BoxRec

Britain's Audley Harrison won his second fight in America in impressive style, knocking out Quinn Navarre.
The Olympic super-heavyweight champion unleashed a huge straight left to drop the journeyman from Louisiana in the third round.
Harrison had established his jab in the opening round in Miami before landing some hard punches in the next.
Navarre tried to cut Harrison's height and reach advantage with attempts to get inside.
He connected with some left jabs in the second round, but Harrison continued with his jab and rights to the body before his hammer blow ended the contest.
Harrison said: "Once I put him in the corner, I felt I could hurt him with the left.
"I was ready to go eight rounds but I took advantage of the opportunity to finish it early.
"I was a bit sluggish at first because I haven't boxed in five months. But it didn't take me long to feel more relaxed with my shots."
The win in Miami was Harrison's 11th straight victory since turning professional after winning gold at the Sydney Olympics.
It meant a successful first instalment in a three-fight deal with American TV network ESPN2.
Harrison made his US debut last November, stopping Shawn Robinson in the first round in Atlantic City.
He had failed to win over the British boxing public in his previous contests, partly due to the poor quality of his opponents.
Navarre, 35, had won his last five fights, but lost 10 of the previous 36.
Those losses included a sixth-round defeat by British heavyweight title holder Danny Williams in September 2000.

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In reply to your question, all too predictable I'm afraid.

I hope Harrison gets some top quality sparring under his belt, because its only a 3 fight deal and this fight was really a waste for him - other than getting some stateside exposure.

Navarro is not in the class of some of Harrison's better opponents which are probably Calloway, Krence and Ellis.

Lets hope for a halfway decent fighter in his next contest.

If he won't fight Hide, Williams, Long, Francis and Sprott - lets see him in against fighters of a similar standard in the states.

Obed Sullivan, David Izon (both shot to pieces, but okay tests), Al Cole etc. Hell, he should now be fighting the stage beyond that. You know a Botha, Etteine, Mercer, Witherspoon, Shufford etc.

At 33 (or whatever he is) he really should beat any of the non-brits I mentioned. I think Williams would, and Hide has the ability also to beat people of Botha's standard.

Yes it would be a big step up from Navarro, Calloway etc, but come on there are glaring weakness in all of those non-brits I mention (and in the brits, but lets forget about them for a minute). If he can't beat them now, then he'll never get anywhere. It was 2000 (over 3 years ago) since he was in the olympics. Look at the strides fighters who turned pro about the same time have done, Taylor, Cotto etc. Look at Samil Sam, if he wanted would probably get a shot at the WBO - knowing how much Universum want that belt back. He could bide his time, fighting a few guys of Calloway's standard and get a shot at the Sanders vs Brewster winner. But no, he's risking his high ranking against Gomez.

Look at what Oquendo did, he fought Etteine (who was in the top ten at the time), instead of waiting and getting an voluntary shot, he fought Izon (who was fresher then), Sullivan (who too had something left) before fighting Tua. Both he and Sam are fighting men. Hope he gets some luck against Byrd.

Its time Harrison faught instead of just being a bully to incompedent fighters or guys who are 3 stone lighter. Lets see what he's made off.


I hope we see a serious step up for his next fight.

Does Harrison always put his hands down and stick his head out like a moron? I hope he doesn't do that against people that can actually punch back.

He doesn't usually fight that way. However, I think when he knew Navarre didn't have the power to trouble him and when he relaxed a little, he allowed his hands to drop and fought with the cross-arm guard in patches.

I don't think he did much wrong. My only criticism of him now is the speed of his development. He needs a fight every 6 weeks or so against decent and experienced journeymen. Last night was his first bout in five months.

When he gets to something like 18-0 then I think he'll need to look at top thirty opponents. I don't think he'll disgrace himself whether he wins the world title or not. Very few Olympic champions don't make the grade.

Overall probably his most impressive display as a Pro.

However, I didn't like the way he was dropping his right hand when he threw a jab. Someone with whoose more competent than Navarre will get inside his jab and really test that chin.

Audley is progressing along nicely 8) . I know he said after the fight that he hadn't fought in 5 months, but he fought Ellis on May 31st making it just over 3 months out of the ring and he would have had another fight in this time if Mundine Vs Echols hadn't got postponed. He has fought 9 times in the last 17 months , which I know isn't record breaking, but is still active.

Quinn Navarre is a good standard of opponent for Audleys 12th fight and he was dealt with in impressive fashion. I hope his recent performances have put the 'lack of punching power' rumours to bed. The crunch time for Audley will be what happens when he gets caught with a big punch, is he going to be a Michael Grant or a Muhammad Ali.

I am looking forward to Audley finishing his 3-fight ESPN deal and returning over here to shut up Herbie and Danny

audley wll fight people with good records but 0% chance of winning,

Big_Dave wrote: is he going to be a Michael Grant or a Muhammad Ali.

Well, he should have won and regained the title if he's going to be the latter.

Even if Harrison goes all the way, at his stage in his life he already cannot do enough to even be mentioned in the same breath as the great man.

I mean he'll probably have to keep boxing untill he's 45.

Great to see you back Big Dave! I've missed you, however i am afraid Audley is failing to impress me with his continual all talk and no action. He is fighting non-entities and talking them up to anyone who cares to listen, for every step forward he takes two steps back. Matthew Ellis was a deent foe, why not take the next step forward?

Does anyone else think that Harrison has turned his back on the UK for good? Aside from that decent performance against Navaare but I still don't think he's a puncher.

He also neglected to use his jab and struggled for accuracy. His shots inside looked to be more cuffing to me than carrying real venom. Still, another win and the show goes on.

lightsoot wrote:Does anyone else think that Harrison has turned his back on the UK for good? Aside from that decent performance against Navaare but I still don't think he's a puncher.

He also neglected to use his jab and struggled for accuracy. His shots inside looked to be more cuffing to me than carrying real venom. Still, another win and the show goes on.

Yeah Lightsoot, although McCoy dont know if he's turned his back on the UK for good, McCoy thinks his timing couldnt have been any worse disappearing to America when his british rivals were lining up

Hey, in fact Lightsoot, you have given McCoy an idea for a thread...

Let's get one thing straight for a start: Harrison has no need to fight British contenders to make it on the world stage. I'm not working for Harrison's PR company but I have no criticism of him for eschewing domestic match ups.

British heavyweights, believe it or not, are not highly regarded internationally! Frank Bruno avoided virtually all credible British contenders and concentrated almost exclusively on the world scene. He could have fought Horace Notice or Gary Mason but chose to avoid them.

Danny Williams and Michael Sprott could use the publicity that Harrison would generate were he to fight either of them. Harrison does not need them. Williams is in the twilight of his career and all the calls for a Williams-Harrison fight come from Williams. He sees it as a pension fund.

stujones wrote:

Big_Dave wrote: is he going to be a Michael Grant or a Muhammad Ali.

Well, he should have won and regained the title if he's going to be the latter.

Even if Harrison goes all the way, at his stage in his life he already cannot do enough to even be mentioned in the same breath as the great man.

I mean he'll probably have to keep boxing untill he's 45.

Stujones-You edit my post very deviously there, have you ever thought of a career in journalism. The full sentence said

The Crunch time for Audley will be what happens when he gets caught with a big punch, is he going to be a Michael Grant or a Muhammad Ali

I was obviously talking about whether Audley has got a good chin or not, I used Ali as he is the best example I could think of for having a good chin

I'm not necessarily suggesting Audley HAS to fight British opposition but i think i speak for most British fans when i think that by fighting a decent British name he can give us an indication of how far his career is progressing. What can we gain from Quinn Navarre as an opponent? Not much. If he beat say Keith Long or Michael Sprott then we can say fair enough he has beaten a credible name at domestic level and now for the next step up, hell even fight navarre or macintyre before you take that step but make sure the class level moves up to maintain progression. After all Audley was the one that made the boasts that he would be British champion in five fights, it was as we all expected gamesmanship talk but he hasn't even fought a notable British contendor by his 12th fight so alarm bells are ringing!!

steve689 wrote:Great to see you back Big Dave! I've missed you, however i am afraid Audley is failing to impress me with his continual all talk and no action. He is fighting non-entities and talking them up to anyone who cares to listen, for every step forward he takes two steps back. Matthew Ellis was a deent foe, why not take the next step forward?

Nice to see you again as well Steve (Wolves are shit ).
IMO Navarre is a good standard of opponent for a HW's 12th fight, I class Navarre as a step up from Ellis, he obviously didn't have the speed of Ellis, but he is massively more experienced and has been in with some real big names.

Watching the two in action i would say that Ellis is slightly better, he still has skills from his amateur days. And by the way, Wolves are in the premiership and Albion well....what ever happened to them

Audley has gone to the USA for a number of reasons
1) Better sparring and trainers
2) To raise his profile in USA, as he will have to spend alot of his career over there
3) He needs more experience before taking on the like of Danny Williams and Herbie Hide

He will have his 3 fights in America then come back to fight Keith Long or Julius Francis, before going on to thrash whoever is left out of Herbie, Danny and Sprott.

I find it difficult to see how people are still criticising his punching power. He has stopped 8 out of 12 opponents (5 out of his last 6), he has 6 Ko's in the first 2 rounds.
The only opponents he has failed to stop are:
1)Derek McCafferty in Audleys second fight and IMO his worst performance
2) The very capable Mark Krence (17-1)
3) A drugged up Dominic Negus
4) Ratko Draskovic who has never been stopped. Audley came very close to stopping him and IMO could have stopped him if he had upped the pace, but it was at the time everybody wa criticising his stamina and he chose to do the 8 rounds

Age is the only factor that really goes against Audley so far.
The man is a large, heavy, southpaw fighter with good skills and a long amateur career.

That spells trouble for alot of fighters. Southpaws in the heavyweights are few and far between. If Audley settles in America, which could well happen, I think he will be brought along at the right pace and not hounded into fights as he might be in Britain.

Big Dave - do you live in Cannock? I work in Cannock and its proper boring...What is there to do here? I end up going to fitness first most luchtimes - hardly the most scintillating way to spend your luch hour...

TerribleTerry wrote:Age is the only factor that really goes against Audley so far.
The man is a large, heavy, southpaw fighter with good skills and a long amateur career.

That spells trouble for alot of fighters. Southpaws in the heavyweights are few and far between. If Audley settles in America, which could well happen, I think he will be brought along at the right pace and not hounded into fights as he might be in Britain.

Big Dave - do you live in Cannock? I work in Cannock and its proper boring...What is there to do here? I end up going to fitness first most luchtimes - hardly the most scintillating way to spend your luch hour...

With the age that alot of HW's are fighting til he has still got a few years in him (injury preventing), but time will tell.

There are a few decent pubs in the town centre The Sports Bar, Wetherspoons, The Park these all do food at lunch times. Where do you live/work?

Big_Dave wrote:

TerribleTerry wrote:Age is the only factor that really goes against Audley so far.
The man is a large, heavy, southpaw fighter with good skills and a long amateur career.

That spells trouble for alot of fighters. Southpaws in the heavyweights are few and far between. If Audley settles in America, which could well happen, I think he will be brought along at the right pace and not hounded into fights as he might be in Britain.

Big Dave - do you live in Cannock? I work in Cannock and its proper boring...What is there to do here? I end up going to fitness first most luchtimes - hardly the most scintillating way to spend your luch hour...

With the age that alot of HW's are fighting til he has still got a few years in him (injury preventing), but time will tell.

There are a few decent pubs in the town centre The Sports Bar, Wetherspoons, The Park these all do food at lunch times. Where do you live/work?

Work on the Hawks Green Industrial estate, but I rarely go into town at lunch time due to time constraints.

I live in South Birmingham which makes it a real pi55er having to drive for nearly an hour every morning just to get here!!

The Park is nice for food, I have been there a few times. I will have to try the others out!

Dave

I honestly took it too mean (the Grant/Ali thing) that if Harrison's got a good chin he's going to be in the Muhammad Ali league, it not he's going to in the Michael Grant League. Because Michael Grant isn't that bad offensively, if he had a chin he would probably be right in the mix (got some good victories despite his china chin).

I thought that cause there are plenty of average fighters with Solid chins, David Tua, Vitali Klitchko etc. All more realistic than Ali, even Tyson is more realistic than Ali.

TerribleTerry wrote:Age is the only factor that really goes against Audley so far.
The man is a large, heavy, southpaw fighter with good skills and a long amateur career.

That spells trouble for alot of fighters. Southpaws in the heavyweights are few and far between. If Audley settles in America, which could well happen, I think he will be brought along at the right pace and not hounded into fights as he might be in Britain.

Big Dave - do you live in Cannock? I work in Cannock and its proper boring...What is there to do here? I end up going to fitness first most luchtimes - hardly the most scintillating way to spend your luch hour...

The only option i can see is simply come to Wolverhampton

Big_Dave wrote:

steve689 wrote:Great to see you back Big Dave! I've missed you, however i am afraid Audley is failing to impress me with his continual all talk and no action. He is fighting non-entities and talking them up to anyone who cares to listen, for every step forward he takes two steps back. Matthew Ellis was a deent foe, why not take the next step forward?

Nice to see you again as well Steve (Wolves are shit ).
IMO Navarre is a good standard of opponent for a HW's 12th fight, I class Navarre as a step up from Ellis, he obviously didn't have the speed of Ellis, but he is massively more experienced and has been in with some real big names.

Navarre is a step up from Ellis? No way. Navarre had a decent record, but is an absolutely, undeniably shot fighter who needs to retire. Ellis was at least somewhat competitive, even though he's something of a blown-up cruiserweight. The problem, as I see it, is Harrison has had 12 fights now and his best two opponents (Ellis and Calloway) are bulked up cruiserweights, who could probably get down to 190. There are plenty of journeymen (who are LEGITIMATE heavyweights that still have some tread left on them) that can test Harrison. If we're lucky, he'll square off with one of them next.

If you compare Harrison to many other current heavyweight prospects (such as Dominic Guinn, Derek Bryant, Erick Kirkland, etc.), you'll see that most of them have faced pretty poor competition over their first twelve or so fights, but the problem is most of them have had those 12 fights in a shorter time period. Another comparison for Harrison is Paolo Vidoz. By Vidoz's 12th fight, he had faced Nick Nurse, Craig Tomlinson, Joe Lenhart and Zuri Lawrence (not world beaters, but all guys who would beat Navarre).

It's time for Harrison to step in with someone (a true heavyweight) who can test him.

Zhuge wrote:It's time for Harrison to step in with someone (a true heavyweight) who can test him.

Yes, I agree. The time has come to fight opponents who won't give Audley such an easy night but whom, ideally, have little chance of causing an upset.

Ross Purrity is probably one of the best journeymen out there but even now perhaps too dangerous and durable. Harrison needs a good name on his record that carries as little risk as possible. What about Florida-based one time contender David Izon? He's 35 and past his best but he has been in with top heavyweights like David Tua, Michael Grant and Fres Oquendo as well as Maurice Harris and Al Cole. He's coming off three successive defeats but is still a "name" in heavyweight terms and Audley could learn from him and gain a real confidence boost from beating him.

Any other ideas on potential future opponents, guys?

I believe Zuri Lawrence could be a good opponent at this stage of Harrison's career, at least Audley would not have to worry about punches coming back as i don't think Lawrence has ever KO'd anyone in nearly 30 fights! Jo-el Scott could be a good opponent, then maybe Ray Austin or even Tony Thompson. Then he should be looking at the Ross Puritty's, Jeremy Williams or Obed Sullivan's. Fighting guys like Quinn Navarre is fine if you do it in between fighting decent guys to keep you ticking over but as far as using him for career progression then i don't think he is a good enough foe.