Herol “Bomber” Graham Update: We Love You “Bomber” & Wish You the Best!

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

There are quite a few nick names that can be attached to more than one fighter, but as the “Bronze Bomber”, Deontay Wilder has managed to win his 40th fight, the “Bomber” in Liverpool Tony Bellew awaits, I was recently reminded of when I first heard the name “Bomber”.

It belonged to someone that was a dazzling and exotic to my eye and ear in the 1980’s and 90’s as any could be, Herol “Bomber” Graham, 48-6, 28 KO’s, was the pinnacle of cool and the top of the boxing tree in the UK. He had the skills, he had the move and he had the misfortune of facing three opportunities to win a world title, losing all three; we love a gallant loser in the UK, we do…

Now, with his partner, Karen Neville ill, he finds himself bereft of much comfort as he battles demons of his own. Earlier this year, in 2018, it led to him voluntarily being admitted for help in a psychiatric ward.

The very decent side of boxing came out as people fought over themselves to help out with benefits and support, partly because he was facing not one but two uphill battles – his other half had stage three cancer, and he had suffered from depression which had included three times when he attempted suicide.

Graham may never have been destined to win a world title, but he was to gain a special place in our affections. For him to be at the bottom end of the poverty ladder, to be in hospital; whilst sectioned and barely coherent is tragic. The tragedy is heightened by the fact that he was once a darling of our sport and he is now battling the demons of our society.

Mental health issues have been at the forefront in the UK of how our health service is struggling to cope with increasing demand made upon it. For some young people who have clinical conditions like depression, the waiting list in Scotland for acute help can be up to 18 weeks; in England it was recently reported to be 53 weeks.

How Graham ended up there is all catalogued better elsewhere. What I want to remember and celebrate is the glory that brought his story to all of our attention.

A gifted amateur he was a Junior world welterweight champion in 1976, senior ABA light middleweight finalist in 1977 and then became the middleweight ABA champion in 1978.

Hi style was bewitching. He could turn his hand and fist to beating people up in anyway that worked… Until he got to world title level…

Turning professional in 1978 he became synonymous with the Ingle Gym in Sheffield in the same way that Freddie Roach and Wildcard are linked.

Hi first 38 fights led to 38 wins. Along the way he collected the British title, the Commonwealth title and the European title. In 1987 he was to suffer his first defeat when he defended European title against Sumbu Kalambay – wasn’t the only time Kalambay was to beat him in a European title fight.

The support he got from his public meant he was never far away from any promoter’s lips and soon Mike McCallum faced him in 1989 for the vacant WBA title. During the fight, that was very close, Graham was deducted points for low blows that cost him the title.
One year later the WBC sanctioned his fight with Julian Jackson for the middleweight belt. For four rounds Graham outboxed and outfoxed Jackson. Then came the “punch of the century” and Graham was out cold before he hit the canvas! No world title but global attention; pity it was for the wrong reasons!

Graham put his gloves to one side soon after and stayed out the ring competitively for a full four years. He then made a comeback.

Now Muhammad Ali managed less time out and won back his world title. Ricky Hatton tried to do it and failed. Tyson Fury is about to show us if he can do it. Graham was so good in his comeback that in 1998, he was in a ring against Charles Brewer for the IBF super middleweight belt.

The comeback was better than the final fight as Graham was stopped in the 10th and that was enough to prove to him that no matter how keen or game he was, he was never going to win a world title; the time had come to retire.

Like many a boxer, retirement was not good. He became a personal trainer and tried to use the skills he had gained to become a supporter financially of himself and Karen. Misfortune and the wrong company have not been far away and in 2009 his son was injured in what was described as a “targeted shooting”. Then in 2016 an operation for a burst appendix almost killed him.

Outside the ring his footwork was never as sharp as when he danced his way round a ring. In the end it was illness that caught him and his family out. When people became aware of how dire things actually were a JustGiving page was set up to raise £20,000 to help with Karen’s cancer treatment. According to the page, Karen has begun treatment and Herol is doing much better. Privacy and the desire for suffering to be dealt with sensitively stopped me delving much further. What it did remind me though, is just how damn good Herol “The Bomber” Graham was. It was well worth being reminded of.

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