Audley Gets His Shot
Written By: Jamie Hooper
I generally don’t tell people this, but I have followed Audley Harrisons professional career since the Sydney Olympics ten years ago. It’s a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, we all have them, for example I have ‘ Aba’s Greatest Hits’ on my ipod – I don’t tell anyone that either-. As he approaches 40 years old, we are looking at the final ‘last chance saloon’. I think this is his third or fourth last chance saloon he has had.
When Frank Warren thru him a life line against the rugged Irishman Martin Rogan, most people would have said that losing that fight would distinguish the remaining glowing embers of his career. This offering by Frank Warren was a Trojan horse in my opinion, Warren hated Audley, mainly for self promoting (And a few other things). I think he new Audley wasn’t ready mentally for a fight with Rogan, leading to an embarrassing defeat by a relatively unknown boxer.
Luckily for Audley, Rogan went on to demolish Matt Skelton making his own defeat by Rogan not look as bad. In the eye’s of every boxing fan the A-force was now a spent A-force. Audley Harrison stopped being the much talked about joke of British Heavy weight boxing, to simple being not much talked about. He sloped quietly off to Jamaica where he kept himself ticking over in the hope that some kind of opportunity would present its self. I didn’t really expect to hear from Audley again. With David Haye bulking up to take on the Heavy weight division, Audley was irrelevant now anyway.
Barry Hearns announced his boxing tournament concept ‘Prize Fighter’ and his intention of kicking it off with a crop of British Heavy weights. Audley was invited to participate,the embers started glowing again. Audely accepted mainly to get a chance of revenge over the devastating knock out he suffered by Michael Sprott. Word gets out that Audley is taking part, then out comes Danny Williams, fighting to get revenge over his previous defeat against Audley. They say revenge is pointless, but when looking for competitors for a new tournament its actually quite handy.
Prize Fighter didn’t really meet its potential that night, Sprott withdrew and Williams crashed out after a rather bizarre start to his first fight. Audley was then left to fight some unknown UK heavies, winning Prize Fighter and once again putting himself back in the spotlight. At this point I don’t even believe the often deluded Harrison would believe how lucky he was about to get.
With the very effective Eddie Hearns as his new promoter, Audley got a shot at the European title against title holder Sosnowski. Sosnowski vacated the title to fight Vitali Klitscho for his WBC title. This lead to Audley fighting Michael Sprott for the vacant EBU belt.
“Adversity is my friend and my heart is as big as anyone’s out there. Lightning will not strike twice.”
Audley on his fight with sprott
I thought Sprott would win this one. Sprott has been active over the years, as a sparring partner for the Klitscho’s. As the fight unfolded, we all thought we were watching the same old Audley, he wasn’t throwing punches just spoiling as if the aim wasn’t to win but just go the distance. It soon became apparent that Audley was actually injured and was fighting Sprott one handed. This was a brave display by Audley as Sprott was coming on strong trying to close the show. There was no ominous sign that lead to it, it took me and everyone watching by complete surprise, Audley throw a massive looping left hook that caught Sprott cleanly on the chin and down he went. So in the space of six months Audley had gone from the heavyweight scrap yard to holding the European boxing union title, which is a decent platform to start a world title fight campaign.
“He showed bravery of such a high and unexpected order that he finally backed his claims to a world title”. Jeff Powell Daily Mail
That takes us right up to the present day. Now in all likely-hood Audley Harrison will challenge David Haye for his WBA title. So after ten years Audley finally gets his chance of winning a world title. Does he deserve a title shot? No of course he doesn’t. Maybe after defeating a couple of top ten heavyweights, a title shot would be more deserving.
Unlike almost every other boxing fan and writers, I am actually looking forward to it. Most people are seeing it as the panto season starting yearly this year. Personally if Haye isn’t going to be fighting a Klitscho this year then why not Audely. I guess your all saying because Haye should face a top ten ranked fighter. You would be correct, he should be, for one I don’t want Haye in with any high risk opponent until he get a Klitscho fight.
Harrison Vs Haye
So how does this fight pan out. Haye is basically the polar opposite of Harrison. They both promote themselves, Haye does it successfully Harrison fails. They both big themselves up, Haye walks the walk, Harrison rather embarrassingly falls over. Haye is 100% committed and this shows in his conditioning and preparation for bouts. Harrison is 100% committed but this doesn’t show in his conditioning and preparation for bouts. Haye’s fights are often explosive and exciting, Harrison’s fights are often dull and boring snooze fests.
The most likely outcome of this fight will be a 5th or 6th round knock out victory for Haye. Audely’s jab and reach advantage should be enough to keep him safe in the early rounds, remember these two guys have done many rounds of sparring together back when they were buddies. Audley simply hasn’t done enough boxing at the top level to keep the explosive Haye off him for more than 5 or 6 rounds.
The most likely outcome isn’t always what you get in boxing. Audley does have the power and accuracy to knock Haye out – this could happen. Haye hasn’t exactly got a granite chin. As small as his chance maybe, Harrison could shock the boxing world still.
