BBN Exclusive - Billy Graham: “My sacking led to my retirement.” by Terry Dooley Jul 29th 2008

As the reports of Billy Graham's retirement – announced exclusively to BBN last night – hit the mainstream press today a few questions were left in the minds of many people. Notable amongst them was the question of whether Graham had jumped, or whether he was pushed. BBN can confirm, again exclusively, that Graham's retirement announcement was hastened due to the fact that he had been sacked as Ricky Hatton's trainer. Graham has indeed been suffering from ill health brought on by his involvement in boxing, this ill health was widely, and erroneously, cited as the official reason for his retirement by many outlets today, yet the trainer has had these health problems for well over a decade – notably problems with his hands after years holding the pads – and had made the commitment of seeing out Ricky Hatton's boxing career, a career Graham has been involved with from the start. Claims that Graham had left the sport solely for the good of his health belie the fact that the trainer had stated, in 2007, that he would continue in the sport as long as his most famous charge was an active fighter. Graham has recently lost another of his fighters, Matthew Hatton, and had returned from a trip to America unsure about his position with Ricky Hatton. This position was made clear to Graham, and it left the trainer with no option but to bring forward his planned retirement. In the event this means that Graham's involvement in Ojay Abrahams final fight will become Graham's own boxing epitaph. Graham's pleasure at closing out his career with Ojay is tempered by the fact that his participation in the sport of boxing has been brought to a premature end. As Graham explained: “I had said that it was always my intention to see out my time in boxing as Ricky Hatton's trainer. I made the decision to accept the injuries that come with the role in order to retire with the fighter who I will always be remembered for. My retirement was brought forward because I was sacked from my role. I said I would leave (boxing) with Ricky and (I) wouldn't carry on in the sport after he had retired. The way things have panned out means I have brought my own retirement forward…in the end it worked out well because it means working with Ojay for his (Ojay's) final fight has more meaning.” Graham's pure involvement with his most famous fighter's career has long been documented; Graham is one of Hatton's most ardent fans, he is one of the few people who believes that Hatton could beat Floyd Mayweather if they fought again. Talk that it is fitting that Billy bowed out after the Hatton homecoming, against Juan Lazcano in May, glosses over the fact that the trainer was still enthused about Hatton's ability to become the greatest British fighter of all time. In the event Graham will miss out on the final stages of Hatton's career, yet he still maintains, as he has done since the Kostya Tszyu fight, that his former charge is the greatest British boxer to ever lace on gloves. Graham's aim is to ensure that the fans realise that he had no intention of jumping ship, his retirement had been planned for a long time but its timing was the direct result of the ending of his professional relationship with Hatton, a fighter whom he still rates as one of the best boxers in the world. For this writer Graham's sober analysis of Hatton's last fight represented the thoughts of a man who still cared deeply about guiding his fighter to the top of the mythical pound-for-pound rankings. After Hatton's win over Juan Lazcano Graham had stressed, in the post-fight press conference, that Hatton needed to ditch his recent harum-scarum style, Graham went as far as stating that the risks Hatton takes in the ring were making the trainer ill. It was a comment many agreed with at the time. In the event they were the trainer's final words of advice to his charge, they are also words that Hatton may need to heed in order to continue his top-level career. They are also words that were taken a little too literally.

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