HELP OUR HERO HEROL
Graham is facing his biggest fight
HEROL GRAHAM is too proud to ask for help and, even if he wasn’t, he is not in a position to do so.
The Nottingham-born fighter is arguably Britain’s best boxer never to win a world title.
‘Bomber’ Graham was plying his trade at a time when winning global honours was no mean feat – especially at middleweight.
The product of Brendan Ingle’s Wincobank gym in Sheffield was a joy to watch in his pomp during the 1980s, even if British and European titles would be the best he could win.
He had the nation urging him on when he fought for world titles against Mike McCallum and Julian Jackson at middleweight and Charles Brewer at super-middleweight.
After he retired in 1998, aged 39, he battled depression and later revealed he once attempted suicide.
It was reported in May 2015 he was working in Asda on an £8-an-hour job to give him purpose and help deal with his mental health problems.
Then in 2016 complications from a routine appendix operation left him fighting for his life.
This week Boxing News reported that Graham is in a mental health hospital because of his depression and his partner, Karen Neville, is battling bladder cancer.
Plight
Concerned friend Andy Brace contacted the magazine to call for financial help to fund treatment, not available on the NHS, for Neville.
As of yesterday, the Justgiving page had exceeded the £10,000 target but more would be welcome.
But this is another sorry reminder of how boxing has failed miserably in supporting its heroes as Graham’s plight has left him without an income to support his stricken partner. He is not the only former fighter to have fallen on hard times – a quick flick through Nick Parkinson’s wonderful yet harrowing book, A Champion’s Last Fight, will reveal as much.
Boxing lacks an equivalent of the Professional Footballers’ Association, to help fighters during and after their careers, but it desperately needs it.
Fighters like Graham, who didn’t earn much despite his talent, would have benefited from advice about investing for the future.
More importantly, a support group to provide counselling and regular medical checks on retired fighters could help spot serious mental health issues before they really take hold.
There are ex-boxers’ clubs dotted around the nation that do great things by bringing fighters together for social events – but more is needed.
How a PFA-style group for boxing would be funded is an issue, but in a sport watched by millions, those who provide the entertainment deserve to have a watchful eye over them when they leave the ring.