- Graham Earl
Infobox Boxer
name=Graham Earl
realname=Graham Earl
nickname=Duke of Earl
weight=Lightweight
height=height|ft=5|in=5
nationality=Flagicon|UK British
birth_date=birth date and age|1978|8|26
birth_place=
death_date|=
death_place|=
home=Luton ,Bedfordshire ,England
style=Orthodox
total=28
wins=25
losses=3
draws=0
no contests=0
KO=12|Graham Earl (born
August 26 ,1978 ) is an Englishlightweight boxer fromLuton ,England . He is a former British andCommonwealth lightweight champion.Professional career
He had his first professional fight in September 1997, when he beat Mark O’Callaghan on a second-round stoppage in
Southwark ,London .He won his first eighteen fights before challenging
Bobby Vanzie for the British lightweight title. The fight was held inDagenham in July 2003 and Earl won on points over twelve rounds.The pair fought again for the British lightweight title in June 2004. They met in
Bethnal Green , and Earl again won on points.In June 2005, Earl fought Kevin Bennett, holder of the Commonwealth lightweight title, so that both the British and Commonwealth titles were at stake. The fight was at Bethnal Green, and Earl won when the fight was stopped in the ninth. Earl had been down in the sixth but continued fighting.
In 2006 Earl relinquished his British lightweight title, and the vacant title was won by
Lee Meager .In October 2006, he won the vacant WBU lightweight title when he beat the Argentinian,
Angel Hugo Ramirez via a unanimous decision after twelve rounds. The fight was in Bethnal Green.In February 2007, Earl fought for the vacant WBO lightweight title at the
Wembley Arena against undefeated AustralianMichael Katsidis , in what was described by many as one of the fights of the year. Earl was knocked down in the first, but recovered from a further knock-down in the second to send Katsidis to the canvas, despite Earl's corner throwing in the towel. Earl was cut to the eye during the fourth and his corner retired him at the end of the fifth, following a barrage of punches from Katsidis in the third and fourth rounds. Earl's resilience to Katsidis's powerful and quick jabs, often trading back counter-punches rather than avoid the onslaght, led to many plaudits for both boxers.In December 2007, Earl defended his Commonwealth lightweight title against the promising young boxer, Amir Khan, in Khan’s hometown of
Bolton . Khan caught Earl in the first round and put him down and he was given an eight count. However on the resumption he was again in trouble and the referee stopped the fight after only 72 seconds.ee also
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List of British lightweight boxing champions External links
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* [http://www.britishboxing.net/boxers_300-Graham-Earl.html Profile] at BritishBoxing.net
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