What went wrong for Audley Harrison as a pro?

You remember No-Heart Anthony?

 

Scared to get hit.

 

Quite simply, he didn't like being hit. No bull****.

 

It's not simply that, I'd say Wlad is also genuinely scared of being hit, he just isn't a mental midget along with it.

It takes a special breed of person and a number of different, hard to bring together circumstances to create a person who so utterly squanders their talent

Almost as much as it does to create a champion

 

"he had all the talent and slickness".

Oh, hell no he didn't.

 

I think the beginning was his deal with BBC. He got 1 milion pounds for his first 10 fights, and at that time it looked like he will get even better deal after that. So, instead of being hungry, he just started fighting bums, and in a couple of years he got so used to that he lost the first time he met tougher opponent like Danny Williams.

 

audley could still do pretty well against vitali

 

He gave Haye hell!

 

1. He chose to manage him self.
2. The BBC threw multiple millions at him right off the bat.
3. He should of been with a decent trainer from the start as a Pro, Emmanuel Steward would of been perfect for Audley.

 

Hell of an easy payday?

 

I think harrison was a very good heavyweight, he won an olympic medal in a games that included Calvin Brock and samuel Peter, as well as alexei lezin (who had defeated both klitschkos and valuev in the amateurs). He also had the size and physical attributes to be a success.
However, he was almost thirty by the time he turned pro and spent 5 years facing very low caliber opposition. So by the time he was beginning to face good opposition to really give him a chance to develop he was 35, his speed and stamina etc is now past its best, but he is without the experience the likes of vitali, holyfield, wlad, lewis had at this age in order to allow him to be successful at 35 and over.
Thats why I think he failed to have a big impact as a pro his best years weren't spent fighting the top level, they were spent in the amateurs and building a record against bums.
Had he turned pro at a much younger age and had a quicker career progression things may have been different

 

Yeah but Haye threw punches. You can see Audley Harrison trying to get himself to find the stones to throw a punch against Haye. He's just like "you can do this, Audley", and he couldn't.

 

I remember Steve Bunce saying Audley was the future of heavyweight boxing and none of the Klitschkos would get in his way.Like Buncey but can never forget that one!