By Peter Silkov
Photo Source: topnews.in
Courage comes in many guises. In some fighters courage is obvious.
They engage in confrontations, which excite and seem to relish the
fights where they are hurt, cut or knocked down. These men seem to enjoy
taking punches, after all its what they chose to do for a living. In
other fighters, courage is a little harder to define. Indeed, some
Boxers do not seem so courageous at all. Some aren’t adapt at going toe
to toe in fights, they do not get off the floor to win. There are also
those fighters who even seem a little afraid when they fight. The eyes
tell the story. Wide and unfocused, the lips twitching and dry. To be
afraid is natural in boxing, but to show that fear nakedly in the ring,
is the biggest taboo. Over the course of his twelve year professional
career, Audley Harrison has emerged as the latter fighter. He does not
fight like a boxer who enjoys being hit. Audley doesn’t have that poker
face of a warrior, when taking fistic punishment. He often visibly
flinches when taking punches and he has never taken a punch that well.
It’s fair to say that Harrisons pro career, which began amid much
fanfare and a bumper one million pounds ten fight contract with the BBC,
has been a failure. Indeed at times it has been an embarrassment, in
that it has fallen so far short of what was once promised. Once feted
for his Gold medal triumph at the 2000 Olympic Games, Audley has become a
largely derisory figure within boxing circles, especially in Britain,
where he is arguably the most unpopular boxer of his era. One title
which he certainly didn’t hope for at the beginning of his career. The
old adage that the British love a good loser, has never rung true for
Harrison.
When did things begin to go sour for Audley?. By his own admission
turning professional with such a huge price tag upon his opening ten
fights was a huge mistake, in that it placed unrealistic expectations on
’A-Force’. Part of the problem stems from the fact that Audley has
always been a technical ’boxer’ rather than a rugged ’fighter’ like most
fans prefer their fighters to be, especially their Heavyweights. The
hit and not get hit style which won Audley Olympic honours, does not sit
so well in the rough and tumble of the pro ranks.
When it became clear that Audley was not going to be the second coming
of the big punching 80s and 90s fan favourite Frank Bruno, or even the
technically superior, but less popular Lennox Lewis, the BBC pulled the
plug on Audley.
Having remained unbeaten up until this point, all be it
unimpressively to the public at large, Harrison’s career went into a
tailspin after the loss of his contract with the BBC and the resulting
collapse of his own promotional company. Harrison would later state this
as being a point where he lost confidence in himself and certainly his
ring performances at this time, bare this out.
Points losses to domestic rival Danny Williams, and American Dominick
Guinn saw Harrison truly lose his way, and his career has never really
regained its composure since this time. A boxing public which had been
apathetic and disappointed with Harrison, became widely hostile, after
he was knocked out in the 3rd round by Michael Sprott. The best known
secret about Harrison was out, Audley’s reticence at taking punches had
good reason. He has no chin.
Since the Sprott defeat, Audley has largely been ridiculed, and seen
his once proud nick-name A-Force morphed into A-Farce and his first name
rechristened Fraudly by ‘fans‘. It is difficult to think of a fighter
who has endured more public abuse in recent times. There have been some
brief career resurgences for Harrison, when it looked as if he might
finally live up to some of his earlier promise. These include Harrison
winning the popular ’Prizefighter’ competition twice, and the European
Heavyweight title, against former conqueror Michael Sprott in 2010.
But the resurgences have always led to further humiliations for Audley.
After winning ‘Prizefighter’ for the first time, then coming from behind
to knockout Sprott for the European title, Harrison was stopped in 3
rounds by David Haye, a fight in which he landed just one punch.
Another come back win led to Audley facing David Price last year, and
being stopped in the first round. Again Harrison had to face a glut of
public criticism, and calls for him to retire. The calls for Audleys
retirement seem to be made not so much out of public worry for his
welfare, but rather generate from the genuine dislike much of the public
has for Harrison. If courage is to be measured by the amount of abuse a
person can endure and still stand by their belief in themselves, then
Audley is indeed a courageous individual. Not to mention, also a very
stubborn one. Through all the tumultuous ups and downs, and
disappointments of his career, Audley has continued stating his belief
that he will fulfil his dreams of one day winning the worlds heavyweight
championship. Fanciful as these boasts are, they have only served to
attract more virulence and ridicule for Harrison from the boxing public.
It has been both Audley’s gift and his curse, that as a professional,
he has always been able to talk a far better fight out of the ring than
he can deliver inside it. And yet, it is difficult not to hold some
respect for the sheer stubbornness and resilience that Audley has
displayed in the face of such continued negativity towards himself in
recent years. Many, would have given up and gone away into obscurity
long ago. After his loss to Price last October, in just a round, few
believed that Audley would be seen inside a boxing ring again, at least
not as a boxer. Then in February, Harrison wrong footed his critics
again by winning ’Prizefighter’ for the second time. It is no
coincidence that former Olympian Audley does so well in the
’Prizefighter’ format of fighting three round fights, and this very
success underlines his shortcomings as a professional. However he still
managed to impress to some degree in this latest comeback, if only for
the sheer unexpectedness of it for most people. This interest has
resulted in Audley landing his fight with Deontay Wilder, a fight which
surely, is the last chance for the now forty one year old Harrison to
get anywhere near to the top of the Heavyweight division.
Wilder is 6 feet 7 and at 27 years of age is 14 years Harrisons
junior. With an unbeaten 27-0 record, (all by knockout), Wilder has been
hailed by some as the saviour of the American heavyweights, and perhaps
the future of the division itself. However his opposition has been
carefully picked out for him and Audley for all his flaws, is in many
ways the first real ’test’ that the ’Bronze Bomber’ has faced.
However, despite the limitations of his opposition up till now, there
seems to be little doubt that Wilder can punch, and punch hard. With
this in mind, this fight is a courageous match for Audley to take,
especially at this point in his career when there might well have been
some easier options. It is very much an all or nothing fight for
Harrison, win and he will have gained probably the best victory of his
career, and will go right back up into contention, lose, and it’s the
end of the line.
In many ways it is a brave fight for both men to take. For Wilder, a
defeat against Harrison would be a calamitous set back from which his
career might never recover.
Despite all his flaws, Audley can punch. As he has shown on occasion
when the mood takes him, such as in what was probably his best
performance to date, when with an injured shoulder, and behind on
points, he knocked out Michael Sprott with one punch from his good arm,
to win the European title in 2010. It was a performance that showed
Audley in a new light. Yet in his next outing he was humiliated by David
Haye.
If anything, Audley seems to be playing down his chances of causing
any kind of upset in this fight, admitting to having had the worse of it
when he sparred with Wilder shortly before his debacle against David
Price. Indeed there has been discussion over whether Audleys hard
sparring with Wilder served to soften him up for Price.
Even with all his undoubted technical ability and experience, it is
unlikely that Audley will be able to avoid Wilders bombs for the full
distance of their fight. Harrisons only hope of victory looks to be to
try and expose a flaw in Wilders own chin, and try and end the fight
early. Whether the usually counterpunching and ultra cautious Harrison
can bring himself to fight in such a way remains to be seen, and holds
the key to perhaps what is left of his career.
How this fight goes depends a lot on how much Audley really believes
inside that he can win. Perhaps the best he is hoping for is to go down
fighting, in this, his last chance at glory, and to silence the critics
with a brave final stand.
Sometimes the most courageous thing a person can do is walk towards certain defeat with hands raised and head unbowed.
Originally published at The Boxing Tribune 4-8-2013
http://theboxingtribune.com/2013/04/redemption-or-oblivion-for-a-force-harrison/
Copyright © 2013 The Boxing Glove, Inc. Peter Silkov Art. All Rights Reserved.
Peter Silkov contributes to
www.theboxingglove.com and
www.theboxingtribune.com
