Thoughts of a Preacher Man (Part I) by Terry Dooley Dec 7th 2007

In boxing, as in life, one rarely comes into contact with the real. Layers upon layers of spin and rhetoric (although there is nothing wrong with rhetoric) obscure it from us. This is not the case when speaking with Billy Graham. Graham spoke with BBN about the imminent joust between his charge Ricky Hatton and the mercurially talented Floyd Mayweather Junior. Since BBN first started working with Graham the trainer has talked about the possibility of this fight. When thinking about it the trainer, nicknamed ‘The Preacher', after the nonpareil Billy Graham, has carried with him the confidence and serenity similar to that of a man with true faith who is about to meet his maker. Like the man of faith Graham has had a long, some might say almost dogmatic, belief in something and he is now facing the real moment of truth. The moment when he finds out, definitively, whether he has been thinking along the right lines for all these years. Before the fight there came the preliminary press tours, a chance for this coach to see the enemy close at hand. Graham was philosophical about the war of words that had taken place: Billy Graham: “That stuff just bounces off me, and Ricky. You expect that from Floyd so it is nothing new. What is the problem? It is what Floyd does in the ring that concerns me, not his antics outside the ring. That does not concern me one iota.” During their whistle stop press tour Graham had a chance to see the Mayweather act at first hand, he left those initial tours with the firm conviction that what he had seen was merely that, an act put forward by Floyd: BG: “Well I would have preferred to be in the gym (but) I'm really glad that I went and met Floyd because meeting him made me a little bit more confident and it had the same effect on Ricky. “The first day was the worst. Not knowing what to expect. I was expecting him to be worse to be honest. I expected him to come out with a load of bullshit. “Once you've seen his act you know it is an act. Other people see it and don't think it is an act…he still does it when the cameras are not there a little bit but it is an act and I see straight through it.” In fact Graham thinks that Floyd puts on the act in much the way a soldier puts on his war face: BG: “I don't think he is as nasty as he pretends to be. Why anyone wants to be seen as nasty I don't know but that is his image and his gimmick. I actually think he would like to be a little bit nicer. That is the vibe I get. When you get him on his own the guy might be Ok. We don't have any animosity towards him or anything like that. We just want to beat him. “In a strange way I kind of like the guy. (His act is just) too much. The stuff he whispered into Ricky's ear…I just found that ridiculous. You just make yourself even more unpopular. “He'd do better for himself by just being nicer but he has done it now and can't go back. He'll probably step on the gas and talk even more bullshit in the last few days. (But) I think there is a nice guy in there somewhere. “He wasted his own energy with the talk. If it makes him feel better let him do it. I don't give a fuck about it. His own verbals will intimidate him. It isn't getting him anywhere. The two guys will fight on the night and the best man will win, and I've got the best man.” One problem with the Floyd act is that he does not do it with panache. Once he has flashed the cash, the bling and the entourage there is little left for him to say, he is trapped into a mode that renders him incapable of being engaging, although he is often charming during post-fight interviews, perhaps, with the pressure off, this is where we see the real Floyd. Graham simply feels that Floyd is adopting a persona he cannot flesh-out: BG: “Look, Floyd is not Muhammad Ali when it comes to the verbals. Ali did it and it was funny most of the time. Floyd tries to do that but does it seriously. It means nothing to Ricky or me. We find Floyd quite amusing to be honest. “He is alright after the fights. It is just before the fight when he is like that. I think people make too much of him. It is pantomime. You don't beat another fighter up with words; you do it with your fists. “Mike Tyson is intimidating. I don't find Floyd intimidating. I know exactly what he is about. The guy is fantastic. He is lightening fast. I watched him fight (Emanuel) Burton the other day and was impressed by the way he handles pressure. Burton is a very good fighter. He tried to crowd Floyd and Floyd handled it really well. Floyd is special. In saying that so is Ricky Hatton.” So, after the dust of the verbal war has cleared, there is no risk that Hatton will allow a dislike for Floyd's antics to dictate strategy? BG: “Ricky has no great animosity towards Floyd, he has it towards all his opponents when he gets in that ring. He intends to dismantle you. You could be his friend but he won't be any less cruel to you. This is a business.” With the tour over the nitty-gritty of the gym work began as Billy watched his fighter hone himself into shape. Then came the next step, the sparring partners, recommended by Oscar De La Hoya, came over to show Graham how his fighter could handle the speed and movement of Floyd's style: BG: “The sparring was wicked. It (the sparring) was done in that typical Floyd style. Fast reflexes and counter punches. These kids were really quick and they are ambitious as well. They were not here to earn a few quid.” The sparring for a fight as major as this is merely an implication of how the fighters will handle the questions asked of them. Graham is aware that Hatton, as is the case with Floyd, will not be able to find an exact sparring match for his opponent: BG: “It is not difficult getting people who fight in his (Floyd's) general style, especially if you get black Americans because a lot of people are trying to emulate his style now…but you are not going to get anyone like Floyd because there is no one like Floyd. Similar for Floyd, he will get people who can emulate Ricky Hatton but he can't get Ricky Hatton.” The sparring partners themselves had told BBN that they appreciated Hatton's style more after sharing a ring with him: BG: “Well, I'm not surprised. Not one little bit. Every body who shares a ring with Ricky Hatton comes away saying the same thing.” What do they say? BG: “Fucking hell!” The movement, often backwards in recent fights, of Floyd is an element of the fight that is problematic for Hatton. Seen as a come forward fighter many wonder if Hatton will be able to combat the movement of Floyd but the pragmatics, one guy moving backwards the other forwards, should give an indication of how Team Hatton feel about countering the movement of Floyd: BG: “People don't know this. Only Ricky and me know it…but we never feared Floyd as an opponent for Ricky Hatton because (Hatton) is a master at hunting people down. He has had to chase people his entire career. He innately knew how to cut down the ring and corner people back then (when younger) but now he is a master at it. “It gives Ricky momentum and the sparring partners tried all that movement. Ricky is very good at hunting people down. He covers the canvas really fast. Ricky throws punches as he is coming in. He doesn't wait to get you in range he does it as he is cutting the range down. “There will come a time when Floyd has to come and sit down with Ricky, it is inevitable, he won't be able to keep on the outside all night.” This writer has long felt that the fight might be one that throws up a few surprises. The most possible of these is the possibility that Floyd, thinking he has the freedom of the Gatti fight, will take centre ring from the get-go: BG: “Yeah, Floyd might not even fight moving backwards. He might take the centre of the ring and try backing Ricky up so we have to be prepared for everything and we've prepared for that as well. “Ricky will push him, bully him and all that. I do worry that Floyd will come out early looking to bomb him out. He is likely to come out strong the more I think about it. It won't last long but it can happen. He stood there with Gatti and Gatti can bang. “The main difference is that Ricky throws shots as he moves in. Other fighters don't. They throw a few shots, move across the canvas, stop, (and) then throw a few more shots. Floyd is gone by then. Ricky pushes you there, then, bang, gets you there, then, bang, moves you here, and bang. That is the key. “Castillo did those things. (But) he didn't move in with the shots. That is where Floyd has the massive problems. I know how this fight has to be fought and Ricky has the tools to do it. “Most fighters chase Floyd, trap him, and then they let shots go. By then he (Floyd) has shut up shop, (he) makes them commit and counters. There are little subtle things that will change this fight. I'm really enjoying the tactical training for this fight. I love studying the tapes. I like stuff like this, it is fascinating for me.” Floyd's defence is not the enigma wrapped in a puzzle glimpsed through a shroud that people portray it as. At long range he uses movement, up close he uses blurring speed, and on the ropes he uses the shoulder blocking method favoured, but rarely mastered, by many US fighters: BG: “The shoulder blocking is a problem. Part of the problem is catching Floyd even when you catch him. It is not going to be a walk in the park doing that and Ricky has to have urgent without being reckless. You cannot really get Floyd clean on the ropes. We do have answers for that though. “The sparring partners tried to take the centre ring, they tried to move on Ricky and they tried in-and-out darting tactics. They tried everything on him. Don't forget they were doing three rounds apiece. It was a sprint for them.” Common logic would dictate that Hatton's best hope of countering Floyd when Mayweather goes to the ropes is to attack the body: BG: “Ricky throws those body shots constantly. He gets them high up. You can't tense your muscle up there. There is not that much you can do. I think Ricky is the best body puncher in the world and I'm a good body puncher coach. If someone else had better bodywork I'd learn it and nick it for Ricky. “Castillo said it was the best body punch he'd been hit with (when Hatton KO'd him with a left hook to the body). Between rounds he was telling his corner that Ricky felt like iron and (that Ricky) was ferocious and intense.” In order to get those shots off, though, Hatton will need to be in the prime positions, a hard task when you have a fighter as finely balanced as Floyd in front of you: BG: “Floyd has got incredible balance but the thing that makes Ricky great is that he has incredible balance, it is just a different style of balance. Both are really gifted. Both have fantastic reflexes, fantastic peripheral vision, and variety…but the balance is where they are both equal. Ricky can use the leverage a little bit better than Floyd. “Ricky is not just a brawler. A brawler cannot beat Floyd. What I'm saying is, without giving too much away, (is) that I know what Floyd is about but just because you know what someone is about doesn't mean you automatically have an easy job. “I know how and when he feels comfortable. I know absolutely everything about Floyd. Ricky has the tools to offset anything that Floyd tries. We know what to do with Floyd and more importantly we know what not to do.” So, all in all, Graham is fully confident, tactically, that they have the winning recipe: BG: “Course I am. We always wanted this fight. Floyd is the best fighter in the world. How can anyone dispute that? Look what he's achieved and who he's beaten. I heard yesterday that no one in America is giving Ricky a prayer. That is bullshit. If you say Ricky won't win a round you don't understand Hatton. “As for Ricky getting torn to shreds. He does cut. We have a fantastic cuts man in Mick Williamson and he might have to get us out of jail. Out of all the things I worry about it is the cuts that worry me the most. Other than that Hatton beats Floyd.” Clearly this is something that Graham strongly believes and in the next instalment he will further flesh out the areas where he feels this fight will be won and lost. Photos by Allan Stevenson

Go back Comment on this article | Send to a friend | Print

Please login before posting comments.

There are no comments. Click here to be the first who comment on this article.