JORDAN GRANNUM, 11-133-5
THE new professional was feeling good about himself when The Islington Gazette rang him forward of his debut.
“I think I can be challenging for world titles in four or five years,” he advised them. “I’ve got all the shots to take me all the way to the top.”
It was September 2015, and 22-year-old Jordan Grannum appeared an excellent prospect. As an newbie with Islington and Finchley and District ABCs, he received Haringey Box Cup gold and back-to-back Development championships throughout his 31-bout apprenticeship.
Grannum received his first two professional fights as nicely – eight months aside – earlier than a 14-month break throughout which period he had a rethink. “I knew I couldn’t sell tickets,” he stated, “so I asked (the late) Greg (Steene): ‘What can I do?’” The reply was easy. Go on the highway.
“I’d heard the word ‘journeyman’ before, but I hadn’t a clue what a journeyman was. So, I did research on people like William Warburton and Kristian Laight.”
Grannum found how the boxing enterprise labored and in solely his third struggle, he took on 17-1 Ryan Brawley in Glasgow.
“I dropped him in the last round,” stated Grannum, “and when he received up, I helped him by means of it. As an newbie, I’d moderately die than lose, however I settled into this function so shortly.
“They put me in the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in, and I remember sitting there and looking at all my money on the table and thinking: ‘This is me.’”
On Saturday, May 4, Grannum is pencilled in to have his 150th struggle, although it might come earlier than then.
Grannum has proved lately that, when within the temper, he can struggle. He upset 5-0 Tyler Rivers final month and stated: “I have let my hands go more this season. But I need to take minimal damage and the more you open up, the more chance you have of getting caught.”
Grannum doesn’t get caught a lot. In 149 fights – 147 of them on the right-hand aspect of the invoice – he says the worst accidents he’s picked up are a fractured rib and a swollen eye, placing the latter right down to a automobile accident he was concerned in a number of days earlier than he boxed.
He says Irish punching machine Aaron McKenna gave him considered one of his hardest nights in December, 2020.
“It was during (the) covid (pandemic) and I hadn’t boxed for nine months,” stated Grannum.
“Your body gets conditioned to taking punches and I hadn’t taken a punch for nine months. I took the fight for some money before Christmas.”
He earned his cash the arduous means, McKenna forcing him to retire after two rounds.
Only thrice has Grannum failed to listen to the ultimate bell and, due to that sturdiness, he is aware of solely too nicely that prospects “want to make a statement by stopping me.”
He says his job has been made simpler by a change in life-style.
“For my first 120-130 fights I would turn up after being out the night before,” he stated. “My expertise and expertise would get me by means of, however it might be uncomfortable. I made it extra snug for myself by coaching tougher.
“I still feel fresh. I feel like I’ve had 49 fights, rather than 149 fights.”
Grannum hasn’t fully given up hope of sooner or later fulfilling his potential.
“One big call could change everything,” he stated. “I’ve a foot within the door and they are at all times going to want opponents on huge exhibits.
“If I beat a prospect, the phone calls might slow down – or I might get another chance.”
If that doesn’t occur?
“I would happily fight on small hall shows and pick up losses until I have the money for a house,” stated Grannum. “I love fighting and I love making money, so this is the perfect job for me.”
Jordan Grannum beats Ali Wyatt
LEE HALLETT, 2-74-4
OUTSIDE the York Hall final month, Johnny Greaves sucked on a cigarette and questioned the place it had all gone mistaken. The fighter he manages had received – and profitable isn’t at all times good for enterprise.
Greaves was at all times within the enterprise of shedding fights – he misplaced 96 of 100 – and he’s passing on his data to Lee Hallett.
“There’s been many times when I’ve thought: ‘I could turn this lad over,’” stated Hallett, “but then the phone won’t ring and I won’t get to my target. I will never get to 100 fights if I start winning too many…”
The goal is definitely 101, yet another than Greaves.
Johnny met Hallett when he was a schoolboy at East Ham ABC. “I was a senior and helped him out with training when he was a young kid,” stated Greaves, additionally a southpaw from Canning Town.
The pair have been reunited after Hallett purchased a ticket for Greaves’ final struggle, a factors win over Dan Carr on the York Hall in September, 2013. “I looked up to Johnny,” stated Hallett, a father of two who works in restoration. “I needed to do what he had executed. I had thought of turning professional a number of years earlier as a prospect.
“I met a manager when I was 25 and he told me how it works with selling tickets. I was unbeaten in the unlicensed circuit, won a couple of titles. I did okay on the tickets. I would do 100, but then the next fight it would be 30 or 40. I didn’t want to train my heart out for two or three months and then not sell enough tickets. I had a young family to support.”
Greaves advised him: “Unless you have Frank (Warren) or Eddie (Hearn) backing you, the only way to make money is to go on the road.”
That was how Greaves did it.
“My first 20 fights I thought I won seven or eight and I didn’t even win a round (according to the referee),” he remembered and that led to a rethink.
Greaves determined that if he was going to lose, he may as nicely maintain himself protected – as a substitute of “going home bashed up, cut and beaten” – and placed on a present.
“I tried to entertain the crowd more than the other boys (journeymen),” he stated. “I’d speak to the gang, stick my tongue out, do the Ali shuffle.
“Lee gets a lot more involved than I think he should. We have a different mindset sometimes.”
Hallet stated: “I like to give them a fight. I like to give them a test.”
A professional at 30, Hallett didn’t check his first opponent, nonetheless.
“I went about it completely wrong,” he stated of the first-round stoppage loss to Callen McAulay in Paisley in April 2018. “I was overweight and went out for a run at four o’clock on the morning of the fight to get the weight off. By the time I came to fight, I had nothing in the tank. I got hit on the top of the head and ended up on my knees.”
Hallett has been stopped solely as soon as in 79 subsequent fights. He ended a close to five-year winless streak when he outpointed Tyler Chambers on the York Hall on March 16.
“Usually when I (feel like I) win, I get excited,” stated Lee. “I was shocked. There have been so many times when I would get to the end and thought to myself: ‘I might get this’ and then it goes completely the opposite way.”
As was the case in Coventry final month when he fought Leicester debutant Ali Meesam.
“I thought I had won every round,” stated Hallett of the 39-38 factors reverse. “I had my hand up and then I got robbed.”
Greaves stated: “Lee could be a arduous evening’s work for anybody. He has let himself down with a scarcity of motivation generally and he doesn’t have essentially the most confidence on the planet. He over thinks the whole lot. He wasn’t as unfastened as I used to be. He doesn’t let himself go.
“He isn’t as smart defensively as I was, but he is the best on the road in the country for me.”
Hallett says York Hall is “my home venue, but I’m always fighting out of the away corner.”
Lee, who has daughters Macie (15) and Darcie (8) with accomplice Michaela, needs to complete his profession there, as the house fighter.
“I would like to get a few people there and show them what I’m really all about,” he stated.
GENADIJ KRAJEVSKIJ, 1-69
SOMEONE’S ‘0’ needed to go when Krajevskij confronted Ryan Broten in Oldham. Krajevskij was 0-67, Broten 0-3.
“I felt like a superstar,” stated Krajevskij when remembering the aftermath of his factors win. “Everyone gave me congratulations. I can’t remember the last time I felt like this. It’s hard to get wins. If I fight people at my level, it’s different, but I fight people who have won seven or eight national titles. I fight tough, tough boys.”
Krajevskij is a tricky man himself.
He left Lithuania for England with two mates when he was 21 years outdated.
“It was amazing to start with,” he stated.
“We noticed Big Ben and we solely ever noticed Big Ben on the telly. But we began residing a horrible life. It wasn’t residing. It was surviving. We have been residing in a squat with no electrical. I used to be sleeping on a unclean mattress and waking up as a result of I used to be chilly. We would go to the outlets and steal bacon as a result of now we have no selection.
“We had no friends, no connections, no work. My two friends gave up and went home. I didn’t give up. I’m a tough man.”
He made a connection who urged a transfer to Liverpool and Krajevskij received work on a farm in Southport.
“It was hard work and pressure,” he stated. “I have a nasty boss who say: ‘If you don’t work harder, don’t bother coming in tomorrow.’ It was seasonal work and after two months, I was left without work, without any money.”
Krajevskij received a job at a well-liked low cost retailer and rediscovered boxing.
“I did a little bit in my country,” he stated. “I had a friend who lived on my street who won the Lithuanian title twice. He said: ‘Come to the gym with me.’ It was nothing serious. I was young. There were parties. There were girls…”
Wayne Smith was a neighbour after Krajevskij moved to Liverpool and he planted the seed a few return to boxing.
Krajevskij went on the white-collar circuit and stated: “I used to be incomes £100-£150 and I received a title.
“It was Mickey Mouse, but I was a champion. I won 27 of 28 fights and someone told me I should try amateur boxing.”
He received 4 of six after which ran into ex-pro Shea Neary.
He advised Krajevskij: “You’re a tough man, amateur boxing doesn’t pay your bills. You should be a journeyman.”
Krajevskij answered: “What’s a journeyman?”
He came upon the arduous means.
“I was thinking: ‘What’s wrong?’” he stated. “I win unlicensed fights and newbie fights and now I’m shedding.
“I understood they were a different level. They had been boxing since they were six or seven years old. They have better skills. If you’re not fit enough, you can go to the gym and work on your fitness, but they were just better than me.”
Krajevskij has caught at it – and received his rewards when he beat Broten.
“It’s been a long journey and people say I should be proud of myself,” stated Krajevksij, who works for a safety agency run by ex-pro Stephen Harkin.
“I will be proud when I have a house and a mortgage. That’s my target.”
Krajevskij in motion
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