Fighting their corner

Adam Smith bigs up the trainers, not least Billy Graham, Johnny Eames and Oliver Harrison.

Our capital city played host to exciting domestic bills last week-end as February got off to a flyer. Amir Khan kept his unbeaten record intact, when he schooled former world super-featherweight champion Gairy St Clair. Khan used a wonderful blend of speed, skills and growing maturity to ease through 12 rounds for the first time. He has his critics, but I for one have long believed he is an outstanding talent, and I think we should enjoy him. Best youngster in Britain without any question. Excellent corner-man too in Oliver Harrison. And it's trainers who provide the thread through this week's blog. Johnny Eames is one of the nice guys in boxing. And his Friday and Saturday jobs saw a tale of two sides; so often the story in our sport. On a fabulous Friday Fight Night at the splendid old York Hall, Portsmouth's Tony Oakey powered his way to a thrilling British light-heavyweight title victory over the brave Londoner Peter Haymer. Amidst a crackling atmosphere in Bethnal Green, Oakey would not be denied, exacting revenge for an earlier loss to Haymer with a sweet left hook in the ninth round. Eames was straight in the ring, and jumping around; ecstatic that his charge Oakey had produced a career best performance at 32. Twenty-four hours later, Eames had to endure another savage battle as Alan Minter's son Ross attempted to defuse the sharp-shooter from Chorley, Michael Jennings. In the end Minter was not quite good enough; ever so brave but ultimately outclassed. There were poignant shots of Eames imploring his boxer Minter to take the whole eight count before rising from a knockdown. Eames clutched the towel before choosing to call a halt to proceedings - in a sad but necessary manner. Eames cares deeply about his fighters, and won't see them get unduly hurt. Both were nine-round stoppages, just a night apart. One amazing win and one devastating defeat. It shows what an emotional roller-coaster this sport gives us. Oliver Harrison also had a busy week-end, with Khan and Mark Thompson both fighting. Thompson looked razor-sharp and Oliver was, as always, asking us what we thought at ringside. Jamie Moore was down in London with him and is itching to get back into action following a shoulder injury. Another emerging trainer, Tunde Ajayi, also came up to us to ask how Akaash Bhatia had performed at York Hall... more than well enough, Jim Watt felt. After the tragic news last year of the much loved James Oyebola being gunned down, one of his Nigerian based protégées Tony Salam was fighting in Oyebola's memory on the Bethnal Green bill and looked sparkling for a couple of rounds against the former Olympian but so far professional under-achiever Courtney Fry. Salam, though, started to tire and without his mentor there, looked lost. He was knocked out spectacularly in the sixth round. Fry looks forward to a meeting against Oakey; for Salam its back to the gym, or maybe off to the North East to cheer on stablemate Ajose Olusegun.

Talented

This Friday we have an interesting match that may well be be more tactical than last week. Olusegun's unbeaten in 21 and a much-touted world-class fighter. He meets the talented Nigel Wright who will have huge hometown support and is convinced he can upset the odds to lift the Commonwealth light-welterweight title. Two southpaws with very similar stats and styles - excellent operators and they're joined on the bill by popular Michael Hunter and one to watch in Paul Truscott. They love their boxing in the North East and as I am sure you have read here on skysports.com, Glenn McCrory will be very excited too. The rumour mill's again full of fighters trying to re-kindle the old fire. Michael Brodie and Scott Harrison are aiming to get back to the top. Brodie has lost a stone and is really missing the sport while Harrison has been honing his body in Fort William after immense problems out of the ring. It's by no means certain Harrison will get his licence back and former co-trainer Billy Nelson, who put so much toil into preparing Scott for years, told me: "What's happened is such a waste." Shane Mosley will fight on and is expected to meet Zab Judah in a Vegas showdown in May, while Kostya Tszyu also refuses to rule out retirement, saying that every day he has a 'war within himself' over whether he should return. Tszyu's conqueror, Ricky Hatton, certainly is continuing, and is set to return on May 24th, in a 'homecoming' at the City of Manchester Stadium - athough rumours are rife that Wembley have put in a late bid. Four opponents are being considered - Herman Ngoudjo, Juan Lazcano, Kendall Holt and Paulie Malignaggi. Expect Hatton-Malignaggi at a later date. Ricky has also applied for a promotional licence; maybe Golden Boy have had an influence on the Hitman's future...

Emotional

Ricky's long-time trainer Billy Graham was in touch this week too. Ricky and Billy have not even discussed the Mayweather fight yet. Too emotional for them. But they will be soon. "The word that we had split really hurt me. I hid away in Vegas after the fight, turned my phone off, and was completely gutted," Billy told me. Graham strongly denies a split and says he'll be in Hatton's corner until they both retire. "Tell all my friends at Sky Sports, I'm sorry we let them down against Mayweather," Billy said. You haven't Billy. Ricky simply lost to the best fighter on earth. Billy's a superb trainer, who has guided Hatton brilliantly for over a decade. He also enjoyed immense success with Carl Thompson, Ensley Bingham, Steve 'The Viking' Foster and Michael Brodie. So don't forget the trainers - many of them live and breathe boxing through their fighters. Father and son teams like the lovely Calzaghes and Mosleys are bonded by blood forever. But so many other trainers are like father or brother figures to their boxers, and have massive emotional ties too. Johnny Eames' mixed fortunes last weekend summed that up perfectly.