David Haye v Audley Harrison
Picture the scene. It is May 2011, Audley Harrison takes to the ring at the Las Vegas Grand in front of a packed venue of screaming fans to face Derek Chisora in a heavyweight unification clash.
Meanwhile a house cat called Mr Tiddles has seized control of the free world, Sir Alex Ferguson has joined Man City as manager and nobody eats bacon anymore because they can’t get the pigs down from the sky.
This frightening reality could come to be should “A-force” take David Haye’s WBA heavyweight belt at tomorrow’s gala event at Manchester’s MEN arena.
When this fight was first announced it seemed like a joke, the heavyweight champion of the world fighting the very definition of yesterday’s hero. Yet somehow the public interest has been inflamed to levels not seen in the UK since Lennox Lewis fought Frank Bruno back in 1993.
Likewise the public’s affection for Harrison has grown, from “he’s a joke” to “hope he doesn’t get too hurt” to “he’s got a puncher’s chance” and now “I think he could do this”.
Realistically though a defeat would be devastating and humiliating for Haye and completely unexpected.
There has been a fantastically entertaining build-up to this fight. Harrison has revelled in his role as the party-crasher, he’s been banging on about his “destiny” as well as his possibly made-up sparring session victories over his opponent and his increasingly wild-eyed rants about how he will win with love, while the whole time incessantly shouting “yes I can”. So that’s where Barrack Obama got the idea from; never had him down as an A-force fan.
Meanwhile Haye seems to be enjoying his role as the sarcastic world-weary champion, crushing Harrison’s enthusiasm with well-timed put downs. They work well as a double act and a career in comedy could await them when they retire.
It’s almost a shame they have to fight, but they do and who knows what will happen in this bizarre mismatch. It could last 10 seconds, it could last 12 rounds.
It’s a classic big’un and little’un fight. Harrison is the natural heavyweight but Haye is a fantastic athlete and although he is a small heavyweight he is more than comfortable at this level. Both are heavy hitters and both have been dropped at various points in their career. It would be a touch harsh to say either of them has particularly weak chins, yet there is enough power knocking about to make this a one-punch fight.
Everyone knows what to expect from these two, Haye moves like a middleweight, has fast hands and phenomenal power that he has carried up from the cruiserweights. His 24-22-1 record tells its own story. He is not flawless though, against Nicolay Valuev he was perhaps a bit standoffish while against Ruiz although his victory was concise and comprehensive yet at times he didn’t look as loose and as fluid as we have seen him. But he still knocked down the twice former champion and beat him with ease. Fast, strong and confident Haye is one of the top fighters in the world right now.
What can you say about Harrison? Do you talk about the Olympic gold, or the third- round KO loss to Michael Sprott? How Harrison pulled his career back from the depths is remarkable. He was the nation’s hero 10 years ago a chat show regular with a £1million deal with the BBC. Yet his fights proved slow and boring, he lost against poor fighters and was soon forgotten. He then won Prizefighter and got revenge over Sprott with that world-class KO in the last round, which came on the back of a pretty bad performance but gave him a world title tilt.
Too frequently Harrison blames factors other than himself for his demise, but now is his opportunity to finally prove himself to the world, no more excuses. Good points are undoubtedly his devastating left that he so rarely throws. He threw it against Coleman Barrett in Prizefighter and he threw it against Sprott but not enough times in his career have we seen that pure power he possesses.
Sometimes Harrison looks absolutely terrified and many believe he hasn’t dealt with the professional game like he did the amateur game as the risk is far greater. He is a beast of a man with height and reach advantage over Haye and he needs to make that count.
Harrison could sit behind a jab but he might be better off attacking Haye early. “The Hayemaker” normally storms out the blocks such as he did against Ruiz and Enzo Macranelli which could leave him prone to a counter, although Harrison may just be looking to weather the storm in the first few rounds and drag Haye into a scrap.
There’s a good chance Haye could have Harrison in knots with his footwork, so Harrison will need to try and bully him, use his height advantage and get a Klitschko-style jab going. The Hayemaker will be landing combinations and will probably be racking up the rounds so Harrison really needs a KO, his hand speed isn’t there so he will need to land that knockout blow, but he also has to be aware that Haye possess that power too.
This fight has so many possibilities it’s hard to call. Ultimately though Haye should be too quick and too strong for Harrison. He is a class above and needs to go out there and prove it, but if he is too confident he could easily get caught out so perhaps Harrison should not be entirely ruled out.
Audley Harrison, heavyweight champion of the world? “Maybe” he can, but probably not.
Prediction: Haye sixth-eighth round KO
Its’ so, so, so tempting to opt for a Harrison KO. The classic puncher’s chance adage grouped with the fact its last-chance saloon time and his history with Haye does make him a very tempting underdog and if he were to unleash that big left who knows?
Haye is no mug though, he is a top-class athlete who takes his fighting seriously, and the noise coming out of his training camp is that it went very well. He should have no problem facing a southpaw despite the fact he has only faced one before and he is way too quick for Harrison.
If his power hadn’t carried up to the unlimited weight division then Harrison would be in, but unfortunately for him it has. Expect A-force to have his best-ever fight but class and ability should prevail.
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