton showed that on a person-to-person level he has manners, is approachable and, as it turned out, is a man of his word, we talked about the fight a few days later. Upon hearing the rumours of a split my first thoughts were along the lines that, for one, I could not see this fighter blaming his trainer and making wholesale changes, secondly that in getting rid of Graham a little of that public stardust would be lost. Instead of leaving this as a subjective conclusion I phoned around a few people, not boxing people, people I knew admired Hatton and are casual fans, to ask them what their thoughts on the rumours amounted to. There was a universal feeling that a split between Hatton and Graham would not happen, if it were to happen there was a sense that they would feel left down. As one person put it: “Ricky is all about being one of us and having a heart. Billy is the heart of the operation and it would be like Ricky ripping the heart away just because of one loss”. This was the opinion of the people, his fans, here in his hometown, over the potential split. Not only would it not make sense in boxing terms but also it would not make sense in terms of Ricky Hatton the man. Still rivers run deep and although you may not see footage of Hatton and Graham sat in their local pub or playing darts you can see the respect that runs between the two even when they are silently preparing for a day's work. You can see this respect, also, when Graham works with his other fighters, one of whom, Matthew Hatton, is the closest friend and confidante to his brother. A switch in camps for Hatton may mean that his brother would move with him. Scratch that thought. Billy has done a lot of work with Matthew and has a genuine bond with the younger Hatton. I would put my money on Matthew staying with Billy. In this case we would have to consider Ricky leaving his brother behind. It just does not hang right. Despite all this, and the protestations of Hatton himself, there are still the whispers of a split in the camp. There is not one, certainly not on the boxing side of things, the only side this writer comes into contact with. One fight does not a relationship break. Graham is not some guy Ricky has put into place to carry his bags to and from the fights. Graham is a central figure in the story thus far, and also in the life of his fighter. There will be questions asked after this loss, which is natural, although some of the ones posed right now are not done so with neutrality in mind. Perhaps some roles or customs will be evaluated and reassessed; it is unlikely, though, that Graham's role will change. One last thing worth looking at has been on my mind ever since witnessing the promotional rigours Hatton puts himself through when he is in training. During one interview with Graham, around the time of the Castillo fight, the trainer told BBN, in regards to the early days of their journey, that: Billy Graham: “We'd (Ricky and I) go and sit on the steps (of the gym) watching traffic go by (and talk boxing)…It is funny (because) I always think of those times, always. It is really weird because when the Tszyu fight ended I was in the corner and things flashed through my mind…as they flashed through…I pictured us sitting on those steps drinking our tea and talking about the big fights…They were great days, really fun days. For both of us. Watching him getting better all the time and testing him out with other fighters…it was a great adventure back then…In some ways they were the best days…I do think of those days.” Around the time of the Castillo fight it had struck me that the fighter and trainer had gone from talking boxing over a cup of tea after training, to the fighter having to clear endless queues of autograph seeking fans, as well as taking care of media commitments, in the gym cafeteria. Perhaps, in the wake of his first ever defeat, Hatton could look at this situation and, although he likes to be around the fans, further extend the closed-door policy they tried to implement for the Mayweather fight. A tighter grip on his diary by those in charge of keeping it, so he is not double-booked after training sessions, in fact is not booked at all, would also be a good move in the right direction. His fans get him all the year round, he is accessible at every show he goes to and on every speaking engagement he attends, it would not be a negative if Hatton were to ask for 12 weeks of pure concentration in order to hone his mind for a bout. An even earlier desuetude of his after-dinner speaking commitments throughout the whole of his training camp may also be a positive step in focusing his mind early into the camp.  So, perhaps, an extreme and cast-iron gym kybosh could be implemented for the final weeks of a fight as they close the doors to the public. Overall, though, ditching a trainer you have spent your whole career with, at this late stage in that career, would not be the way forward. A tightening of the social diary would surely be a better step in the right direction as would a more expert, professional, management of the fighter's time - not his career per se as his father is clearly the best manager for him. So that the post-fight cup of tea can be spent with his most trusted advisors, his trainer, and training team.

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Great insight! Dec 20th 2007, 16:43:34 by alan phillips Don't think there can be any argument with your comments. Neither could you find a man more suited or dedicated than Billy Graham. There will always be the wishers and the knockers hoping for the downfall of successful trainers and partnerships. A 40 out of 41 fights says it all about there relationship. More power to Billy Graham. Alan Phillips.