Audley 'A-Force' Harrison, the 6 foot 5 black athlete turned boxer from London, UK, often became dismissed as a novelty celeb act by armchair journalists, but as a prizefighter champion after his olympic gold and holding the european title against, lets face it, always outclassed opponents, it was inevitable. Growing a nascent worrying fascination for picking his fights before frank warren picked them for him, he is known inside the ring to real boxing pugilists for a ramrod jab and staggering power in his southpaw-stance left hand. Notable wins for audley:
1. Obv. Olympic gold. And like all olympic athletes, nicola adams right now on bnation etc, they rely on boxing rather than volume and/or punching power. Science. Its hard to pick notable clips from "a - force" harrison in the olympics, because the best fights are boxer vs. Fighter, as shown in harrison's crippling (but not catastrophic) defeats against david price (ko1), david haye (stoppage r3, for the wba world title) and the most brutal; deontay wilder's wild head shots in the first round for the commonwealth title which probably ended his career at the right time. These losses stopped audley in his tracks specifically; more on that later.
2. Danny Williams KO r3. The man who knocked out Iron Mike Tyson in 4 rounds creating his descending 2000s spiral into early retirement, and lennoxs best comparison uk wise at least out of the limelight (is meant to shred leather in the sparring drills). Cuts ensued against audley and audley it should be noted took williams out of there six rounds earlier than wladimir klitschko in 2002.
3. Michael Sprott Ko 12. A very memorable fight this one, the underrated domestic titan Sprott causing audley early adversity mentally but gave the old sorcerer enough time to suck up the punches and press on with outscoring- and finally- knocking out, sprott.
These excellent wins are the reason i rated audley up there with the 21st century greats like the klitschkos, haye, fury, and deontay, the problem is with audley technically is he has a suspect chin - hit right, he quickly collapses- and like an articulated lorry takes ages despite usual early covetous sharpness to get going.
I never liked the "fraudley" and mocking of him back then and i still dont now, yes he can talk, but he has not lost his marbles, hes just content and hes opinionated. Id rather have a gentle giant like him on my bbc tv in the formative years of training as a middleweight muaythai fighter than some crap spouting rubbish role model. As much as i love david haye he does come out with some bollocks before his fights, in fact i have him down as one of the founders of noughties trash talk...sadly, because hes always great to watch, one of my faves of all time.
I will never forget the aspects of scale and ratio, volume and size, power and precision and paradoxical entertainment - over sheer blitzkrieg novelty - that an audley harrison fight brought to me as a teenager.
i have no idea what im doing out of bed
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