BoxRec

Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison is being ditched by BBC television who have told him next Saturday's fight against Poland's unbeaten Tomasz Bonin at London's Alexandra Palace will be his last for them.

The Sydney 2000 super-heavyweight champion says he was informed that the decision has been taken for financial reasons.

But he believes the return of Match of the Day to BBC, the departure of director general Greg Dyke, who was instrumental in signing him after his Sydney triumph, and "a continual campaign against myself and my company A-Force" are the real reasons.

"It is with great disappointment that I have been informed that this will be my last fight on the BBC and the reason is financial from their point of view.

"Basically I have been told that they cannot afford my fights any more although they believe I am going to be the heavyweight champion of the world. I was given no quarter to negotiate," said Harrison, winner of all his 16 paid fights.

He has faced constant criticism over the quality of his professional opponents but said: "The people I have boxed have been right for my career and the people I have dealt with at the BBC have understood that."

The bombshell that his current three-fight deal with the BBC, which finishes next Saturday, will be the last was dropped while he was training to fight Bonin.

"It hasn't been easy and I'm trying to focus on the fight," said Harrison who believes the decision is also a severe blow for his sport.

"The return of Match of the Day means that, in my opinion, there will be no more big-time boxing on the BBC. Greg Dyke was responsible for bringing me to the BBC and I believe his departure has given them the opportunity to return to how it was before I came along.

"I believe boxing and the Premiership can go together and boxing deserves better than the graveyard shift and delayed Grandstand slots.

"I'm sad for the two and a half million people who have watched my fights. Fans of boxing need to write to the BBC and beg them to reconsider their policy, not for Audley Harrison but for boxing.

"I'm the first British Olympic boxing champion for 32 years and the best hope of succeeding Lennox Lewis and I wanted to do that on the BBC but it has been ripped apart by people for their own selfish reasons."

Harrison insists his efforts to fight British rivals like current champion Matt Skelton and former champion Danny Williams have been frustrated, while their promoter allegedly claimed Audley priced himself out of those fights.

"I've been blocked from the British title and now I've been blocked from TV. Everyone knows that I wanted the Matt Skelton fight for June 19 on BBC but the reason I couldn't get it was because it couldn't be afforded," he said.

Self-promoted Harrison is adamant he will not sign away his options. "I'm not prepared to do this, which is an old promoters' trick. I'm not prepared to be bought for money."

The Olympic champion's decision to control his own career went against all the traditions of professional boxing and now it could mean he has to fight abroad to achieve his ambition of eventually succeeding Lennox Lewis as world champion.

"If I have to go to Germany and America to get the mandatory chances I need then that is what I will do. It might take a little more time but I'm going to get there because I'm doing nothing wrong.

"The system is bigger than Audley Harrison but I will continue what I'm doing and work with the promoters and organisations I respect. It's the right of freedom of choice to be an independent wage earner in a free market and I will continue to build relationships with the people I want to work through.

"There has been a big campaign against me in this country among promoters and people who wanted me to fight for them. If they can't have me they will force me out - and congratulations to these guys who have done their job well, they have succeeded.

"But I'm not prepared to sign myself away with any individual promoter or entity who do not have my best interests at heart. A-Force Promotions promote Audley Harrison and they cannot be separated," he said.

Interesting. I guess it's either Sky or going to the US for Audley now.

I'm not surprised at the BBC decision, Audley shouldn't be complaining about this.

He has had more terrestrial TV exposure than any other British boxer in recent history (10+ fights), albeit late at night.

And with this exposure he has hand picked opponents which have provided little or no challenge. If his last fight against Julius Francis was an audition for the new Director General then he should have got jobbed earlier.

If he would have used the exposure (which he got paid £1 million pound for) to have one or two challenging fights (what happened to the British title in five fights?) TV companies would be fighting over him. Instead it looks likely that he will be flying out to Germany or the US to try and find a deal.

BTW, I am an Audley Harrison fan...I just wish that he would realise that sooner or later he is going to need to have a competitive fight.


Did the report say if the BBC are keeping Don King on to advertise the FA Cup?

The BBC have spent all their Boxing budget on paying an Americain Boxing promoter to advertise football.

Jess Harding's fighters (Nicky Cook and Esham Pickering) And Audley Harrison dumped by the BBC in one week. Bye-bye to terrestrial boxing coverage.

bennie wrote:Jess Harding's fighters (Nicky Cook and Esham Pickering) And Audley Harrison dumped by the BBC in one week. Bye-bye to terrestrial boxing coverage.

I didn't realise they had been dumped aswell. Nicky Cook was impressive last time out. I'm not a great fan of Esham, but he is a solid boxer and he holds an EBU title too which would have meant some decent fights.

I think David Haye and Nicky Cook are/were the main boxers worth tuning in for on the BBC. I just hope the budget can stretch to Haye versus Thompson at the end of the year.

KOJOE90 wrote:The BBC have spent all their Boxing budget on paying an Americain Boxing promoter to advertise football.

It don't need no Don!

Boxing don't need no Don
Football don't need no Don
Sport don't need no Don
The World don't need no Don
The BBC don't need no Don

Amazing story from Totally Jewish website:

"Don King is known around the globe for his hair-raising appearance. But it was his fund-raising efforts that proved a knockout when one of the biggest names in world sport turned up at Kisharon College last weekend.

During a hastily organised reception last Sunday, the boxing promoter surprised charity bosses and supporters by handing over a £5,000 cheque from the BBC - his payment for appearing in a popular FA Cup advert."

http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/stori ... ory=JdjW17

£5,000 seems very cheap...even for Don King's time.

This is a terrible blow to the sport.
I cannot help thinking that Audley didn’t help the cause by continually fighting no-hopers. The public want to see competitive fights, not some arrogant, egotistic bully beating up on inferior opponents and telling us what a great match it was.
It is sad that they did not put their money behind David Haye, and given him the chances they gave Audley. David would have given them value for money and being almost 10yrs younger he has time to build an enormous following and become their superstar.

I think Harrison can expect a frosty reception at SKY.

Where's my thread?

Ah sorry, I did look before I started mine but obviously not hard enough!

Does not surprise me in the slightest, they let Jess Hardings boys go so easily (it would appear) don't be surprised that they won't renew this deal with HBO either.

The BBC is going out of the game by the looks of it.

Bad news, I'm no Audley fan but he is still the most recognisable active fighter in the UK. He needs to be showcased (even if he is a fraud) lets hope ITV smell the coffee and wake up.

However, that station has been going through trouble with the take over and viewers have been turned off by the uniform presentation and programming of ITV across the UK. It needs to think of its strategy and needs to think long and hard (cause the station is dying). Audley needs a terrestial TV deal here and now.

Also, with Parkinson demanding prime time Saturday - scheduling might be a problem.

I know that not a lot of people like Audley on this forum, but I believe this is bad for boxing. A year ago we had British Heavyweights on terrestrial telly such as Michael Sprott, Danny Williams, Audley Harrison. Now they have all gone. Boxing is slowly losing exposure on terrestrial TV.

I guess one option for Audley is to look at ITV but they have shown no interest in boxing, and channel 5 have shown an interest but with little budget. But seriously I see no point in this, though I'd prefer for him to stay on one of these channels he can go further in US/Sky. At least if he was serious about fighting Skelton, he may now be able to do it on Sky.

I switched off after six rounds of the Harrison - Francis match, it was tedious. Watching somebody pick off a sloth for 12 rounds isn't entertaining to me. I just wish he'd been matched a bit harder in the last few fights.

In my opinion Audley's not good enough, or entertaining enough, to be acting like Billy Big Bollocks. He's nicely cashed in on his medal and novelty value, but I think now's the time to have a look at teaming up with somebody who knows what they're doing.

I hope the BBC keep David Haye, he's as game as a badger, as is Nicky Cook, shame he's gone to Sky, but good on Jess from a business point of view.

AlexY2K4 wrote:I think Harrison can expect a frosty reception at SKY.

I disagree,

If SKY get hold of him he will suddenly become the hottest Heavyweight prospect in the World.

They will change thier tune like a flash IMO.

Could this mean we see Skelton V Harrison???

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/3802795.stm

Can't blame the BBC, Harrison fights at a boring pace and will not step up the competition.

FlawedGenius wrote:I switched off after six rounds of the Harrison - Francis match, it was tedious. Watching somebody pick off a sloth for 12 rounds isn't entertaining to me. I just wish he'd been matched a bit harder in the last few fights.

In my opinion Audley's not good enough, or entertaining enough, to be acting like Billy Big Bollocks. He's nicely cashed in on his medal and novelty value, but I think now's the time to have a look at teaming up with somebody who knows what they're doing.

I hope the BBC keep David Haye, he's as game as a badger, as is Nicky Cook, shame he's gone to Sky, but good on Jess from a business point of view.

The BBC are keeping Haye and Fight Academy.

They will end up the only BBC Promoter.

Thing is, fight academy deliver genuine world title fights.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Thing is, fight academy deliver genuine world title fights.

Exactly. And they put on better shows than all the other promoters.

Well, I would say in terms of fights that Ringside and Fight Academy are probably the best. Hennessey puts on entertaining scraps, but hasn't yet got the depth to challenge the big boys, well put together shows though.

Warren has the numbers, and despite criticisms still puts together some good fight cards, but of course the lack of genuine world title fights hurts the reputation.

Forgot about Ringside. They would be great on the BBC.

bennie wrote:The Sydney 2000 super-heavyweight champion says he was informed that the decision has been taken for financial reasons.

But he believes the return of Match of the Day to BBC, the departure of director general Greg Dyke, who was instrumental in signing him after his Sydney triumph, and "a continual campaign against myself and my company A-Force" are the real reasons.

No, it's the litany of opponents like Tomasz Bonin (no disrespect to him, merely to Audley for fighting him and pretending it's part of an alleged progression to world class) that is the real reason...

Audley Harrison wrote: "I'm the first British Olympic boxing champion for 32 years and the best hope of succeeding Lennox Lewis and I wanted to do that on the BBC but it has been ripped apart by people for their own selfish reasons."

What utter rubbish. Lewis was seriously stepping it up to world class at the same point in his pro career. And Audley himself can take the blame for the BBC's pulling out - they paid him a boatload of money, and he did f*ck all to repay their generosity.

Done a bit of checking with some of my British buddies at ITV sport who know the sports guys at the BBC.

Basically, the BBC are about to announce some big plans for boxing but felt that they weren't getting value for money out of Audley Harrison and would get better value from someone else.

They have doubts about how far Harrison can go and feel he's moving too slowly but they still plan to show delayed highlights of his fights but not Live.

Basically, its looks like they're gonna go with allegedly and FRANK MOLONEY who will bring Joe Calzaghe and the big one RICKY HATTON to the BBC.

The october pay per view will be the last show to feature both boxers and than that'll be the end of Warren's contract with Sky Sports.

For what the BBC are paying Harrison, they could easily get a Hatton or Calzaghe fight so that's looks like their new stategy.

The BBC already have a good working relationship with allegedly and Moloney due to their coverage on Radio Five Live which is estimated to be worth £125,00 and has brought in great figures for Hatton fights, plus Maloney is contracted with the BBC to train celeb fighters for their charity sports day.

I have liked getting my British BBC Tapes and I hope this is true, Boxing will only grow if its on the BBC or ITV and it seems to be getting the 2nd best sports figures for the BBC only beaten by football,




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