How did he win gold??? Harrision.

[Champ1982]

.????????

[Hagler2002]

He beat the man he fought in the final.

END OF THREAD.

[m1kee50]

In his Olympic final, not that I've watched it in years, he fought with some of the desire and savagery he showed in the Williams rematch, or the start of his first fight with Sprott. Clearly he has immense confidence problems.

Anyone deriding him should really ask themselves what they expect him to say - like John Scully said in regards to Chad Dawson, no fighter/trainer is ever going to tell you there is anything other than a win happening. If people buy tickets or subscribe to channels on the back of PR from Audley, that is delusional, but him attempting to sell the fight is not. Fact of the matter is, if the mere mention of Audley fighting took a show from nearly full to pretty much empty, he'd not get on a card anywhere, would he? People are still paying to watch him.

[Hagler2002]

If Jimmy Savile can be stripped of his knighthood I think Audley should be stripped of his gold medal!

[m1kee50]

And you are entitled to that opinion. Thankfully no-one is obliged to respond to it.

[Hagler2002]

And you are entitled to that opinion. Thankfully no-one is obliged to respond to it.

lighten up ffs

[m1kee50]

And you are entitled to that opinion. Thankfully no-one is obliged to respond to it.

lighten up ffs

Coming from you! Good one.

I may have took you more seriously than you intended, as it goes.

[Mimmy]

boody hell didntsee this thread when I was typing the same subject

[gp.]

He waited until he was 28, for one thing.

Amateur boxing is essentially a competition for young fighters who are nowhere near the finished article yet. If you stay in it into your prime way past the time most have already moved on, you're going to do well.

[dan28uk]

i hope audley can finally move on from boxing i think he tried to start positivaly last night but got caught with a good shot, hes definatly underacheived and think he knows that more than anyone, whatever happens in audleys life he'll make a bloody good salesman.

[Syntax Error]

.????????

It just proves that there is a world of difference between amateur & professional boxing & that some fighters simply cannot adapt.

Harrison is arguably the greatest example of this in recent years.

[NazNaci1]

Harrision was significatly more mature, seasoned and experienced than his rivals, when he won Gold. That counts for a lot. I thought at the time, that he had left it too late to turn over, as I thought he best years were behind him. Fair play to him, though. I haven't won a medal, or earned the money he has or been on TV.

He should have achieved more with his ability, he just wasn't good enough when it came to the crunch and I think he realised that, after the Williams defeat. No shame in that. For all the talk, the one person you can't kid, is yourself and I honestly believe his confidence drained badly after losses to Guinn and Sprott.

[tear up]

I fancyed Harrison because I was made to belive he had changed so dang my old coach he said he s got a chance fxckin no chance a man 40 years old can get bottle when he s never had it from the start do not going to get it at 40 mick and rightly so

[Syntax Error]

I fancyed Harrison because I was made to belive he had changed so dang my old coach he said he s got a chance fxckin no chance a man 40 years old can get bottle when he s never had it from the start do not going to get it at 40 mick and rightly so

How does Audley Harrison manage to convince people that he actually has a chance whenever he's in a big fight?

Hasn't he let fight fans down enough over the years to prove to everybody that he's all gob & little or no action?

No doubt he'll be back in 18 months bigging himself up & making excuses for the loss to Price.

He'll get another big fight with one of the K2's, Fury or maybe Chisora & the bandwagon will keep rolling.

[dondada]

Listen, as poor as Audley has been as a pro (and, lest we forget, he was the European champion for a short time), his Olympic gold is something that can never be taken away from him.

An absolutely fantastic achievement and only a handful of British boxers have ever done it.

I'm no big Aud fan - though there is something about him I like (not quite sure what) - it was really sad to see him being booed on his way to the ring against Haye and subject to heaps of abuse both before and after. Yes, he was shite on that night and on several other occasions. But has a British Olympic champion ever been treated in this way? I hope not.

[whiskey]

I agree in part with what your saying Dondada, You can't really blame people I suppose in the cheap seats for booing, they probably didn't see genuine sledgehammers landing like they did.

They likely thought he was taking the mickey again.

Whilst I like his personality, his impact on pro boxing has been appalling and the way the idiots at the BBC junked Haye, Froch & co to back him with £1m for a bunch of tepid bum fights still lingers now.

Whom knows what could have been if that never happened.

[hurlock]

World class amateur & credible domestic class pro.simple as.

[tear up]

Hurlock why ya still got us on ignore on ya post ya knob

[locoxelbox]

He waited until he was 28, for one thing.

Amateur boxing is essentially a competition for young fighters who are nowhere near the finished article yet. If you stay in it into your prime way past the time most have already moved on, you're going to do well.

Harrison had a late start in boxing, it wasn´t like he had 100s of amateur fights experience going to the Olympics. He also fought mature and more experienced fighters in Sydney but no legends in any way.

His first fight was against 1995 world champion and three time european champion Alexei Lezin of Russia (who had amateur victories over Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, Lawrence Clay-Bey, Nikolai Valuev among others). Lezin was then 27 years (certainly no "amateur kid"), the favorite for gold and had beaten Harrison the previous year. After an early lead Harrison was letting the fight slip away by doing - nothing (his trademark before the Olympics and during most of his pro career). However a tremendous punch hurt Lezin in the last round and the referee stopped the fight - controversially. After this fight Harrison grew in confidence and simply preformed the best boxing he´s ever produced. Prior to the Olympics he had received much criticism for giving away close fights to inferior opponents. He had lost at the 1999 World Championships to Sinan Samil Sam and at the 1998 Europeans to Sergey Lyakhovich.

The age of Harrisons opponents in Sydney:

Lezin 27 years
Mazikin 25 years
Vidoz 30 years
Dildabekov 24 years

[danconnollyeire]

Many good amateur can't make it in the pro game

Spinks (faded after 10 fights), Khan against bangers etc. Is 4x3 minutes rounds after all

[bripez]

(and, lest we forget, he was the European champion for a short time),

Although factually correct, this is the frustrating thing about boxing.

Yes, Audley won the European title (against the British Michael Sprott, who had lost 5 of his previous 10 fights) and the record books will show this, however he was not the best in Europe - he wasn't the best in Britain, not the best in England, and not even the best in the Southern Area !

He got the opportunity purely because of his Olympic medal and the fact that he can sell himself really well.

[dsimpson]

He waited until he was 28, for one thing.

Amateur boxing is essentially a competition for young fighters who are nowhere near the finished article yet. If you stay in it into your prime way past the time most have already moved on, you're going to do well.

Harrison had a late start in boxing, it wasn´t like he had 100s of amateur fights experience going to the Olympics. He also fought mature and more experienced fighters in Sydney but no legends in any way.

His first fight was against 1995 world champion and three time european champion Alexei Lezin of Russia (who had amateur victories over Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, Lawrence Clay-Bey, Nikolai Valuev among others). Lezin was then 27 years (certainly no "amateur kid"), the favorite for gold and had beaten Harrison the previous year. After an early lead Harrison was letting the fight slip away by doing - nothing (his trademark before the Olympics and during most of his pro career). However a tremendous punch hurt Lezin in the last round and the referee stopped the fight - controversially. After this fight Harrison grew in confidence and simply preformed the best boxing he´s ever produced. Prior to the Olympics he had received much criticism for giving away close fights to inferior opponents. He had lost at the 1999 World Championships to Sinan Samil Sam and at the 1998 Europeans to Sergey Lyakhovich.

The age of Harrisons opponents in Sydney:

Lezin 27 years
Mazikin 25 years
Vidoz 30 years
Dildabekov 24 years

Good post. Harrison's Olympic Gold win was well deserved.

He boxed brilliantly at times in that tournament. if you haven't watched it in a while, here's the final:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d_Unn9XbPw

Watch the 2nd round, Audley is superb.

It's amazing to think that's the same guy who fought Haye or Williams the first time round. For me it's about commitment. He said it himself ahead of the Price fight, he hasn't done the hard yards in training in the past. He was able to get away with it.

Well that's no good if you want to make it as a pro. look how hard Floyd and Pac and Ward all train.

I don't think he ever properly committed himself to the pro game. There's glimpses in that 2nd round of a really quality fighter, but there's still plenty of flaws. He couldn't just turn up, he was never that good. He needed to work really hard to reach a level. But he didn't and I don't think he ever made the improvements to his game he should've made as a pro. All this "he had all the skills, but no heart" stuff isn't right. He had all the potential, yes. But he never put in the work to really have the skills. He's been a very limited fighter for the most part.

[Raff The Frenchman]

Probably like the rest of the 2012 english olymic team...By giving a few million € to the corrupted commissions. I still can't believe some of the gold medals from this year. It was outrageous. And just like Fraudley, they'll get destroyed in the pros.

[hurlock]

Hurlock why ya still got us on ignore on ya post ya knob

You aint! I can see & accept your post's you sabre tooth tiger

[tear up]

Hurlock why ya still got us on ignore on ya post ya knob

You aint! I can see & accept your post's you sabre tooth tiger

Ha ha wish still had them old fang s I'd take chunk straight out of ya