Graham Earl

Graham Earl (born 26 August 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2014. He held the British lightweight title twice between 2003 and 2006, the Commonwealth lightweight title from 2005 to 2006, and challenged once for the WBO interim lightweight title in 2007.

Graham Earl
Earl in 2011
Statistics
Nickname(s)The Duke (of Earl)
Weight(s)
Height5 ft 5+12 in (166 cm)
Born (1978-08-26) 26 August 1978
Luton, Bedfordshire,
England
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights32
Wins26
Wins by KO12
Losses6

Amateur career

Earl began boxing at the age of eight. As an amateur boxer, he fought for England Schools and won his first eighteen fights.[1]

Professional career

Earl made his professional debut on 2 September 1997, scoring a second-round stoppage over Mark O'Callaghan. He would spend the next eight years undefeated, winning 21 consecutive fights. During this time Earl won the British lightweight title twice, on 17 July 2003 and 5 June 2004, both times against Bobby Vanzie. On 25 February 2005, Earl lost for the first time to Ricky Burns, who won an eight-round points decision. In Earl's next fight, on 19 June 2005, he bounced back to retain his British lightweight title and win the Commonwealth lightweight title against Kevin Bennett.

On 17 February 2007, a bout for the newly created and vacant WBO interim lightweight title was made between Earl and Michael Katsidis. In an action-packed and fast-paced fight, Earl and Katsidis went toe-to-toe and traded many heavy blows, during which Earl was knocked down twice in the opening round and again in the second. However, soon after getting back to his feet following the third knockdown and having the towel being thrown in seconds later (only for it to be thrown back out again by referee Mickey Vann), Earl managed to floor Katsidis momentarily with a heavy right hand at close quarters, rendering the latter visibly stunned and unsteady on his feet. Earl's comeback would ultimately be short-lived, as Katsidis recovered swiftly and finished the round strongly. At the very end of round three, a low blow cost Katsidis a point, but in the following rounds he went on to deliver a barrage of largely unanswered punches to Earl until the decision was made Earl's cornermen to stop the fight after the fifth round.[2]

Earl suffered his third loss and second in a row on 8 December 2007, when he was stopped in the first round by Amir Khan.[3] This was repeated by Henry Castle on 17 October 2008, who stopped Earl in one round.[4] After a five-year retirement, Earl returned to the sport on 4 July 2014. He travelled to Australia to face Michael Katsidis in a rematch from their 2007 bout, this time at light-welterweight. Katsidis won a wide twelve-round unanimous decision.[5] Earl's final professional fight was a ten-round stoppage loss to Steve Martin on 22 August 2014.[6]

Personal life

The youngest of three brothers, Earl grew up in the Limbury council estate of Luton and attended Icknield High School. He has two children with his ex-wife.[1] In April 2015, Earl was sentenced to seven years in prison for illegal drug trafficking.[7]

Professional boxing record

32 fights 26 wins 6 losses
By knockout 12 4
By decision 14 2
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
32 Loss 26–6 Steve Martin TKO 10 (12), 0:51 22 Aug 2014 Hilton Hotel Portomaso, St. Julian's, Malta For vacant World Boxing Foundation welterweight title
31 Loss 26–5 Michael Katsidis UD 12 4 Jul 2014 Rumours International, Toowoomba, Australia For vacant WBU (German) light-welterweight title
30 Win 26–4 Karl Taylor PTS 6 28 Jun 2009 Liquid & Envy, Luton, England
29 Loss 25–4 Henry Castle TKO 1 (8), 1:09 17 Oct 2008 York Hall, London, England
28 Loss 25–3 Amir Khan TKO 1 (12), 1:12 8 Dec 2007 Bolton Arena, Bolton, England For Commonwealth lightweight title
27 Loss 25–2 Michael Katsidis RTD 5 (12), 3:00 17 Feb 2007 Wembley Arena, London, England For vacant WBO interim lightweight title
26 Win 25–1 Angel Hugo Ramirez UD 12 28 Oct 2006 York Hall, London, England Won vacant WBU lightweight title
25 Win 24–1 Yuri Ramanau PTS 12 27 Jan 2006 Goresbrook Leisure Centre, London, England
24 Win 23–1 Kevin Bennett TKO 9 (12), 2:10 19 Jun 2005 York Hall, London, England Retained British lightweight title;
Won Commonwealth lightweight title
23 Loss 22–1 Ricky Burns PTS 8 25 Feb 2005 Wembley Conference Centre, London, England
22 Win 22–0 Steve Murray TKO 6 (12), 2:37 30 Jul 2004 York Hall, London, England Retained British lightweight title
21 Win 21–0 Bobby Vanzie PTS 12 5 Jun 2004 York Hall, London, England Won vacant British lightweight title
20 Win 20–0 Jon Honney PTS 8 11 Oct 2003 Mountbatten Centre, Portsmouth, England
19 Win 19–0 Bobby Vanzie PTS 12 17 Jul 2003 Goresbrook Leisure Centre, London, England Won British lightweight title
18 Win 18–0 Nikolay Eremeev PTS 8 24 May 2003 York Hall, London, England
17 Win 17–0 Steve Murray TKO 2 (12), 2:02 15 Feb 2003 Wembley Conference Centre, London, England Retained Southern Area lightweight title
16 Win 16–0 Chill John PTS 10 12 Oct 2002 York Hall, London, England Retained Southern Area lightweight title
15 Win 15–0 Mark Winters PTS 10 15 Dec 2001 Wembley Conference Centre, London, England
14 Win 14–0 Liam Maltby KO 1 (10) 22 Sep 2001 York Hall, London, England Retained Southern Area lightweight title
13 Win 13–0 Brian Gentry TKO 8 (10) 10 Mar 2001 York Hall, London, England Won vacant Southern Area lightweight title
12 Win 12–0 Leeroy Williamson TKO 3 (6) 21 Oct 2000 Wembley Conference Centre, London, England
11 Win 11–0 Marco Fattore PTS 6 29 Apr 2000 Wembley Arena, London, England
10 Win 10–0 Ivo Golakov TKO 1 (6) 4 Mar 2000 Werrington Sports Centre, Peterborough, England
9 Win 9–0 Simon Chambers KO 6 (6), 2:48 15 Jul 1999 Werrington Sports Centre, Peterborough, England
8 Win 8–0 Benny Jones PTS 6 8 May 1999 York Hall, London, England
7 Win 7–0 Leeroy Williamson TKO 4 (4), 2:33 16 Jan 1999 York Hall, London, England
6 Win 6–0 Marc Smith TKO 1 (6), 2:02 10 Dec 1998 The Broadway, London, England
5 Win 5–0 Brian Coleman PTS 4 12 Sep 1998 York Hall, London, England
4 Win 4–0 David Kirk PTS 4 23 May 1998 York Hall, London, England
3 Win 3–0 Danny Lutaaya TKO 2 (4), 1:35 11 Apr 1998 Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, London, England
2 Win 2–0 Mark McGowan PTS 4 6 Dec 1997 Wembley Arena, London, England
1 Win 1–0 Mark O'Callaghan TKO 2 (4) 2 Sep 1997 Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, London, England

References

  1. Earl Cunliffe, James (1 July 2007). "Graham Earl: 'I'm going to be a champion and put Luton on the map'". Luton on Sunday. Local World. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  2. "Earl left to rue Katsidis battle". BBC Sport. BBC. 19 February 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  3. Gilmour, Rod et al. (8 December 2007). "Amir Khan defeats Graham Earl in first round". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  4. Turner, Mike (20 October 2008). "Henry is king of the castle". Western Telegraph. Newsquest. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  5. Donovan, Jake (4 July 2014). "Michael Katsidis Settles For Decision In Rout of Graham Earl". BoxingScene. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  6. James, Marc (25 August 2014). "Martin crowned World Boxing Champion". Malta Today. MediaToday Ltd. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  7. Parris-Long, Adam (30 April 2015). "Luton boxing star Graham Earl jailed for drug offences". Leighton Buzzard Observer. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
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