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A year on from Audley Harrison’s first professional defeat against Danny Williams, the 2000 Olympic Super Heavyweight Gold Medallist returns to London’s Excel Arena to battle toughman Matt Skelton for the Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship.
Many people, myself included, are surprised that this matchup is taking place. On December 10, 2005 Harrison was humbled in a lacklustre matchup against fellow Londoner Danny Williams, losing on points and also suffering his first knockdown as a professional.
Since that defeat, things haven’t gone better for “A Force”. Another defeat followed against Dominick Guinn after 10 poor rounds in April. Harrison has since chalked up his first win of the year against journeyman Andrew Greely, who he dispatched in three rounds in June. Now comes another major test.
At 6 foot 5, Audley is a perfectly proportioned heavyweight. He has fast hands, a good boxing brain and for opponents, an awkward southpaw style.
Since winning Gold in Sydney, the critics have labeled his progress as pedestrian. One cannot argue with that when you consider another Olympic Champion, Lennox Lewis, was European Champion within a year of turning pro, British Champion within a year and a half and Commonwealth Champion within two and a half years. He reached the summit of becoming a world champion after only four years as a pro.
In five years as a pro, Harrison has fought 22 times, losing twice and is yet to win his first pro title. He is competing in a heavyweight division that arguably is at its weakest in years. The comparisons between the two Olympic Champions, although harsh, are very true.
The main criticism of Harrison has been that Audley hasn’t backed up any of his claims. Think about when he turned pro back in 2001, he was boasting that he would win a British title within five fights and do that by beating Danny Williams. He’s done neither. Now its the last chance saloon.
Its conceivable that Harrison is taking this fight simply because he has nowhere else to go. Its a high risk fight, but one that he simply has to take. There’s still a chance that if he wins this, he could get a world title fight.
One thing is for certain, come December 9, Harrison will be in a fight. Matt Skelton is certainly no respecter of names and reputations and must be eyeing a title fight himself. After all, he reportedly declined a chance of a world title bout to take this Harrison match.
For Audley, there’s no more excuses. Far from being an Audley basher, I’ve always been a believer. He has all the tools be heavyweight champion’ now’s the time to show it.
