Shocking Saturday Sees Shuffling Of UK Heavyweight Deck

Without a doubt, the Sunday morning headlines heralding Saturday night’s fight results in England contained rather unexpected phrases as Audley Harrison once again managed to pull a Lazarus while David Price proved to be the mountain that couldn’t.

Harrison had been selected to participate in the latest Prizefighter heavyweight competition, which was a surprising move from the event’s promoters, as the now 41 year old southpaw was coming off remarkably bad showings in two recent high profile bouts, KO losses against David Haye and David Price.

Audley had seemingly froze in a 2010 WBA title challenge against Haye, most likely wary of the champion’s stunning power, which ended Harrison’s lone world title shot at just 1:53 of the first round.

Which could explain why Harrison went directly at Price in 2012, charging the British champion with uncharacteristic aggression but the result was the same as the Haye fight, with the former Olympic hero getting gunned down midway through the first frame.

But given what happened to Price last night in Liverpool, maybe Harrison was on the right track after all.

Back to Audley. It really isn’t surprising that he’d been previously successful in the Prizefighter format, winning a 2009 tournament, as the three round setting obviously served him well in the amateur ranks and it obviously doesn’t make the same demands on a 41 year old fighter as a 12 rounder.

The fighters lining up in London against “A-Force” last night weren’t in the same league as Haye, or Price for that matter, but when Harrison showed up at the weigh-in 20 pounds lighter than his heyday as WBF titlist, it was definitely an indicator that the career underachiever was motivated this time around.

It didn’t take long for Harrison to show that he meant business, stamping his authority all over the York Hall, making Elemental out of Switzerland’s Claus Bertino at just 0:33 of the first round.

Next up was Irish tough guy Martin Rogan, who had surprisingly upset Harrison back in 2008. This time, however, the Belfast cabbie wasn’t able to come to grips with Audley, who boxed well on the way to a 30-27 win on all three cards.

In the Prizefighter final, Harrison would tangle with America’s Derric Rossy, who had gotten there by turning back both Travis Walker and Ian Lewiston in three round split decisions.

Audley showed that he still has a gleam of the sparkle that carried him Olympic gold by not only outboxing Rossy but producing two knockdowns enroute to a second round stoppage victory.

Prizefighter tournament win number two means that Harrison will be around a little while longer, and while that would previously haven been an unwelcome state of affairs to long suffering British boxing fans, perhaps this newly inspired Audley can make use of this ninth life.

David Price. The next big thing. The man who had been tipped to take over from the Klitschko brothers…until he ran into an awkward right hand from American southpaw Tony Thompson.

As happens as a matter of course in the sport, Thompson had been brought in as a stepping stone. Ideally as a vehicle for the towering Scouser to KO quicker than Wladimir Klitschko had pulled off on two previous occasions, most recently a six round finishing in Thompson’s most recent bout in July of last year.

Thompson must, without question, be congratulated on his rising to the occasion. He was facing a younger, taller, more powerful punching opponent that literally no one gave him a hope in hell of defeating, in the other guy’s back yard, the Echo Arena in Liverpool, and he never once flinched.

Price started off the contest with the right perspective, pressing Thompson and looking for a place to sink in that massive right hand but the American sensed the stiffness of Price’s approach and started the best shake and bake that could be expected from a questionably conditioned 41 year old lumbering heavyweight.

The Englishman managed to plant a few hard right hands on Thompson but the eventual downfall of Liverpool’s favorite son could be attributed to the lack of confidence he showed with his left.

Price possesses a hard, accurate jab but against Thompson, that punch rarely saw the light of day as the left was mainly employed as a parrying device for any efforts Thompson threw, which weren’t many, and not as a tool to create opening for Price’s pole-axe right hand.

Thompson simply bade his time through the first round and carried that relaxed attitude through the early part of the second before managing to hit Price with a short right hook at the base of the ear during a close quarters, awkward looking exchange, causing the Liverpudlian to immediately collapse to the canvas.

It was a rather unlikely looking shot to produce an instantaneous knockdown but Price had missed a punch of his own and was off balance, never seeing Thompson’s right coming before it struck in a sensitive location.

Once he fell, Price was clearly in dire straits. It took a monumental effort to regain his feet and once upright, the British champion seemed to be made of rubber as he fought disorientation to keep from falling back down.

Referee Steve Gray wisely stopped the fight at 2:17 of the second.

Post-fight, Thompson wasted no time in calling out Price’s British rival, former British, Irish and Commonwealth champ Tyson Fury, no doubt looking to cash in on the lucrative possibilities that such a pairing would produce either in Manchester or Dublin.

Fury is scheduled to meet Steve Cunningham in an IBF eliminator at New York’s Madison Square Garden in April, so a fight with Thompson probably won’t happen unless Fury loses.

Regardless, what was before this weekend the most mouth watering clash in Britain; Tyson Fury vs. David Price, is, much like a prospective Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao bout, probably gone with the wind.