Article: The Tragic Truth of Haye-Harrison

I called it striaght after the fight, in my harrison appreciation thread.

The whole thing was cruel beyond belief. Completely uneccessary.

 

Great article.

David Haye's credibility is shot to pieces. He really should be ashamed.

 

After reading this i feel bad for Audley..

 

Sky cant wash their hands with this, not only a clear mismatch but only 1 full fight of the undercard (albeit a belter.. sssh!) is terrible.

"We're conscious of making sure we provide value and entertainment for our subscribers. That is our core belief"

Thats SS top dog Barny Francis taken from Boxing Monthly interview. How on earth you can say that and then show that mis-match is beyond me.

Audley has to take some responsibilty as people pay money to be entertained and have every right to be aggrieved when a fighter does nothing. But lets be honest we all knew that Audley freezing was a distinct possibilty its the risk you take as a fight fan parting with your cash. After the initial anger towards Audley, the usual mid-week sympathy for the guy's innate fear when it comes to the crunch has arrived. Disappointment in Haye and Adam Booth for not delivering the promised fights and taking what they knew to be an easy payday will still be around for a while however.

great article thanks o/p

 

Thanks for posting this - excellent article.

 

Don't agree. Audley's strategy was to survive the first few rounds then hope his size, weight, reach advantage could be used effectively in the later rounds when Haye started to tire. Audley isn't obliged to come out all guns blazing and stand toe-to-toe with by far the best fighter he has ever faced.

There can be ZERO BLAME attached to a domestic fighter covering up in a world title fight against a guy several levels above him. Audley is a plodding, cautious fighter who doesn't like to engage. You think that at age 39 he'll transform in the HW Israel Vasquez because some gullible ****s have paid 15 quid for a mismatch?

Audley Harrisons doesn't owe "the fans" anything.

The blame is solely on Booth, Haye and Sky for making a fight that was always destined to be a farce. They mislead the fans, their customers and they damaged Haye's credibility and legacy, and much more importantly they damaged the sport of boxing. End of story.

 

really enjoyed reading that thanks for posting.... in the build up to this fight i didnt harness any hate towards Harrison whatsoever, i never have. i have more of a "bless him" attitude.

hopefully he retires and gets into coaching kids or something because i genuinely beleive his hearts in the right place and he certainly has technical know how... he's just scared of been punched in the face.

i really do think he'd make a great coach/trainer though.

 

He was scared, but so were Bruno and Spinks against Tyson. Haye is the world heavyweight champion; it's part of his job to intimidate his opponent. It was a mismatch, but a lot of people thought it wouldn't be. Champions have had soft defences before and they will again. I don't blame Haye, Harrison, or anyone else for what happened on Saturday night.

 

Exactly. Yes he was humiliated and made to look a fool, but he got paid about a million quid, more money than I'll see in my life.

If someone offered me that sort of money to take a hiding, I'd bite their hand off.
I did feel a bit awkward afterwards in Audley's dressing room, but don't forget he was paid handsomely.

 

Does Harrison have mental problems?

 

He's just delusional I reckon, but I guess that could be from a mental illness.

 

If he doesn't have a mental illness, than this article is a load of ****.

So the logic is, he's forced into it to support his family. A perfectly rational idea. But he's actually being fooled into it, and taken advantage of by Haye, because he's mentally ill.

Which thing are we suppose to be feeling sympathetic for, because they don't match?

 

great article but we have to remeber Haye didn't want the fight. Sky and Booth to blame not Haye.

 

This article was posted in the general too, I've pasted my response on the general below. Apologies to anyone reading this twice, but I think the point is valid;

I have issues with this article. Namely the blame attached to Haye for taking Audley to task.

The article states that Audley didnt have to take the fight, but he's got a wife and kids to feed. Well, apply that same logic to Haye. Easy pay day, sort himself and his family out. It's a risky business, so why give Haye sh!t for taking easy money when he could effectively die any day on the job.

If the author has any gripes it should be with the authorities that sanctions and lincenses such boxers and fights. It was obvious to anyone that had seen Audley box before that he didnt stand a chance in this fight. Dont have a go at Audley for not making it competitive. Dont have a go at Haye for taking advantage. Dont have a go at the spectators for being blood thirsty.

The only, valid criticisms, can be levelled at;

(1) the media for hyping the fight so much, when it was very obvious what was going to happen;
(2) the governing bodies for sanctioning such a fight.

Now, can we move on from this routine defence of a title (take away the hype and that's all it is) and move onto something more interesting.

 

I'm alone in thinking that was utter crap, clearly. Please tell me when sports writers became psychologists? That was just emotional hyperbole and 'told you so' theatrics.

I agree with his basic point, but there's no evidence to back up his claim.