Fight Of The Week

Last Friday's Any Questions (RealAudio) was the most tremendous slugging match since the first Roberto Duran / Sugar Ray Leonard contest.

Despite the presence of Oliver 'Civilised' Letwin and the great Frank 'The Unthinkable' Field, whom I would much rather see as Prime Minister than Letwin, the big fight was when Professor Colleen 'The Truth' Graffy of Republicans Abroad went toe to toe with 'Gorgeous' George Galloway over 30 minutes.

Last time I'd heard Colleen Graffy on the BBC, she'd been blitzed and humiliated by Tony 'The Mad Mullah' Benn, aided by some terrible refereeing by John 'Biased' Humphrys. This time she traded blows at close range, frequently sparking intervention by referee David 'Fearful' Dimbleby.

The BBC have a transcript. Sample :

DIMBLEBY George Galloway.

GALLOWAY Well the biggest man of violence is George W. Bush. [CLAPPING] [BOOS] George Bush and Tony Blair launched an illegal war on a pack of lies that killed a hundred thousand people - how violent is that? How violent is that?

DIMBLEBY Colleen Graffy.

GRAFFY With all due - let me rephrase that - let's be clear - the Respect Party is the electoral front for the Socialist Workers Party, the Socialist [AUDIENCE NOISE] Look it up, look it up. The Socialist Workers Party was not anti war, the Socialist Workers Party ...

DIMBLEBY Hold on, hold on, let Colleen Graffy finish.

GALLOWAY Why don't you deal with the question.

GRAFFY The Socialist Workers Party ...

DIMBLEBY Let Colleen answer it in her own way, then you can answer her point in your own way.

GRAFFY And let's remind ourselves that Mr Galloway was not kicked out of the Labour Party because he was speaking out against the war, he was kicked out because he was actively inciting the foreign troops to shoot at US and American soldiers and he was also kicked out - look it up - and he was also kicked out ....

DIMBLEBY Hold it - hold it ...

GRAFFY... because you were inciting British soldiers to disobey their commanders.

DIMBLEBY Colleen Graffy that is a - George Galloway must be allowed to - we'll go to the more general point but you must have the opportunity to answer that specific precise allegation.

GALLOWAY It really would be better if we stuck to the issues instead of libelling each other because [CLAPPING] ...

DIMBLEBY And let it be said that the BBC just wishes to clarify when people make statements of that kind and we should not seek or in effect reluctantly libel anyone.

GRAFFY If I recall my libel law it requires ...

DIMBLEBY Yeah, well let's not go there...

GRAFFY... lower in the eyes of ...

DIMBLEBY Let's - let's - can I come back - Colleen Graffy - Colleen Graffy - Colleen Graffy ...

If I recall correctly, Professor Graffy actually said "If I recall my libel law it requires that a person's reputation be lowered .." - seeming to imply that George's couldn't get any lower.

Great stuff. I was exhausted just listening to it.

Note - the 1980 Duran/Leonard fight, the 'Brawl In Montreal', remains the best boxing match I've ever watched. Leonard was the champion with everything - the skills, the moves and he could punch. A wonderful boxer and the favourite. Duran was a Panamanian slugger who'd moved up from lightweight.
From the first bell Duran threw himself at Leonard. I was never sure if the cultured Leonard was so confident that he was happy to slug it out rather than stand clear and box, or whether he simply couldn't find a way to get clear of Duran, whose aggression I've never seen matched. Throughout the fight Leonard was obviously the better boxer, and I wondered when Duran would run out of steam and be put away. But Duran stayed in his face for 15 incredible rounds and won a close decision on points.

(In the rematch Leonard stayed clear and boxed Duran all over the ring till he threw in the towel. But he'd staked his place in boxing legend).

UPDATE - more on Ms Graffy here.