Life in The Phoenix – The Gym Genie Part I by Terry Dooley Jun 19th 2007

When the people behind the production of the hit show ‘Life on Mars' were looking for extras for a boxing-themed episode of their show they came knocking at the door of Billy Graham's Phoenix gym and convinced him to appear, along with his fighters, on the show. It was an astute choice of trainer as Billy boxed during the seventies and keeps himself in trim enough shape to portray a boxing coach in the episode. Graham's role, it seems, was to provide a link to the seventies, to authenticate the episode. For those not in the know the theme of the show is that a modern-day detective has been injured in a car accident and transported back to 1973. Once there the ultra-PC modern day PC, or DCI to be exact, has to hook-up with a resolutely 1970's team of detectives led by the imposing DCI Gene Hunt. Various scrapes ensue from then on as the man from the future learns from the man from the past and vice versa. Ostensibly a vehicle for the underrated John Sims the show sparked into life of the back off Phillip Glenister's DCI Gene Hunt; a brash, rule breaking, results-driven and unapologetically un-PC copper in the mould of ‘The Sweeney's' John Thaw. In many ways, despite being purposefully over the top for the show, the character of Gene Hunt is not entirely dissimilar to Billy Graham himself. On the one side you have a guy who is hard, uncompromising, gruff, blunt and steeped in the seventies yet willing to listen and on the other hand you have DCI Gene Hunt. With Billy aptly cast as DCI Hunt and Ricky Hatton the modern day media conscious Sam Tyler BBN began a series of interviews with Billy that go all the way back to his very first days with Hatton before coming all the way back to the future. When BBN joined Graham for this camp we found that Billy was mulling over the criticism that came his way when Hatton clinched his way to a consistently – in the later rounds – messy win against Juan Urango in January. Billy Graham: ‘Under the circumstances it (the win) was excellent and I'm a bit pissed-off about some of the criticism Ricky got for it, the holding and that. Ricky had to see it out, there are loads of fighters who have had to see it out and they've been lauded for it.' The final rounds of the fight were laden with clinches and this absolutely killed the fight as a spectacle. Graham was again unrepentant over what can be expected of his fighter. BG: ‘Ricky was boxing with a heavy cold and hit a bit of a wall after boxing beautifully but I expected that because he is only human and he was ill.' There were also questions about Hatton's level of opposition since that big win over Kostya Tszyu. Fights with Luis Collazo and Juan Urango do not set pulses racing and in both fights Hatton endured torrid spells. Not good given the level of opposition had dipped since the Tszyu fight. BG: ‘Everyone is saying how Ricky has not fought anyone since Kostya Tszyu and it is bollocks.' For a few moments Graham paused and pondered, perhaps thinking how to end the interview and send BBN packing, before adopting a more conversational tone. BG: ‘Look, he fought Kostya who is a legend but he is awkward to fight. Then he fought Maussa and knocked him out clean despite being cut. Then he fought a really gritty fighter in Luis Collazo in a new weight division then takes on Urango who is a southpaw as well.' ‘Now he is taking on Castillo who is a great fighter but he is not as awkward as those guys. Talk about Ricky slipping is fucking nonsense; he was boxing to orders in the last fight. I told him to hold and all that so blame me. I knew this would happen before the fight.' By this point Billy made it clear to BBN that the night before the fight he had left himself a note outlining late-rounds tactics in the event of Hatton suffering the effects left over from his cold. Graham also made it clear that his notes were not addressed too, nor written for, the TV audiences or the crowd. As a trainer he felt he had a responsibility to get his man through the fight whilst picking up a win and a title. BG: ‘To be honest with you it was a great performance under the circumstances but the so-called boxing experts criticise it then say it is great when Hopkins does it (clinch). At times the stuff Ricky Hatton was doing was unbelievable…(He was) really picking his shots and putting them in with speed and precision.' ‘People are talking out of their arses when they say he is slipping.' Throughout the build-up to the Urango fight Junior Witter had stated his case in regards to a fight with Ricky. The final barrier, a lack of a title on Junior's part, had been removed when Junior picked-up the WBC title, surely now was the time to factor Junior into their plans? BG: ‘People talk about Witter as if he is the better boxer when he has nothing like the balance and skill of Hatton. Witter could not out-box Hatton, no chance. Hatton is miles more skilful. Witter's only chance is to bomb Hatton out and it won't fucking happen.' ‘Witter looks devastating against bottom-enders.' Strictly speaking, though, Witter had looked sensational against Giuseppe Lauri in 2002, if you want to talk punch picking the fight was a relative master class. This was a concession Graham readily made to Witter. BG: ‘His European fight yeah. He was devastating that night but Ricky had beaten the kid years ago. Witter is a bully, he is good on top but terrible apart from that.' Despite this denial there is the sense that Junior was left waiting around for a Hatton fight that he was never given. After Hatton had beaten Jon Thaxton Witter hijacked the interview and Hatton conceded that a fight between them might one day be necessary. Shortly after this the idea was vetoed with the reason cited that a fight with Witter was poor business unless Witter picked-up a title. Again Graham differed, Billy feels that due to Witter's indefinable lack of ‘it' the fight is still not viable despite Witter's large virtual fan base. BG: ‘It was never good business years ago (to fight Witter) and Witter was shooting his mouth more often than his fists even then. Junior thinks he'd get loads of money if the fight happened but he'd get what's he's worth. About five and a half quid should be enough.' That being said Witter has annexed the WBC title to stake a claim on the division. BG: ‘It does not matter about the belt - even if it is the WBC – because Witter's scalp is worthless. He got a vacant title off Corley and has done nothing with it but moan about not fighting Hatton.' Witter has kept his end of the bargain yet still cannot net that dream fight. It is leaving an increasingly sour taste in the mouth of Witter. Graham feels that Castillo, despite being new to this division, brings more to the table than Witter ever will. However this leads Team Hatton open-to the opening of old, critical, wounds as it can be pointed out that Castillo is another fading lightweight looking for one last big hurrah. BG: ‘No (because) it killed him to make lightweight and light-welter!' With that said Castillo's last fight was hardly a ringing endorsement of Castillo the light-welterweight. BG: ‘He looked a bit flat and a bit bored (against Ngoudjo) I've watched it a lot and Castillo won that fight but he could not get up for that kid.' ‘Castillo is a much better name than Witter. People pay a lot of money to see a fight and who do they want to see? An awkward type fighter looking bad against a poor opponent? Witter is not exciting and he has no charisma. Sorry Junior but you're too busy whinging about Hatton and should look at your own career.' Perhaps feeling relaxed after venting for a moment Graham began to muse over how he got his start in training, how his recent fighting career had won him the respect of the fighters at the start. BG: ‘I would walk in the gym after (training them for) a while and they would shout ‘first on pads, second on pads' and stuff like that. I had started off feeling uncomfortable (about training) but then had lads queuing up to work with me. They would talk to me and realise I knew a bit about boxing and they became close to me because of that.' Indeed Graham is a fish out of water type at times, like DCI Gene Hunt (I will try to leave some kind of a coherent thread running) he is most happy amongst the banter of his work. BG: ‘I feel comfortable around boxers; they are the type of people I feel comfortable around. I feel comfortable in my own environment like we all do. We all had nothing but our passion for it (boxing). I work on the shop-floor, I have nothing to do with managers and promoters.' ‘I never wanted to be anything other than a trainer. Some people see training as the first step, then they want to be manager, then they have dreams of being a promoter. Once I decided this was what I wanted to do that was it. This is all I ever wanted to be.' ‘I did it my own way and if you want to be those other things (manager and promoter) you have to compromise a bit and I never did. I would not feel good about it. You can't lie to yourself and I (had) made my mind up that I was going to be a trainer.' Here Graham touched on the ‘all jobs for all people' aspect of modern boxing in which fighters are promoters, promoters want to be mud-slingers, tea-boys want to be anybody and ring-card girls want to be PA's. Graham is a trainer, a ‘fucking good one' as he will tell you, and this is his passion. A chance remark from a girlfriend back then gave him his strongest indication that he wanted to mould talents rather than manage them. BG: ‘I can't watch a fight without getting involved and commentating on it. I'm obsessed with boxing to be honest with you… To be honest it is uncanny though, a lot of things I knew about boxing and coaching I just knew (before becoming a trainer).' ‘I lived with this girl once; I was sat in my chair listening to the corner work on (TV) fights. I was shouting ‘you shouldn't do this and you shouldn't do that, this is going to happen in the next round because you did that' and I always got it right so the girl said to me ‘why don't you become a coach!'.' Love him, loathe him or leave him to himself Graham is, clearly, a man who loves boxing, boxers and even the frustrating intrigue of the sport but there is one thing he loves above all other things, coaching fighters. Billy prefers the direct training approach; yet he does like to keep himself fresh from a coaching perspective. Although the methods are more Rocky running a hill than Ivan Drago using science and steroids. BG: ‘I know a bit about sports science and (I) read books about nature and that to find out new bits of information that I can use. I've always had a working knowledge of sports science and that came from working with fighters for years. Fighters listened to me about fighting because it was so logical when I spoke to them.' As Graham talked it became clear that he was making a point, some people learn from people watching, Graham felt that nature can teach us a thing or two, especially as, as in nature, the boxing world can lead to a nasty, brutish and short lifespan. Like Gene Hunt tapping his head and telling us to trust in the Gene Genie Billy feels he can learn a more about boxing and life during a walk around his home from home in the swamps of Georgia, USA. BG: ‘Some of my methods might seem illogical – the stuff about learning from animals – but it makes perfect sense to me. If you know about the workings of different species of animals learning about the human body and the way it works becomes easier. There are big differences obviously but there is a similarity across different species. It all fits together.' The Tszyu strategy was, according to Graham, one aspect of this irrational approach as well as an example of how thinking outside the box is required if you are going to make it to the top, both as an athlete and a trainer. BG: ‘Being daring and adventurous sets you apart from the rest and that can apply to training. Tszyu was a murderous puncher at any range but especially long-range, he would take you apart with his punches so we killed his range and Ricky took him apart the only way he could.' ‘Ricky took some chances on the big night and people couldn't see it was a strategy until Ricky got the win, not even the commentators. Ricky took away Tszyu's body then took away his head.' It amounted to one thing and for Graham that one thing sets Ricky apart from his British contemporaries BG: ‘Any athlete or trainer has to take chances and show some tactical flair.' The next day Graham was relaxed whilst chatting to BBN before the tape began to roll. I had intended my next line of questioning to concentrate on the early days of the Hatton-Graham partnership. The first spars, the early fights and ‘this is it' moments one must surely feel when training a world-class sportsman on his way up. During the questioning itself Graham had seemed slightly subdued, perhaps the draining nature of the game of boxing was taking its toll for this day. Later that night my phone rang and I was surprised to see it was Graham calling. Graham asked BBN to come back to the gym in a few days: ‘I want to think about these questions and give you my best answers. I need to have a think and remember stuff that I haven't spoke about for years. Come back and ask me the same questions and I'll give you the better answers.' I could and he did, that will be the theme of the second part of Billy's piece as we go back with him to the start of the career of Ricky Hatton. Photos By Allan Stevenson

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Priceless Jun 24th 2007, 13:40:08 by alan phillips Billy Graham that was priceless! You really are "The Preacher Man" Fully agree with all you have said! Pity there are so many knockers and such petty jealousies in the "boxing world". How can anyone knock Ricky Hatton? between you, you have achieved greatness!Alan Phillips.