British Boxing Round Up

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At the very death…Audley Harrison learns how to fight

Ever since he won Gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Audley Harrison has struggled to impose himself on the professional game. A large heavyweight, with superior technical skills and the ability to talk a good fight, he should have lived up to Ring’s prediction that he was the future of the heavyweight division. Sadly, he has always struggled to make the most of his potential due to an inability to seize control of fights by taking the risks necessary to finish his opponents. No fight illustrated this more than his 2007 match with Michael Sprott. Despite Harrison making the better start, his opponent was able to fight back and knock him out in the third round.

On Friday, Harrison entered his rematch with Michael Sprott knowing that he was putting it all on the line. A defeat would surely end his career as anything approaching a top-line attraction in the UK while a victory would give him the European Heavyweight Title and a Top 10 WBC ranking. For the man who had gone from hero to zero, this was his last chance to win a significant professional title and possibly earn a world title shot.  

After making a decent start in the opening minutes, Harrison was injured in the second round after rupturing his right pectoral muscle. Soon he was unable to do anything with his right side, with his injured pectoral going into spasm. He was literally a one-handed man in a punching contest. No one could fairly begrudge a fighter for quitting in such an event but Harrison found a way to cling on, even as Sprott pressed his advantage to build a considerable lead on the scorecards. Whether it was switching stances to lead with his left hand or putting together a one-hand combination of left-hooks and uppercuts in the ninth round, Harrison did all he could to stay in the fight.

Going into the final round he knew that he needed to knockout Sprott to rescue the fight and his career. Harrison made a terrible start to the round as Sprott went on the offensive, first pinning Harrison back on the ropes and then pushing him back into the corner. However, with his back literally against the wall Harrison was able to find the space to land the big left hook that he had been looking for all night long. It was a hard shot that was beautifully timed to connect just as Sprott was throwing his own punch. Michael Sprott was out before he hit the ground.

Harrison stood triumphant, Sprott was on the floor receiving oxygen and the judges’ scorecards of Sprott up by four, five and six rounds were irrelevant.

Audley Harrison is the new European Heavyweight Champion and one of the strangest careers in boxing continues.

David Haye and Klitschkos to begin negotiations; Harrison looks to gatecrash World Title scene  

Immediately after successfully defending his WBA Heavyweight Title against John Ruiz, David Haye called the Klitschko brothers out and on Tuesday he got his answer when the WBO, IBF and Ring Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko released this video message:

In it he accuses David Haye of having ‘bitched out’ of facing the Klitschkos on two separate occasions and says that he cannot keep ‘running’ from facing them. This is a reference to the repeated failures to put together a fight between Haye and either brother last summer, with some accusing the former undisputed cruiserweight champion of exaggerating a back injury to avoid having to compete in a world title fight with no UK broadcast partner following the collapse of Setanta. Wladimir says that the time for the fight is now and that Haye needs to defeat one of them to earn respect. He promises that should they meet, he will knock the WBA Champion out.

In response, Haye has revealed that his business partner and trainer Adam Booth has been in touch with representatives of the Klitschkos with formal talks starting this Thursday.

Meanwhile an on-form Audley Harrison stepped up his bid to talk his way into a world title match. As early as Sunday, his promoter Eddie Hearn was letting it be known that because Harrison had to face mandatory challenger Alexander Dimitrenko he would be willing to vacate his European Title should either Klitschko offer him a world title match. A somewhat credible offer given that Hearn has just successfully put together a similar deal to get Albert Sosnowski a title shot against Vitali Klitschko in May.

In an interview with Sky Sport News, Audley confirmed that he would be willing to vacate the title, saying that he could fight a Klitschko before Haye due to the WBA Champion’s obligations to former champion Nikolai Valuev. In another interview, he also accused Haye of running scared after reneging on a deal to fight him should they both win their April title matches.

Ricky Hatton edges closes to permanent retirement

At a press conference for his Hatton Promotions’ Friday Fight Night event in Wigan, Ricky Hatton confirmed that he had not rediscovered the motivation, or as he put it, the ‘the fire in his belly’ to step back into his ring. He denied that he had been offered a match with Erik Morales and said that he’d hate to end his career with a defeat to a substandard opponent simply because he hadn’t had the motivation to properly commit to his training camp. Hatton, however, refused to confirm that he was retired, saying that it’s always possible that he may ‘walk into the gym one day and say let’s give it a go’.   

While it’s unlikely that Hatton will ever be able to completely rule out the possibility of a comeback, this is a pretty clear statement that he’s no longer actively considering such a return to the ring. Since he announced his comeback it’s become increasingly clear that things were going awry with big money matches being rumored but falling away and absolutely no evidence that Hatton was putting in the necessary time in the gym. Given his previous statements there can be no doubt that he wants to fight one more time and go out with a victory but it seems that Hatton is starting to realize he doesn’t need to. Sure, it must sting to retire after such a comprehensive defeat but he’s not going to be able to add to a record where his only losses have come to the two greatest boxers of his generation. Above all, he seems to be thriving in running Hatton Promotions and masterminding his brother’s bid for success in the welterweight division.

A Comics Nexus original, Will Cooling has written about comics since 2004 despite the best efforts of the industry to kill his love of the medium. He now spends much of his time over at Inside Fights where he gets to see muscle-bound men beat each up without retcons and summer crossovers.