Round Up: Requiem for a heavyweight disappointment

The rotten corpse of Audley Harrison's career was finally found, mangled and battered in a ring in Manchester. A baying, booing, lustful crowd his only mourners.

In three rounds, which amounted to little more than a minute of actual action, all of it from the defending WBA heavyweight champion David Haye, save for one jab, Audley was finally divested of any shreds of dignity he could have about his professional boxing career in a public autopsy which revealed once and for all his lack of as Barry McGuigan once put it 'intestinal fortitude.'

Audley is and will ever remain a rather enigmatic figure. Never has any fighter I can think of, (I challenge anyone else to do the same) demonstrated such unshakeable self belief before a fight, despite the evidential fights in their career, been as convincing a talker where the public are concerned, and yet on each occasion they fought, shown so little in ring.

I don't personally believe that Audley went into that contest thinking he was going to lose. He had clearly been crying moments before the post fight interview in his dressing room. Tear streaks were evident down his face. Audley cut a folorn, abject figure. Here clearly was a man who had believed he was going to fulfill his much proferred destiny, only to be reminded in the most brutal terms just how fallacious his perception really was. The fact that he flew over his partner and child to witness the debacle suggests he went in there with the intent, if not the ability to win.

I thought there was a very telling incident during the first pre-fight press conference for the fight, an event when many were impressed with Audleys focus and seeming determination, but failed to see that beneath the self belief, there was little else to suggest he had the capacity to formulate a way to win.

Audley suggested that at 'some point' (not the vagueness even here), his rather overstated left hook would land on Haye and turn out the lights. However, Haye's telling counterpoint; that he knew all about Audley's left hand, having sparred him on many occasions and that his own right was quicker, left Audley flummoxed, and the only answers he could proffer when quizzed how he overcome this, were 'wait and see' and 'it's my destiny.'

Destiny doesn't win fights, fighters create their destinies with punches and defensive skills. Audley exhibited neither against Haye.

There are those now who choose to, or perhaps even want to, believe that the whole fight was a fix, that the two men colluded to provide such an unedifying spectacle to the british public. These are commonly the same people who bizzarely gave Audley more than the slimmest of chances of landing the bingo punch that would end Haye's reign as WBA champion.

The truth of the matter is that Audley was, as was to be expected by any rational follower of the sport, completely outclassed and had no business being in the ring in the first place. Harrisons two best victories over Williams and Sprott, have to be taken with a large dose of salt. Not only had he lost to both men before rematches, but Williams was a spent and disinterested force for their second fight, and Sprott was well on his way to winning the second fight before the hail mary left hook landed, and furthermore, had crushed Harrison with a single left hook of his own in their first fight. Winning prize fighter is not, and should not be a foil to garnering a world title shot against a world heavyweight title holder.

I question anyone who believes that Audley would not only willingly subject himself to the battering he took on the ropes before going to the canvas, but then get up to receive more heavy blows to the head. Haye is clearly a murderous puncher, and Audley would have been forgiven, if for little else, then for staying down for the count. The fact he chose to rise, and fight on, just marks out his incredible self delusion in an even starker light. Bravery? In this case his actions were more foolhardy, as he simply did not have the tools to survive the round. 

Audley would claim post fight than his game plan was being executed. I would love to sit and speak with his training team and see if they support his view. Surely no trainer of any repute, would advise any fighter getting into the ring, against someone as aggresive, fast handed, and powerful a puncher as Haye, to throw no punches of any conviction, cede the centre of the ring, and then cover up on the ropes and allow their opponent to tee off at will? His lack of nous even extended to not covering up effectively, or holding when hurt. Whatever game plan was established pre-fight, simply evaporated as soon as Haye's first successful assault landed. Audley's inherent fear of being hit abnegated any sensible course of action.

It is lamentable that as tragic a figure as Audley was ever given the opportunity to share the ring with Haye. I do feel, that despite his most woeful and pathetic (in the true sense of the word) of efforts, Audley is a man more to be pitied than reviled. I will be very glad to see him retire, as his fights have provided more frustration and boredom than entertainment. It is hard to forgive Audley for being the man who almost single handedly turned the BBC off professional boxing. I can still remember the embarassment I felt when I invited several friends round to watch his big first 'fight' with Danny Williams, only for them to hurl a string of unrepeatable expletives at the screen for a few rounds, before commencing to talk among themselves for the remainder of the action deprived bout.

However, the truth is, Audley probably never should have turned professional. The paid ranks didn't offer him the cosseted almost semi-contact nature of the amateur game, which suited him so well. Even outclassed opponents fire back with mean intent and there's the risk of being involved in what amounts to something equating to an actual fight. This was something Audley simply could not brook as a professional, and sought to avoid at all costs. Agaisnt Haye, as against Sprott, Rogan and to a lesser extent Dominic Guinn, he was in against opponents not at all fazed by his physical presence and gold medal credentials, and in each case, to varying degrees he was punished by their lack of respect.

Audley has probably already made several times what I will earn in a lifetime, but I personally would not want to be him this morning, and possibly for the rest of his life. What he does in his life outside of professional boxing, is likely to determine his future happiness, because in the final analysis, his career has been a heavy dissapointment of valuevian proportions.