Hart attacks the BBC team

[REAL_DEAL]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,3-20 ... 6,,00.html

By COLIN HART

WATCHING the Audley Harrison v Julius Francis fight from my hospital bed wasn’t the kind of post-op therapy any doctor would have recommended.

But what got my blood pressure soaring and pulse racing was listening to the pitiful performance of BBC TV’s team behind the microphones.

Harrison has one fight left on his BBC contract which is due to take place on June 19.

Perhaps Jim Neilly, Steve Bunce and Richie Woodhall can revert to being serious boxing commentators rather than acting as Harrison’s cheerleaders if he doesn’t fight for the Beeb again.

It’s a wonder that trio didn’t go the whole hog last Saturday and wave American-style pom-poms.

What they should have been doing was castigating an ordinary Audley for his dreadful, plodding victory.

I’ve criticised the BBC before for insulting our intelligence when it comes to Harrison.

While their radio colleague John Rawling on Five Live was telling his listeners what a load of rubbish was going on in the ring, television punters were being grossly misinformed.

We were told Harrison had learned more out-pointing Francis than he had in his previous 15 fights. What absolute drivel.

Neilly, Bunce and Woodhall also saw it as a great Harrison achievement to have gone 12 rounds with Francis because it proved he has stamina.

Julius is an honest journeyman who stepped in at short notice, but he’ll be 40 this year.

He had won just one of his nine previous contests and had lost his last six.

The former British heavyweight champion has no ambition left and therefore is hardly a formidable foe.

At a jumbo 18st 4lb he has only two speeds - slow and stop.

Harrison would have found it more strength sapping if he had gone 12 rounds with Joe Louis’ statue at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas.

With a punch-bag to play with, Harrison should have set out from the opening bell to finish off Francis as quickly as possible.

That is what heavyweights are expected to do, particularly when they are fed ageing fodder with their best years behind them.

Yet you would have thought Audley was facing a fearsome mix of Mike Tyson, Joe Frazier and George Foreman.

One doesn’t expect Harrison to behave stupidly because it’s true a single punch can end a career.

But neither should he have fought so tentatively - the way he kept backing away from Francis when he should have been steaming into him didn’t exactly endear him to the Bristol crowd.

Yet I didn’t hear any criticism from Neilly, Bunce and Woodhall as they were desperately trying to give the impression Harrison was doing fine.

The BBC have spent fortunes promoting Audley since he won his Olympic gold medal four years ago.

I can’t believe their sports bosses have issued staff instructions that they must bend over backwards to go easy on him - but that’s certainly what it sounds like.

To find out what Bunce really thought of Harrison’s display you had to turn to the newspaper he writes for.

On Monday he said it was a dreadful event and the crowd’s discontent understandable.

He went on to say Harrison’s future looks uncertain. At least that was an honest assessment.

Why do TV commentators often try to con us into believing the opposite of what our eyes can see?

It doesn’t matter how hard they try — you can’t pretend a dustcart looks and performs like a Rolls Royce. Harrison-Francis belonged to the world of waste disposal.

[lirva33]

I like Colin Hart now.

[Kilburn]

Hart can be a daft old twat at times but I agree with him whole heartedly on this one.

[ArtOfWar]

I agree, they did over praise Harrison for a shoddy performance. British boxing sucks right now, because all are talented fighter's are happy to stay in the comfort zone. I know Harrison wanted rounds, but he should have tried to take Francis out after the half way mark. That performance didn't prove Harrison has stamnia to me. I mean he wasn't pushed at all, and the pace of the fight was slow.

I must say, I was very impressed with David Haye's performance, and after fight interview the other night. Hopefully he will give us something to cheer about.

Hatton and Harrison have the talent, but it needs to be turned into meaningful results.

[steve689]

I must say i have been critical of Hart in the past but i agree wholeheartedly with every word here!

[Priff]

I like Colin Hart now.

Man, that's funny.
True though.

[Kilburn]

The only area where I believe Hart lacks understanding is where he claims Audley "should have been steaming in" instead of backing away.

Audley wouldn't have lasted 6 rounds with Francis nevermind 12 had he employed those tactics. He'd have been well and truly knackered.

[THEBUTCH]

Colin Hart is the joke here. Yes Audley didn't really impress other than scoring a good knockdown in the 12th and showed he can cope with a slow 12 round contest.

But Hart doesn't go to such lenths to take issue with the overhyping of allegedly's stars who have far less Amateur pedigree and achievment than Audley. How does Matt Skelton get away with his woeful boxing performances. Simple allegedly + Sky + Sun/News of the World = SAD GITS!

I should be grateful Hart has actually bothered to keep himself moderately upto date with Brtish heavyweight scene, but when I'm confronted with this sort of journalistic crap, I'm not!

[adamiw]

this is the best thing i have read from Hart.

Maybe they should keep him in hosptial.

[Kilburn]

Yes Butch but Audley has assured the nation right from day one that he will be the heavyweight champion of the world, when it's clear to most (but not Woodhall & Bunce) that he just is not good enough.

Skelton on the other hand is more down to earth, he talks about "putting everything he's got" into each fight.

[THEBUTCH]

I'm clearly in the minority then according to your view, but from my seat Audley is streets and streets ahead of Skelton.

If Audley is being carefully matched it's because he does have a future in the game. Skelton's matchmaking has been more cynical in my opinion and his camp are just trying cash in as quickly as possible before he gets uprooted.

Maybe Audley has been ambitious in his self-projections, but the 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist's predictions about himself far more realistic than Eugene Maloney's bilge about how good Skelton, SO where is Hart's vicious diatribe on Sportsnetworks latest smokescreen?

[Kilburn]

Okay, I'll conceed that Eugene Maloney does go over the top with Skelton but that's to be expected - Matt is his best fighter and he's a heavyweight.

But could you imagine Smith, Oliver, Watt etc sitting there telling the viewers that Skelton is going to be the next world champ?

[THEBUTCH]

No , simply because I don't think he will. Audley on the other hand has a good chance in my opinion and let's not forget allegedly frantically trapping most of Audley's British rivals to Sky contracts so Harrison couldn't box them. But my gripe is with Hart and his tatty article.

Colin Hart is not a friend of boxing and does it a disservice trying to appeal to halfwits who don't know any better (not a dig at the Forum users by the way,if you don't rate Audley, that's fine).

I'll never forget the lovely piece he wrote on honest trier Elvis Parsly. Apart from trying to get a cheap laugh out of his name, he took obvious delight pointing out to the large percentage of ignoramus' that read the Sun, how many defeats he had on his record. The fact Parsey featured in several tough fights wasn't pointed out at all.

One could be forgiven for thinking the entire boxing world and history of it consisted of Muhammed Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard and outside of that boxing is waste of time and dissapointing, if you took Hart's tabliod rubbish seriously.

[KOJOE90]

I must say i have been critical of Hart in the past but i agree wholeheartedly with every word here!

I have to echo your sentiments here mate.

I don't always agree with Colin but he is spot on with this article.

[steve689]

The difference between Skelton and Harrison seems to me that Skelton knows his limitations and shys away from long term trash talking (although he has recently added some needle into his fights with the opponent concerned) while letting his team handle the talk and he just gives 100% in the ring. Audley on the other hand has been talking out his arse and hyping himself up from day one when he fought a gulf war veteran called Middleton and said he would be British champon within three fights He has continually backed away from meaningful challenges at home while telling us "It's about the world" and then going to America to fight Navarre, Diaz and Rix. When he does return home he stinks out the place against a 40 year old punchbag...grr i'm on form today :P

[THEBUTCH]

Colin Hart can take Audley to school over the "British Champion in X amount of fights" quote by Harrison. I would have no problem with that because Audley has failed miserably backing his boast up. I totally agree with you about that.

But just about all the other comments are either over the top, way over the top or just there to add further momentum to negative folk who WANT Audley to lose and fail.

You don't see the purpose of what Audley has done so far and what benefit it has given him...no problem. I do see the positive side of Audley's contests so far. But Hart's article is just utterly snide, largley brainless and below contempt, but does score 2 out 10 for humour.

[Twinkle Toes]

Colin Hart: the king of crass.

I respect people's opinion who post on this forum more than I do anything that Mr Hart has to say.

He's been too much of an idiot in the past + he writes for the Sun. Mind you, Idiot and 'The Sun' newspaper go hand in hand, so maybe he is well suited to that paper.