Respect to Audley Harrison

Dear Jim'll,

I write to you in the hope that you can one day find me a true fighters heart and desire, and a much better chin please.

I often speak of these things to line my own pockets at the expense of boxing fans but if you could get them for me in real life I would be eternally grateful and can offer you some of "daddies special cuddles" in return.

Much love,

Audley

 

What a load of rubbish.

 

Haye was angry and annoyed that he had to reduce himself to fighting Harrison to please Sky and make the most £££ he could. After the fight Haye was complimentary about him and spoke out against the BBBoC with holding his purse for his lameness.

 

If Audley retires from the game and brings out a book about his highs a nd lows it would be a great read.

It would be good to read his side on alot of the dissapointments he had in the pros,and how he dragged himself up from being wrote off numerous times.

You can find fault in Audley, as you can with anyone. But you cant fault him for having a go, failing badly,and coming back.

The pro game wasnt for him.But he gave it a go and made some money,good luck to him.
Olympic gold is a hell of an achievment

 

I think the argument though is that he never really did "give it a go" as in went out on his shield swinging. He either got KO'd having not landed/thrown a punch a la Price and Haye or just stank the place out like Williams 1 or was simply too scared to engage in a fight and was beaten by far lesser skilled fighters like Rogan.

His book would just be more cliche'd rubbish akin to his recent interview on Boxnation before the Price fight. He banged on about the level of expectation and how he had to be main event on the BBC "for the grandma's" and even defended his choice of early opponents. Not once did he put his hands up and admit that he took the easiest fights possible whilst milking the "I'll be world champion" line to the fullest and not delivering.

It was all someone else's fault, we expected too much, the boxing game is full of snakes, his injuries, fights coming at the wrong time etc.

Even now he has never admitted that he simply lacks the fighters heart and desire and pride, he actually thinks he is some sort of misunderstood enigma with the heart of a lion that didn't get the respect they deserved.

He should go into politics.

 

I've always liked Audley, I first saw him in the Olympics and can still remember the excitment that his professional debut against the American Mike Middleton generated.

He has caused me no end of disappointment with his lacklustre performances and his failure to fulfil the potential that his undoubted ability promised.

Despite the many setbacks he has always kept trying, and if it is for nothing else than surely he deserves recognition for that.

He is an amazing salesman, despite his consistent failure to perform in the fashion that his pre-fight hype has promised he has continued to draw a good audience and find himself in 'big' fights.

I of course respect any man (or woman) who steps into the ring, and only a fool would deny that his career has actually been very sucessful, an Olympic gold medal, a European title and a shot at the World title.

And let us not forget the effect his gold medal win had on the future of amateur boxing in this country, the excitement and interest that was generated following his unexpected win played no small part in the massive increase in funding and resources that eventually went on to give us the success we have had today.

It is no exageration to say that without Audley Harrison there is a very good chance we would not have many of our best prospects now, not least David Price, and we would almost certainly not have had the amazing success in the recent Olympics.

I would be most interested to see just how many of those fools who booed him on Saturday night could claim to have achieved anywhere near what he has in their lifes.

I would also like to see how many of them would firstly step into the ring with a giant like David Price and then take those punches that finished Audley off.

I'm not going to overreact and say that David Price is the best heavyweight in the world or the 'next' Lennox Lewis based on that performance; however I will say that I have been watching boxing for most of my life, over 25 years, I have literally thousands of fights on DVD and particularly enjoy the heavyweights, it is a VERY long time since I have seen such spiteful power as David Price hit Audley Harrison with.

I actually found the knockout 'sickening', something I haven't really seen much since the days of a prime Mike Tyson.

Like I said I'm not getting carried away yet, but those punches would have knocked just about anyone out, including in my opinion the Klitschko's (or Wladimir at least!), so there is absolutely no shame in Audley getting beat in that fashion as far as I am concerned.

The fact that Audley spent such a relatively high amount of his purse on his sparring partners tells me just how serious he was, and after all the other deductions were made I think people would be very surprised with just how little he walked away with for the fight.

The fight on Saturday was not about money to Audley, it was purely about redemption, and I just don't see how anyone who loves the sport, respects the boxers and appreciates what it is really about can feel anything but sympathy for Audley Harrison, regardless of what has gone before.

I really hope he manages to retire properly and that he remains a figure in the sport, I for one would love to see him do some commentary because he has a lot of knowledge and he possesses that one thing that eludes so many modern sportsmen, a personality.

Good luck Audley.:bbb

 

He was/is still an active boxer though.
If he retires he may be able to see his career in a different light and be more honest about it

 

His pro career was a let down but he isn't the first amateur star to fall short as a pro. I hope that he calls it a day now. Good luck to him in retirement.

 

arise Sir Audley.

 

That's a valid point and if I were Audley I would probably have cashed in too so I don't judge him for it and give anyone who steps between the ropes some respect in the amateurs or pros. I just feel with Audley he caused a fair amount of damage to the sport with the BBC deal and then PPV and suckered in a lot of people who probably felt cheated afterwards and that is how the sport loses fans.

If he can be honest about it in later life and admit his failings then he'll get more respect as a person from me. Haye gets an awful lot of grief on here for his non performance against Wlad and I was obviously disappointed too but he's always fought pretty bravely in every other fight aside from maybe Valuev. Yet Audley is somehow a type of comedy hero that loads of people seem to love, I just don't get it!

 

I was/am not a fan of Harrison, but I agree with you and PK, anyone that raises the profile of boxing is a G in my eyes.:good

 

great post

 

Audley is the worst boxer I have wanted to suceed the most.

Just didn't have the aggression, if he'd had thatthen he would have had it all.

 

:rofl:rofl

& thats a proper belly laugh Gench, not a token one cos your a good fella!

:good

 

I think that's overstating it a bit. He wasn't a massive puncher, wasn't particularly skilled - but he did have fast hands and could put punches together well when he chose.

The reason he lacked aggression was that he knew his chin wasn't the best.