Audley Harrison: 'Haye is nervous. He knows I am the master'
Posted: 09 Nov 2010, 06:39
Audley Harrison: 'David Haye is nervous. He knows I am the master'
Donald McRae The Guardian, Tuesday 9 November 2010
Audley Harrison is so polite and amusing when referring to himself that he rarely fails to add a "Mister" to his latest self-appointed nickname. He is "Mr Delusional" and "Mr Cool Calm and Collected". Harrison is also the best talker in British boxing. His witty eloquence outshines even David Haye, his former friend and now bitter rival who has a similarly fast mouth and chattering relish for the sound of his own voice. If their battle for Haye's WBA heavyweight title was to be decided on a chat-show sofa, rather than in the ring in Manchester on Saturday night, Harrison would already be the new champion.
"Here I am, Mr Delusional," the 39-year-old Harrison says. "People thought there was no way I would pull myself out of a dark place and fight for the world title. They called me deluded. But guess what? Mr Delusional is about to become world heavyweight champion. It makes me remember what Maya Angelou said: 'All great achievement takes time.' And it really does. It ain't easy."
It is far easier being a sucker for Harrison quoting an evocative 82-year-old poet in Angelou when, in bleak contrast, Haye suggested the fight will be "as one-sided as a gang rape". Haye sounded malicious and stupid. He is neither; but his complicated relationship with Harrison prompted such crass idiocy.
Mr Delusional becomes Mr Cool Calm and Collected as he analyses the brutish edge that has emerged in his former protege. "David is very nervous," Harrison says, stroking his wispy beard. "When David was 18 he worshipped me and so he knows I'm the master. And the more this promotion goes on the clearer it becomes. David Haye is the champion but this has become the Audley Harrison Show.
"I'm buoyant, excited, motivated, determined and ready to do what I was born to do. These are the moments where I wake up, where I stand up. Other people crumble under this pressure. But I'm totally cool, calm and collected because this is where I thrive. Ten years ago I proved it at the Olympics and I've gone back to that place. I'm Mr Cool Calm and Collected again."
Harrison is not just a snappy talker. In person he exudes an apparently serene conviction. A big man, at 6ft 5in and 18st, he leans in close and speaks intently. This is Harrison's way of imparting his certainty of victory; but none of this will matter unless he produces a riveting performance against Haye.
Yet, after 9½ disappointing years as a professional, Harrison cannot banish the bad memories. He returned from the Sydney Olympics in 2000 with a gold medal and a big-mouthed mantra that he would promote himself all the way to the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. For a while it looked as if Harrison really believed he was Britain's answer to Muhammad Ali. The BBC swallowed the bait and presented him with a million-pound contract.
Harrison called himself A-Force; but his failure to match dizzying expectations has seen him ridiculed as "A-Farce", "Audrey" and "Fraudley". He has taken a prolonged public beating; and his four defeats are damning. Even in their own heads Danny Williams, Dominick Guinn, Michael Sprott and Martin Rogan are not kings of the ring; but they all beat Harrison. The big man looks down at a photograph of himself sprawled unconscious on the canvas after his fight against Sprott in 2007.
"Yeah," Harrison says, "he knocked me out all right. But two far worse things happened to me. The first was when the BBC's Peter Salmon told me the deal was over. That broke my spirit. It broke my heart. I had to sign with [the promoter] allegedly and that felt an even worse defeat. Those two moments sucked my soul and my energy and you saw what happened. I went through a very dark place. But it turned into a spiritual journey and I became a man."
Harrison's mediocre 27-4 record should not have secured him the right to challenge Haye for his world title. And yet, with the fight only days away, there is a sense that Harrison might be ready to unleash the one supreme performance of his career. Haye is nine years younger and he should be far too fast and hard-hitting; but the brash champion has always had a vulnerable chin and Harrison looks resolute.
Their tainted friendship has also leant a deeply personal edge to the build-up. "It's a shame," Harrison says, "because I had a lot of love for David. But I have genuine disenchantment with him now, genuine disappointment. I featured David on five of my promotions and taught him everything he knows about this business. Then, when I was in a hole, David wouldn't give me a slot on his bill – even though he was using my promotional blueprint. He did the wrong thing. But there's no malice or anger in me.
"Someone sent me a link to an old radio interview he did, back in the day, when we were at a party and David said [Harrison impersonates a whiney Haye], 'I'll never fight Audley – he's my best friend. We travel all over the world together and the only time I'd ever consider us fighting is if we both had world titles.' I sat there, listening and smiling. We had fun times together – like at the world [amateur] championships in Houston in 1999. We always had a lot of success with the girls, me and David, and we blagged our way into this club. I told everyone David was a famous singer and I was his security. We pulled it off.
"David now says I'm jealous – but, if you study it from a sociological point of view, it's the opposite. I came back from the Olympics the biggest thing since sliced bread and he didn't even make the team. David was running behind my coat-tails for four years. I was the main man at the table and in those days I was nothing but a red-carpet guy. Who was envious? He sat in my jet stream. It's so beautiful the universe has brought us back to this place because David's still not satisfied in his heart and soul. He's talking about the public execution of Audley Harrison but he's running into the master – the guy he was envious of for so long."
He smiles as I read a quote from Haye saying that, because of their friendship, he knows Harrison's demons. "I laughed when I first saw that statement. Come on, my demons were the battle I fought for 18 months with the BBC and having to sign for Warren. My demons were always outside the ring. This will be the hardest fight of his life. I'm going to put everything on the line, and I expect him to do the same. But I will prevail."
Harrison, for all the derision flung at him, has endured hardship. "Life is really beautiful if you want it to be – but there are no handouts. I came from a broken home. My mum left when I was four and I grew up in a rough neighbourhood, Harlesden. I could easily say I'm a victim and people would sympathise. But I said: 'My environment doesn't matter – I'm going to make something of my life.'
"There's a saying that God doesn't give you anything you can't handle. Mother Teresa, bless her soul, said: 'I just wish he didn't trust me so much.' I feel the same. I can handle it but, sometimes, I just think, 'God, you really trust me' – because sometimes I feel under such pressure. But you keep going because life is a journey of light and shade."
Harrison talks calmly about the death of his brother. "Vincent passed away young, at 27. He was a drug-user but they said it was a brain haemorrhage in the end. He lived that lifestyle, and I was in that same fast lane. I could've perished. I was 19, running the streets, ended up in a young offenders institute – and that was my break.
"I had a chance to think: 'What am I doing with my life? I can't just be a petty criminal.' So I came out, got some qualifications and went to [Brunel] university. Vincent never had that chance. He was on the wild side; and he never came back."
The petty squabbling seems irrelevant now; and Harrison sounds magnanimous when withdrawing an allegation that Haye once "took liberties" with him in sparring. After his first defeat, to Williams, they sparred in front of Lennox Lewis. Haye roughed up a dispirited Harrison. "On reflection I have a different perspective," Harrison says. "David didn't know I was on the floor emotionally and spiritually. He expected the Audley he knew when we fought like cats and dogs years before. He was excited in front of Lennox. At the time I thought: 'Why didn't he ease up?' He could see I was having my first spar after a loss and he should've been a friend. But I've mellowed.
"We sparred loads as amateurs in the England squad. He had speed and power but David never hurt me – not even when my confidence was so low. So how could he hurt me now? He can't. David lives a life of chaos. But my life is perfect. I've got a fantastic wife and a beautiful daughter. I've no needs or wishes – other than my God-given purpose to finish myboxing journey. Winning the world title will mean it's mission complete. It will seem all the more poignant because I'm going to beat David Haye with love. The beating I'm going to inflict on him comes out of love and compassion. I know it's going to be good for his soul and ego. That might sound strange but I'm cut from a different cloth to most people. And this is my moment."
A dangerous vision of Haye, moving towards Harrison with violent force, seeps into the mind. But Harrison shakes his head. "My victory is destiny," he insists. "Just sit back and get ready for your new heavyweight champion of the world: Mr Audley Harrison."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/no ... -interview
Donald McRae The Guardian, Tuesday 9 November 2010
Audley Harrison is so polite and amusing when referring to himself that he rarely fails to add a "Mister" to his latest self-appointed nickname. He is "Mr Delusional" and "Mr Cool Calm and Collected". Harrison is also the best talker in British boxing. His witty eloquence outshines even David Haye, his former friend and now bitter rival who has a similarly fast mouth and chattering relish for the sound of his own voice. If their battle for Haye's WBA heavyweight title was to be decided on a chat-show sofa, rather than in the ring in Manchester on Saturday night, Harrison would already be the new champion.
"Here I am, Mr Delusional," the 39-year-old Harrison says. "People thought there was no way I would pull myself out of a dark place and fight for the world title. They called me deluded. But guess what? Mr Delusional is about to become world heavyweight champion. It makes me remember what Maya Angelou said: 'All great achievement takes time.' And it really does. It ain't easy."
It is far easier being a sucker for Harrison quoting an evocative 82-year-old poet in Angelou when, in bleak contrast, Haye suggested the fight will be "as one-sided as a gang rape". Haye sounded malicious and stupid. He is neither; but his complicated relationship with Harrison prompted such crass idiocy.
Mr Delusional becomes Mr Cool Calm and Collected as he analyses the brutish edge that has emerged in his former protege. "David is very nervous," Harrison says, stroking his wispy beard. "When David was 18 he worshipped me and so he knows I'm the master. And the more this promotion goes on the clearer it becomes. David Haye is the champion but this has become the Audley Harrison Show.
"I'm buoyant, excited, motivated, determined and ready to do what I was born to do. These are the moments where I wake up, where I stand up. Other people crumble under this pressure. But I'm totally cool, calm and collected because this is where I thrive. Ten years ago I proved it at the Olympics and I've gone back to that place. I'm Mr Cool Calm and Collected again."
Harrison is not just a snappy talker. In person he exudes an apparently serene conviction. A big man, at 6ft 5in and 18st, he leans in close and speaks intently. This is Harrison's way of imparting his certainty of victory; but none of this will matter unless he produces a riveting performance against Haye.
Yet, after 9½ disappointing years as a professional, Harrison cannot banish the bad memories. He returned from the Sydney Olympics in 2000 with a gold medal and a big-mouthed mantra that he would promote himself all the way to the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. For a while it looked as if Harrison really believed he was Britain's answer to Muhammad Ali. The BBC swallowed the bait and presented him with a million-pound contract.
Harrison called himself A-Force; but his failure to match dizzying expectations has seen him ridiculed as "A-Farce", "Audrey" and "Fraudley". He has taken a prolonged public beating; and his four defeats are damning. Even in their own heads Danny Williams, Dominick Guinn, Michael Sprott and Martin Rogan are not kings of the ring; but they all beat Harrison. The big man looks down at a photograph of himself sprawled unconscious on the canvas after his fight against Sprott in 2007.
"Yeah," Harrison says, "he knocked me out all right. But two far worse things happened to me. The first was when the BBC's Peter Salmon told me the deal was over. That broke my spirit. It broke my heart. I had to sign with [the promoter] allegedly and that felt an even worse defeat. Those two moments sucked my soul and my energy and you saw what happened. I went through a very dark place. But it turned into a spiritual journey and I became a man."
Harrison's mediocre 27-4 record should not have secured him the right to challenge Haye for his world title. And yet, with the fight only days away, there is a sense that Harrison might be ready to unleash the one supreme performance of his career. Haye is nine years younger and he should be far too fast and hard-hitting; but the brash champion has always had a vulnerable chin and Harrison looks resolute.
Their tainted friendship has also leant a deeply personal edge to the build-up. "It's a shame," Harrison says, "because I had a lot of love for David. But I have genuine disenchantment with him now, genuine disappointment. I featured David on five of my promotions and taught him everything he knows about this business. Then, when I was in a hole, David wouldn't give me a slot on his bill – even though he was using my promotional blueprint. He did the wrong thing. But there's no malice or anger in me.
"Someone sent me a link to an old radio interview he did, back in the day, when we were at a party and David said [Harrison impersonates a whiney Haye], 'I'll never fight Audley – he's my best friend. We travel all over the world together and the only time I'd ever consider us fighting is if we both had world titles.' I sat there, listening and smiling. We had fun times together – like at the world [amateur] championships in Houston in 1999. We always had a lot of success with the girls, me and David, and we blagged our way into this club. I told everyone David was a famous singer and I was his security. We pulled it off.
"David now says I'm jealous – but, if you study it from a sociological point of view, it's the opposite. I came back from the Olympics the biggest thing since sliced bread and he didn't even make the team. David was running behind my coat-tails for four years. I was the main man at the table and in those days I was nothing but a red-carpet guy. Who was envious? He sat in my jet stream. It's so beautiful the universe has brought us back to this place because David's still not satisfied in his heart and soul. He's talking about the public execution of Audley Harrison but he's running into the master – the guy he was envious of for so long."
He smiles as I read a quote from Haye saying that, because of their friendship, he knows Harrison's demons. "I laughed when I first saw that statement. Come on, my demons were the battle I fought for 18 months with the BBC and having to sign for Warren. My demons were always outside the ring. This will be the hardest fight of his life. I'm going to put everything on the line, and I expect him to do the same. But I will prevail."
Harrison, for all the derision flung at him, has endured hardship. "Life is really beautiful if you want it to be – but there are no handouts. I came from a broken home. My mum left when I was four and I grew up in a rough neighbourhood, Harlesden. I could easily say I'm a victim and people would sympathise. But I said: 'My environment doesn't matter – I'm going to make something of my life.'
"There's a saying that God doesn't give you anything you can't handle. Mother Teresa, bless her soul, said: 'I just wish he didn't trust me so much.' I feel the same. I can handle it but, sometimes, I just think, 'God, you really trust me' – because sometimes I feel under such pressure. But you keep going because life is a journey of light and shade."
Harrison talks calmly about the death of his brother. "Vincent passed away young, at 27. He was a drug-user but they said it was a brain haemorrhage in the end. He lived that lifestyle, and I was in that same fast lane. I could've perished. I was 19, running the streets, ended up in a young offenders institute – and that was my break.
"I had a chance to think: 'What am I doing with my life? I can't just be a petty criminal.' So I came out, got some qualifications and went to [Brunel] university. Vincent never had that chance. He was on the wild side; and he never came back."
The petty squabbling seems irrelevant now; and Harrison sounds magnanimous when withdrawing an allegation that Haye once "took liberties" with him in sparring. After his first defeat, to Williams, they sparred in front of Lennox Lewis. Haye roughed up a dispirited Harrison. "On reflection I have a different perspective," Harrison says. "David didn't know I was on the floor emotionally and spiritually. He expected the Audley he knew when we fought like cats and dogs years before. He was excited in front of Lennox. At the time I thought: 'Why didn't he ease up?' He could see I was having my first spar after a loss and he should've been a friend. But I've mellowed.
"We sparred loads as amateurs in the England squad. He had speed and power but David never hurt me – not even when my confidence was so low. So how could he hurt me now? He can't. David lives a life of chaos. But my life is perfect. I've got a fantastic wife and a beautiful daughter. I've no needs or wishes – other than my God-given purpose to finish myboxing journey. Winning the world title will mean it's mission complete. It will seem all the more poignant because I'm going to beat David Haye with love. The beating I'm going to inflict on him comes out of love and compassion. I know it's going to be good for his soul and ego. That might sound strange but I'm cut from a different cloth to most people. And this is my moment."
A dangerous vision of Haye, moving towards Harrison with violent force, seeps into the mind. But Harrison shakes his head. "My victory is destiny," he insists. "Just sit back and get ready for your new heavyweight champion of the world: Mr Audley Harrison."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/no ... -interview
