CONTINUED FROM ABOVE

5) HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING AND BRITAIN NEEDS IT

Boxing has been through a bunch of shit this past 12 months. The heavyweight divsion in particular is a mess. 3 champions, 2 are brothers and won't fight each other, 1 is a guy who lives in fucking Cyprus and doesn't want to fight the two brothers, the rest have all been beaten by one of the three other guys....except for Audley Harrison. He is not only big enough to be perceived as a threat, he has that bit of class in and out of the ring which boxing needs. That little bit of confidence to capture crowds as he dazzles them with his super white teeth and gradient smile. That little bit of adversity he has had to overcome, time and time again, to finally get to be in contention for a world title shot.


He also has his fair share of detractors, but he is a name and like him or not people still talk about him, and have done for the past ten years. Audley Harrison is what the heavyweight division needs, and win or lose, his fight with Haye HAS to happen because the scenario after it makes a showdown with the Klitschkos that little bit more appealing, and necessary. If David Haye wins, which mostly British people think he will, he has beaten a big 6 foot 6 18 stone muscular banger who, physique wise, resembles a Klitschko. They won't say he is too small if he beats Harrison (forget Valuev, different ball game entirely). If he does beat Audley, he has absolutely no one else to fight. He just simply must fight a Klitschko brother by the end of the year...


Now, if Audley Harrison wins, it will go down in the record books as the single greatest comeback off all time. Audley Harrison will have beaten a fast, hard punching, younger champion when everyone said he could not do it. The Americans want him to win, because they dislike David Haye because, well because he is David Haye. The British fans in general don't want him to win, because they don't want to have to face up to the fact that they are crabs in a bucket. They want him to fail so they can feel better about themselves. Britian, let's face it, is a shit country. The weather is depressing, the government is oppressing, and the queen is German. The country is in a bad state, and it mirrors heavyweight boxing in a way where it is divided, without a clear outcome at the end of a treacherous period in its time.



We as boxing fans, as a nation, are scared and disillusioned so that we cannot see what is right in front of our very eyes, something that is special and precious and has all the makings to be a classic. We have been thrown stinkers in the past, dealt bad hands in politics, in football, and every, almost, every heavyweight fight has been a stinker for years on end. We don't want to be duped again, get our hopes up for a clash which might never came off, or if it does will stink the joint out, or erode in corruption. A fight between too British heavyweights, one who deserves a title shot more than Danny Williams ever did, more than Leon Spinks ever did, more than Buster Douglas ever did. Between two heavy punchers with less than iron jaws, one who simply has to perform because he cannot live with himself if he doesn't, one who is so driven and determined that against all odds he has come back to get where he is, simply is good for boxing, and good for Great Britain.



IN CLOSING


Destiny is a powerful thing. Somewhere in all of us is the potential to create a reality where we can be happy, healthy, 5 foot 5 or more inches tall, and fulfilled in a non-gay way. We can focus on the negative if we choose, and we do often choose because it is constantly drilled into us that we are not infinite potential, bombarded into us nonstop by TV, by friends, by a gloomy grey sky. Yes, he has lost, he has come back only to lose again, he has been ridiculed, thrown a side, over looked, yet after ten years of this a little spark in Audley Harrison remained, which said quietly "Audley Harrison will become world champion."



My friends, that little spark grew into a flame, which in turn developed into a blazing fire that is going to become an all conquering furnace of desire and greatness. For once in a long time we have a legitimate rivalry, something to celebrate, talk about with friends and strangers alike, a rivalry between a man on top of his game and the man who never quiet achieved what he should have and because of that we resent him, because each of us knows inside that for whatever reason we have not achieved what we could have achieved, both individually and collectively. Quite simply, Audley Harrison MUST get a title shot against David Haye, and we Brits can all join hands together, in a non-gay way, as we watch perhaps the final moments of the career of Audley Harrison, or the beginning of something which we can all admire and be proud to say we were apart of. If Audley Harrison cam overcome all of the obstacles he has had to, self inflicted or not, then so can each and every one of us.



All together people "YES WE CAN!"


Yours in manliness,
Fantana