Haye destroys Harrison
Hands up who bought into the David Haye v Audley Harrison hype? There’s no shame in it, “A-Force” talks a good game, and he can be incredibly persuasive when he’s banging on about his destiny and his perfect preparation.
In fact the entire marketing for this fight was a phenomenon. When it was first announced it was perceived as a joke, yet somehow it got twisted and turned into the best thing to happen in British boxing for a long time.
Unfortunately it was actually the worst.
One thing that got neglected during all the talking was the fact that Harrison is awful. Seriously awful. He’s always done a great job talking himself up and should probably be a salesman because he’s certainly better with his mouth than his fists. With all Harrison’s “yes I can” patter and overwhelming confidence, mixed with the media’s assertion that “he’s got a puncher’s chance” it was set up to be a classic. Instead Haye literally picked his round.
The fight was a total non-event. The audience who shelled out their hard earned cash for this one were immediately met with the familiar sight of a terrified and clueless Harrison.
What on earth were A-forces tactics? It looked like he was expecting Haye to come out firing, which he didn’t, leaving the former Olympian confused about what to do next. It would seem Harrison wanted to dig into the trenches and wait to the later rounds for his trademark lucky punch, but with “The Hayemaker” not coming forward the challenger was left to just wander round in circles aimlessly.
It was the same old plodding Harrison. He had height and reach advantage on the champ, why not throw out some jabs, ask Haye some questions and at least make him work? He could have leaned on and clinched Haye, thrown out a speculative hook, anything, but instead he took the option to do absolutely nothing at all.
After the fight Haye said he had told everyone he would get the job done in the third and it really was that easy. The WBA champ stayed on the back foot and circled Harrison for the second round like he did the first as boos filled the Manchester MEN and ref implored them to fight. When the third round came Haye picked his moment and rained down combinations to the body then an uppercut and right hook sent the big man crumbling towards the canvas. A jaded Harrison somehow beat the count to get back up, but Haye caught him on the ropes again and the ref stepped in to give Haye the easiest £5million anyone has ever earned.
It was worse than pathetic. Even in your wildest anti-Harrison dreams could have such a disgraceful performance been envisaged. This was for the heavyweight title of the world and Harrison blew it spectacularly. He only threw one punch the whole fight. Some will say he froze, he will probably blame something but the fact is he is just nowhere near the level.
The only good thing to come out of this fight is the fact that surely Harrison has to retire now. Hopefully we will never need to hear him talk about his destiny or insist he can ever again.
On the other hand what a shame a fighter of Haye’s talent has to put up with fifth rate opponents like Harrison. This is a seriously gifted fighter. He has to fight the Klitschko’s next, especially if he wants to retire next October, but still it’s such a shame there is no one half decent out there to challenge him.
In the end though the “best of enemies” was more of a-farce then anyone could have possibly imagined , but hopefully at least it has rid the world of the most disappointing fighter in recent memory.
No you can’t Audley.
Give up.
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