17.05.06 – By Danny Serratelli: A quick glance of Friday nights matchup between Brooklyn, New York’s “Mean” Joe Greene, 9-0, 7 KO’s and Newark New Jersey’s Derrick Graham, 12-7, 4 KO’s would be misleading. On paper, it looks like another knockout victim for the up and coming super middleweight prospect. However, Derrick Graham is not an average “opponent” that is showing up to lose.
A closer look at Graham’s 12-7 record reveals that Graham has fought all world-class opposition for his last few years in the ring from 1996-2000. The fighters that have beaten Graham had a combined record of 132-9-4 at the time when they fought Graham. One of those losses includes the only time Graham was ever stopped, in an IBF light middleweight title elimination bout against Winky Wright, for a shot at Fernando Vargas’s title in 1999.
Unfortunately for Graham, and despite the fact that he has always possessed the talent of a world-class fighter, he was not always handled properly and rarely seemed to catch a break. Prior to the title eliminator with Wright, Graham was brought in as an opponent for Andrew Murray, who was 25-3, (Graham was 10-4 at the time) on the undercard of Fernando Vargas vs. Yori Boy Campas and Arturo Gatti vs. Ivan Robinson. Graham easily outboxed Murray for a unanimous decision victory.
After the Wright fight, Graham fought Ross Thompson, who was 23-3-1 for the WBA North American Light Middleweight title. Graham dropped a very narrow decision that he swears he won. Both Wight and Thompson got their shot at Vargas’s title, while Graham was reduced to opponent status. He returned 6 months later, going to Biloxi Mississippi as an opponent for Emil Baku, who was undefeated at 18-0 at the time. Graham played the spoiler again when he clearly outboxed Baku over 10 rounds and was awarded a split decision victory.
After the win over Baku, Graham was put in a tough spot. He possessed a mediocre record of 12-6, but people looking for fights didn’t want to fight him because they knew he could pull off upsets as he did with Murray and Baku. Graham fought only once more in 2000 (and in his career), when he came in as a last minute replacement for Golden Johnson against Alex Bunema who was 17-2-1 at the time. In that fight Graham lost a lopsided unanimous decision in which he was dropped four times. Despite the fact that he did not have the opportunity to train properly for a 10 round fight, was not 100% physically, and was hurt several times in the fight, Graham fought on guts and pride alone to last the 10 rounds.
Thursday night against the talented rising star “Mean” Joe Greene will be the first time Graham has been in the ring in almost 6 years and he is now 37 years old. Graham insists he is not coming back for a payday, but is coming back to win some fights. Graham stays in the gym and in shape and feels he is ready to play the spoiler and pull of an another upset.
However, Graham did not choose an easy fight to come back. He will be fighting at super-middleweight against Greene who is a southpaw and possesses a 9-0 record with 7 KO’s. Greene’s started boxing when he was 9 and estimates that his amateur record was about, 180-4 with 100 KO’s. He won the National Golden Gloves in 2004 and just missed making the Olympics when he dropped a decision to eventual bronze medalist Andre Dirrell in the finals of the trials 16-13. Don Turner, who has trained heavyweight champions Evander Holyfield and Larry Holmes, is his trainer.
This is an interesting matchup that will feature Greene’s power and youth against Graham’s experience, speed and all around boxing ability. Both fighters have questions to answer. Is Greene ready for an experienced veteran? Graham is the best opponent Greene has faced in his young professional career. Can Graham play the spoiler again against an undefeated prospect? After almost 6 years off, will Graham be fresh or will the ring rust be too much to overcome against the powerful prospect? Tomorrow night these questions will be answered.