I don't normally link to BBN articles these days but I thought this was well worth a look:
http://www.britishboxing.net/news_2104- ... force.html
A quite comprehensive retrospective from self-confessed Audley fan, Terry Dooley.
Makes a few points that many on here won't be too sympathetic with but that's what BBN is all about to a certain extent.
Why Audley didn't become a force
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Syntax Error
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 9017
- Joined: 22 Apr 2005, 08:00
nice article...
audley was doomed from the moment the over hyped and allegedly overjuiced matthew ellis shook him to his boots a few years ago....
the problem was/is a royal doulton chin paving the way to a balsa-wood heart. no stomach for a battle and no 'big bollocks' to back up the big gob.
mark krence also marked audleys hand for us, early in the career of the great pretender. i for one am delighted that michael sprott knocked the pretentious one off his pedestal.
sprotty is no world beater, but he proved its the size of the fight in the dog and not the dog in the fight that matters. lets hope sprotty earns a few quid from this moment.
perhaps a sprott biography/autobiography could be something we should look forward too.
i noticed the 'crazy baldheads' entrance music too. who the hell does audley think he is, all that was missing was 'float like a butterfly sting like a bee' on his trunks.
its the end of an era that never even started !!
audley was doomed from the moment the over hyped and allegedly overjuiced matthew ellis shook him to his boots a few years ago....
the problem was/is a royal doulton chin paving the way to a balsa-wood heart. no stomach for a battle and no 'big bollocks' to back up the big gob.
mark krence also marked audleys hand for us, early in the career of the great pretender. i for one am delighted that michael sprott knocked the pretentious one off his pedestal.
sprotty is no world beater, but he proved its the size of the fight in the dog and not the dog in the fight that matters. lets hope sprotty earns a few quid from this moment.
perhaps a sprott biography/autobiography could be something we should look forward too.
i noticed the 'crazy baldheads' entrance music too. who the hell does audley think he is, all that was missing was 'float like a butterfly sting like a bee' on his trunks.
its the end of an era that never even started !!
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E
- Heavyweight
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Syntax Error
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 9017
- Joined: 22 Apr 2005, 08:00
Quality post!rhino222 wrote:nice article...
audley was doomed from the moment the over hyped and allegedly overjuiced matthew ellis shook him to his boots a few years ago....
the problem was/is a royal doulton chin paving the way to a balsa-wood heart. no stomach for a battle and no 'big bollocks' to back up the big gob.
mark krence also marked audleys hand for us, early in the career of the great pretender. i for one am delighted that michael sprott knocked the pretentious one off his pedestal.
sprotty is no world beater, but he proved its the size of the fight in the dog and not the dog in the fight that matters. lets hope sprotty earns a few quid from this moment.
perhaps a sprott biography/autobiography could be something we should look forward too.
i noticed the 'crazy baldheads' entrance music too. who the hell does audley think he is, all that was missing was 'float like a butterfly sting like a bee' on his trunks.
its the end of an era that never even started !!
Evander and Ray Robinson had skinny legs also...don`t mean a thing.
Too long an article to read...especially when its about Audley...anything over 3lines would be stretching it me thinks
There have been braggarts before...Eubank
But Eubank could back it up when needed to.
I think alot of it is frustration at the game today also...and when you have a high profile guy doing it this way then it just irks that little bit more.
The usual bollox is when people write..."but thats how they bring young prospects on".....yes it is, and it stinks :(
A promoter should sell us good fights...not saying it should be a 50/50 fight for the young ticket seller...but surely even 80/20 would be better than what Audley fought early and what Khan is now put against...because no matter how you look at it its a 99.9% cert who will win....and its crystal clear the opponents are being put in to be KO`ed also :(
Too long an article to read...especially when its about Audley...anything over 3lines would be stretching it me thinks
There have been braggarts before...Eubank
But Eubank could back it up when needed to.
I think alot of it is frustration at the game today also...and when you have a high profile guy doing it this way then it just irks that little bit more.
The usual bollox is when people write..."but thats how they bring young prospects on".....yes it is, and it stinks :(
A promoter should sell us good fights...not saying it should be a 50/50 fight for the young ticket seller...but surely even 80/20 would be better than what Audley fought early and what Khan is now put against...because no matter how you look at it its a 99.9% cert who will win....and its crystal clear the opponents are being put in to be KO`ed also :(
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overhand_right
- Heavyweight
Audleys main probs were that he had it soft in training and boxed only a few fights a year against opponents so weak they could teach him nothing.
Derek McCafferty could have been an ok opponent for a debut, then guys like Michael Murray, Jacklord Jacobs, Matt Ellis and the crew were necessary to start the learning curve. Import the odd Garing Lane, Marion Wilson, Frankie Swindell. 10 fights a year at the start, tough training. Theoretically he should have been in position to fight Williams for the title in 2003 after SS Sam destroyed him. And he would have been confident and experienced enough to tackle him (maybe).
Instead hes made it to 35 with very few fights and undeveloped talent/potential, not used to getting hit.
For a man who wants to go places fast and fought the correct opponents, see Matt Skeltons record.
Derek McCafferty could have been an ok opponent for a debut, then guys like Michael Murray, Jacklord Jacobs, Matt Ellis and the crew were necessary to start the learning curve. Import the odd Garing Lane, Marion Wilson, Frankie Swindell. 10 fights a year at the start, tough training. Theoretically he should have been in position to fight Williams for the title in 2003 after SS Sam destroyed him. And he would have been confident and experienced enough to tackle him (maybe).
Instead hes made it to 35 with very few fights and undeveloped talent/potential, not used to getting hit.
For a man who wants to go places fast and fought the correct opponents, see Matt Skeltons record.
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Slapsie Maxie
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 794
- Joined: 22 Jun 2004, 08:22
Excellent post.
For me Saturday's fight summed it all up
When Sprott got hit, he didn't panic. It was nothing new to him
When AH got hit, he had a look of abject terror in his eyes and stopped throwing meaningful punches or, indeed, any punches.
I don't think the man is a coward, just not hardened by learning fights and tough gym sparring.
A good promoter would have matched him to make each fight a learning process and an exercise in exposure to the public.
I still don't think he had it in him to be a world champ even given the lousy state of the division. But, he could have been a decent figure in the scene and made more money than he ever has from taking that first big cheque which, I suspect is long been eaten up.
His future? Not in the ring, that's for sure. Who needs him? I suspect, as he is a bright guy, he probably has some good investments and some property and will be much better at that than he was in the fight game
I don't feel sorry for him in the slightest. I hate kicking a man when they are down, but perhaps the crashing humiliation is a reminder that hubris is a dangerous thing
Slapsie
For me Saturday's fight summed it all up
When Sprott got hit, he didn't panic. It was nothing new to him
When AH got hit, he had a look of abject terror in his eyes and stopped throwing meaningful punches or, indeed, any punches.
I don't think the man is a coward, just not hardened by learning fights and tough gym sparring.
A good promoter would have matched him to make each fight a learning process and an exercise in exposure to the public.
I still don't think he had it in him to be a world champ even given the lousy state of the division. But, he could have been a decent figure in the scene and made more money than he ever has from taking that first big cheque which, I suspect is long been eaten up.
His future? Not in the ring, that's for sure. Who needs him? I suspect, as he is a bright guy, he probably has some good investments and some property and will be much better at that than he was in the fight game
I don't feel sorry for him in the slightest. I hate kicking a man when they are down, but perhaps the crashing humiliation is a reminder that hubris is a dangerous thing
Slapsie
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jamesmcdonnell
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 45232
- Joined: 12 Nov 2003, 06:11
I don't believe that anything could have made Audley into a world force. He had reasonable skills in today's heavyweight climate, but skills are only half the story.
He simply had no desire to be involved in tough, back and forth battles. Every single time Audley got hit, he had a look of abject terror on his face, and looked utterly disorganised in retreat.
Sprott took a count, and Audley thought he could lower the boom, but Sprott is a battle hardened man, despite his reputation for capitulating in fights, he had absolutely no fear of Audley, and simply covered up, regrouped, and bided his time, working his way back into the fight.
What irks most, is the feeling that Audley himself didn't believe he had what it takes. A man knows whether he has the courage to stand in the trenches and get involved in a give and take battle or not, he knows it in his heart, and Audley tried to con the british public, or perhaps he thought he could win a world title without ever being in a real fist-fight, if so, then he truly was dillusional.
I know people who have met Audley, and say what a nice bloke he is outside the ring, but his combination of arrogance, shrewd business practice, disdain for opponents, the crowd, and the sport itself have turned him into a figure of ridicule, and I find it extremely hard to have much sympathy.
Good luck to him outside the ring, but good riddance to him from inside the ring.
He simply had no desire to be involved in tough, back and forth battles. Every single time Audley got hit, he had a look of abject terror on his face, and looked utterly disorganised in retreat.
Sprott took a count, and Audley thought he could lower the boom, but Sprott is a battle hardened man, despite his reputation for capitulating in fights, he had absolutely no fear of Audley, and simply covered up, regrouped, and bided his time, working his way back into the fight.
What irks most, is the feeling that Audley himself didn't believe he had what it takes. A man knows whether he has the courage to stand in the trenches and get involved in a give and take battle or not, he knows it in his heart, and Audley tried to con the british public, or perhaps he thought he could win a world title without ever being in a real fist-fight, if so, then he truly was dillusional.
I know people who have met Audley, and say what a nice bloke he is outside the ring, but his combination of arrogance, shrewd business practice, disdain for opponents, the crowd, and the sport itself have turned him into a figure of ridicule, and I find it extremely hard to have much sympathy.
Good luck to him outside the ring, but good riddance to him from inside the ring.
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oliverfennell
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 5564
- Joined: 15 Feb 2007, 06:37
The press in general and the majority of "fans" assumed his opponents were no good simply because they hadn't heard of them. I agree the fights were not main event material, but that's not to say they weren't above-average for a prospect at those relevant stages. Remember, Audley has only ever fought two boxers with losing records, and those were his first two fights. It is a bare statistic, I know, and statistics are not always the best way to assess matters, but still, who else can you name who fought a similar statistical standard in their early career?Derek McCafferty could have been an ok opponent for a debut, then guys like Michael Murray, Jacklord Jacobs, Matt Ellis and the crew were necessary to start the learning curve. Import the odd Garing Lane, Marion Wilson, Frankie Swindell.
And look at who his opponents fought AFTER Audley - Middleton fought an Owen Beck who was 18-0, McCafferty fought a former world champ in Herbie Hide, Calloway fought Rahman, Diaz fought Virchis for an Inter belt. I'm not saying they were good matches, but where was the outrage when other, more experienced/accomplished guys fought the same guys Audley fought?
When Audley started boxing on the BBC, the sport had been marginalised due to a half-decade of it being hidden away on Sky, and as such not only the fans but many newspaper writers were no longer as knowledgeable as they once were. And yet, rather than doing some homework, they decided to decry Audley's opponents based simply on their lack of profile.
Now, I'm not saying they were 50-50 fights, or anything like that, but most of them served a purpose. The names you suggested would have been fine, but do you think any of the press crew or Joe Public would have looked at Lane or Swindell's tubby physiques and thought anything other than "mismatch"? Same if they saw Murray's or Wilson's records. Sure, WE know they would have been reasonable exercises for a novice Audley, but we as knowledgeable boxing observers are in the minority.
I maintain they were all learning processes, or at least designed to be. Think about it - he fought a good range of different styles, skill levels, sizes and experience levels. The durable (McCafferty, Draskovic), the powerful (Long), the fast (Ellis), the aggressive (Negus, Bonin) the prospects (Krence, Hersisia), the veterans (Calloway, Francis)...A good promoter would have matched him to make each fight a learning process and an exercise in exposure to the public.
Yes, I thought this at the time too, until it was FOUR years into his career and he was having his SIXTEENTH fight against Julius Francis. That fight was the writing on the wall for me, he barely hurt Francis once (even the knockdown was more because of Francis being caught square-on) at a time when Francis was little more than a cagey punching bag being blown out in two rounds by a comebacking Maskaev. If he'd have taken two years to beat that lot, fair enough, but you can't start your pro career at 29 and go on anything but an accelerated route to the top. Which does not equal three or four fights a year.oliverfennell wrote:The press in general and the majority of "fans" assumed his opponents were no good simply because they hadn't heard of them. I agree the fights were not main event material, but that's not to say they weren't above-average for a prospect at those relevant stages. Remember, Audley has only ever fought two boxers with losing records, and those were his first two fights. It is a bare statistic, I know, and statistics are not always the best way to assess matters, but still, who else can you name who fought a similar statistical standard in their early career?Derek McCafferty could have been an ok opponent for a debut, then guys like Michael Murray, Jacklord Jacobs, Matt Ellis and the crew were necessary to start the learning curve. Import the odd Garing Lane, Marion Wilson, Frankie Swindell.
And look at who his opponents fought AFTER Audley - Middleton fought an Owen Beck who was 18-0, McCafferty fought a former world champ in Herbie Hide, Calloway fought Rahman, Diaz fought Virchis for an Inter belt. I'm not saying they were good matches, but where was the outrage when other, more experienced/accomplished guys fought the same guys Audley fought?
When Audley started boxing on the BBC, the sport had been marginalised due to a half-decade of it being hidden away on Sky, and as such not only the fans but many newspaper writers were no longer as knowledgeable as they once were. And yet, rather than doing some homework, they decided to decry Audley's opponents based simply on their lack of profile.
Now, I'm not saying they were 50-50 fights, or anything like that, but most of them served a purpose. The names you suggested would have been fine, but do you think any of the press crew or Joe Public would have looked at Lane or Swindell's tubby physiques and thought anything other than "mismatch"? Same if they saw Murray's or Wilson's records. Sure, WE know they would have been reasonable exercises for a novice Audley, but we as knowledgeable boxing observers are in the minority.
I maintain they were all learning processes, or at least designed to be. Think about it - he fought a good range of different styles, skill levels, sizes and experience levels. The durable (McCafferty, Draskovic), the powerful (Long), the fast (Ellis), the aggressive (Negus, Bonin) the prospects (Krence, Hersisia), the veterans (Calloway, Francis)...A good promoter would have matched him to make each fight a learning process and an exercise in exposure to the public.
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overhand_right
- Heavyweight
Exactly. Skelton fought Francis after 1 year as a pro and after 10 fights. Shortly thereafter he was facing Sprott for the British title. Before that he had beat Holden, Palatis and Jacobs.
Those guys and Michael Murray et al with their ugly records would have educated and developed Audley a hell of a lot more than these guys like Rock Lewis and Calloway whos fake records were manufactured.
Those guys and Michael Murray et al with their ugly records would have educated and developed Audley a hell of a lot more than these guys like Rock Lewis and Calloway whos fake records were manufactured.
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jamesmcdonnell
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 45232
- Joined: 12 Nov 2003, 06:11
What a load of old wank.
There are plenty of fighters who would have remained upright from that shot, it was a sneaky shot alright, but christ, Sprott isn't exactly a world class banger. He has underrated power, but I'm pretty confident that there are many heavyweights who would have shaken off that shot, or at least made it to their feet, Audley was out for several minutes!
I suspect that we now know why Audley was so cautious, we've seem him wobbled before by the likes of Matthew Eliis, he fought so cautiously because he was afraid he would get sparked out, and it woudl seem with good reason.
I know, I know, I'm not brave enough to get in the ring etc. Sure, Sprott could knock me out with one shot, but I'm not a professional fighter. It's like saying that Audley couldn't write as good an article as me, it's just not relevant.
There are plenty of fighters who would have remained upright from that shot, it was a sneaky shot alright, but christ, Sprott isn't exactly a world class banger. He has underrated power, but I'm pretty confident that there are many heavyweights who would have shaken off that shot, or at least made it to their feet, Audley was out for several minutes!
I suspect that we now know why Audley was so cautious, we've seem him wobbled before by the likes of Matthew Eliis, he fought so cautiously because he was afraid he would get sparked out, and it woudl seem with good reason.
I know, I know, I'm not brave enough to get in the ring etc. Sure, Sprott could knock me out with one shot, but I'm not a professional fighter. It's like saying that Audley couldn't write as good an article as me, it's just not relevant.
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jamesmcdonnell
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 45232
- Joined: 12 Nov 2003, 06:11
Spot on article - well written.
Number of things I agree with - why in this country do we have to always think the worst of our confident sportsmen.
naz, Mourinho, Eubank, Audley, man Utd etc etc - we f u c k i n g hate them yet good guys like:
Eddie the twatting eagle
Jimmy White
Newcastle Utd (under keegan)
we basically suck them off depsite really never achieving a thing - one of the reasons why as a nation we will always be poor relations in sporting terms.
Nasser Hussains autobiography - he makes an interesting point when comparing the aussies to england, say a batsmen scores a century the aussie will say 'i played brilliantly today, everything off the middle of the bat' whereas our sour puss will say 'well it was my day and i got a few lucky breaks early on yada yada yad'
Total bollocks - its mentality like this which makes us a laughing stock sports wise and dickhead fans who boo our achievers or boo the likes of Audley because shock horror he differed from the norm are wankers too - we get the standard of sports stars we deserve.
All you tossers who boo'd a man whilst stricken on the canvas should be ashamed - tosspots
Wrists
Number of things I agree with - why in this country do we have to always think the worst of our confident sportsmen.
naz, Mourinho, Eubank, Audley, man Utd etc etc - we f u c k i n g hate them yet good guys like:
Eddie the twatting eagle
Jimmy White
Newcastle Utd (under keegan)
we basically suck them off depsite really never achieving a thing - one of the reasons why as a nation we will always be poor relations in sporting terms.
Nasser Hussains autobiography - he makes an interesting point when comparing the aussies to england, say a batsmen scores a century the aussie will say 'i played brilliantly today, everything off the middle of the bat' whereas our sour puss will say 'well it was my day and i got a few lucky breaks early on yada yada yad'
Total bollocks - its mentality like this which makes us a laughing stock sports wise and dickhead fans who boo our achievers or boo the likes of Audley because shock horror he differed from the norm are wankers too - we get the standard of sports stars we deserve.
All you tossers who boo'd a man whilst stricken on the canvas should be ashamed - tosspots
Wrists
Re: Why Audley didn't become a force
dooley is a limp-wristed loser who lost me when he took the cheap shot at gerald mcclellan---calling him a bad person because he liked dogfighting!! he must hate RJJ too, with his rooster fighting!!Ian 'Mr' McNeilly wrote:I don't normally link to BBN articles these days but I thought this was well worth a look:
http://www.britishboxing.net/news_2104- ... force.html
A quite comprehensive retrospective from self-confessed Audley fan, Terry Dooley.
Makes a few points that many on here won't be too sympathetic with but that's what BBN is all about to a certain extent.
must be a member of some extreme "animal rights" kook fringe like PETA!!
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Syntax Error
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 9017
- Joined: 22 Apr 2005, 08:00
Looks like Mr Cohen was blind to what really went on.Terence wrote:Typical, the guys gets KO'd and his fan-club swells
http://www.secondsout.com/news/index.cf ... 4&cs=21491
Sprott was just biding his time in the 1st 2 rounds & apart from the flash knockdown, he fought an almost perfect fight (against someone like Harrison).
The 3rd round was very telling. I could see that Harrison's pace had dropped markedly & that worrled looked appeared on his face every time that Sprott bulldozed him. That suggested to me that his legendary poor stamina was failing him because he was terrified.
Even his overrated win over the ill prepared Williams gave clues to the fact that Harrison still knew he was up to it.
He had a look of terror, the one or two times that Williams went for him in the rematch.