‘We all need to thank Audley Harrison’, says Tony Jeffries

[Ruthless-RKO]

IF Audley Harrison didn’t win that gold medal in the Sydney Olympics in 2000, I 100% guarantee that British boxing wouldn’t be where it is today.

That gold medal was the reason boxing got funding from the National Lottery. Straight after the 2000 games, Britain put together their eight-year training “world class boxing program”.

This provided boxing with the funding required to hire national trainers and bring all national champions together to be able to train, travel and fight. They put a lot of money and attention into the 14-16-year-old champions and placed them on the plan – I was one of them.

At that age, by the end of the eight-year plan, the fighters would be aged 22-24. That’s a peak age for amateur boxers to compete in the Olympics and they were aiming for the 2008 Beijing Games.

With this money, they could send us around the world to give us the experience of fighting champions from different countries, which we needed if we were hoping to bring any medals back from Beijing.

In 2001, I was picked for the European Cadet championships and was part of a full team. I managed to win a gold medal and I was told at the time that this also helped boxing justify that their world-class training program was working.

We were traveling around the world getting some great results. A few years later, a 16-year-old national champion went to the junior world championships and won gold. That, of course, was Amir Khan.

He was put on the program, received the experience of fighting around the world, and in 2004, went to the Athens Games and won a silver medal. Without Audley’s money, would this have happened? As talented as Amir was, without that international experience that was paid for by this funding, I don’t think it would have.

It’s was kind of a snowball effect; the more they invested in us, the better results GB achieved.

In 2008, I won an Olympic bronze, as did David Price, and James Degale won gold. At the time I think this was the most success GB ever had in an Olympic games. Then 2012 saw Anthony Joshua, Luke Campbell, and Nicola Adams all winning gold medals in London, with Fred Evans getting silver and Anthony Ogogo a bronze.

At the Rio Olympics, we had nearly a full team qualify, with lives being changed all the time for all of us Olympians. Professional British boxing is now saturated with world class fighters that have benefited from this amateur boxing funding. This is all the way up to the current day and if you look at how well GB boxing has done since Audley won that gold medal compared to before 2000, I think everyone who is involved with British boxing will realize they have something to thank Audley Harrison for – I know I have!

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[chinarich]

Success breeds success, and, for all the criticism of his professional career - which actually was better than most - Harrison was an excellent amateur.

[oliverfennell]

Absolutely.

Also, he was much maligned for "causing" the BBC to pull out of boxing, but actually it was him who brought it back in the first place, and for 4 years or so they invested heavily in it and brought heaps of boxing from both sides of the Atlantic.

[BitPlayer]

Yup, we owe him a lot.

[Stuarty]

I like big Audley! Can't help but like him! He had me believing he was gonna chin Haye I bet if he came back to fight AJ next year he could probably have me believing again, such is the magic that A-Force possesses!

[Tuan_Jim]

Harrison was a top amateur and was also, by the standards of most, a successful professional. He didn't achieve what he hoped to, but still he did more than the majority of boxers. And he got well paid too!

[jizzle]

Agreed.

[Nightmare Roy]

It's true, he had a decent career as well.

[whiskey]

Is this a comedy thread and all the posts are going along with it ?

He killed professional boxing for a spell.

Haye, Froch etc were kicked off the beeb to make way for Fraudley and after the horrendous return on their investment, beeb never showed any further interest ever again.

I dont buy that he solely brought in the lottery money. Boxing has always been massive on these isles.

Nobody got into boxing after being inspired by him !

[Stuarty]

Is this a comedy thread and all the posts are going along with it ?

He killed professional boxing for a spell.

Haye, Froch etc were kicked off the beeb to make way for Fraudley and after the horrendous return on their investment, beeb never showed any further interest ever again.

I dont buy that he solely brought in the lottery money. Boxing has always been massive on these isles.

Nobody got into boxing after being inspired by him !

He didn't solely bring the money in. 4 years later Khan was our only representative and he was 17 at the time.

[Andrew]

Is this a comedy thread and all the posts are going along with it ?

He killed professional boxing for a spell.

Haye, Froch etc were kicked off the beeb to make way for Fraudley and after the horrendous return on their investment, beeb never showed any further interest ever again.

I dont buy that he solely brought in the lottery money. Boxing has always been massive on these isles.

Nobody got into boxing after being inspired by him !

True

But whilst he didn't solely bring he money in for funding his medal played a huge part.

[Taansend]

Last I heard he was living near my mate in the very suburban Thousand Oaks. He was either in a local 5-a-side league or running one. Or managing a kids team. Or something

[oliverfennell]

Haye, Froch etc were kicked off the beeb to make way for Fraudley

No they weren't. Check the timeline. They were not on the BBC before Audley's deal, nor had anyone else been for years prior. They and many other boxers only ended up on the BBC precisely because of the investment in boxing triggered by Harrison.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Bloody ell, this thread is a year and half old..

[Steveh583]

Audley can articulate the sport very well, particularly the amateur game. It's criminal that he gets overlooked for Amir Khan who can barely string a sentence together. He's a great pundit.

As for his career, he just wasn't built for the pros. No shame in that. His early injury that led to surgery didn't help but he just wasn't a pro fighter. Saying that, I'm sure there are loads who wouldn't sniff at a European strap and two prize fighter trophies in their cabinet. Or the cash he accumulated.

[oogiebe]

Audley can articulate the sport very well, particularly the amateur game. It's criminal that he gets overlooked for Amir Khan who can barely string a sentence together. He's a great pundit.

As for his career, he just wasn't built for the pros. No shame in that. His early injury that led to surgery didn't help but he just wasn't a pro fighter. Saying that, I'm sure there are loads who wouldn't sniff at a European strap and two prize fighter trophies in their cabinet. Or the cash he accumulated.

His biggest issue was his 'tiffany' chin, let's face it.

[rd350lc]

Always did like Audley and think he didn't really get the respect he deserved and pleased things have worked out well for him .

Was crap on the " chase " tho , didn't know shite

[Boxerbeetle]

Audley can articulate the sport very well, particularly the amateur game. It's criminal that he gets overlooked for Amir Khan who can barely string a sentence together. He's a great pundit.

As for his career, he just wasn't built for the pros. No shame in that. His early injury that led to surgery didn't help but he just wasn't a pro fighter. Saying that, I'm sure there are loads who wouldn't sniff at a European strap and two prize fighter trophies in their cabinet. Or the cash he accumulated.

Audley should 100% be a regular pundit, instead of the useless Froch / Khan et al.

[Oiky]

Top amateur was audley can't take that away from him

[Steveh583]

He also lobbied extensively for amateur funding. People forget that.

[Steveh583]

Let’s not start praising too much Harrison May of helped boxing funding but let’s not pretend he did it for altruistic reason

He was lobbying for amateur funding before he'd earned a single penny in the pro game.