BoxRec

Put aside your vitriole for a while, if you can, and remember how you felt about Audley around the time of his pro debut, or very first few fights.

Did you feel excited about the possibility of a new world class Brit heavyweight? Were you interested but open-minded? Or did you suspect from day one he wouldn't make it?

DON'T look back with hindsight. Forget how you feel NOW. Just interested to see how people felt in the beginning.

Personally, I thought he looked the goods and assumed his amateur success would take him a long way. I did think he needed to shift some weight and also move quickly, given he didn't turn pro until he was 29, but I was optimistic nevertheless.

I thought he'd bite the bullet and sign up with allegedly 5 or 6 fights in to his career and then not fight anyone on his way to securing a ranking with the major sanctioning bodies. Then Warren would have put him in with the weakest of champions and by about now we'd have been looking at him trying to unify the belts in a very poor division.

I just didn't take into account that he didn't really have the heart or the hunger for the pro game. To be fair I think given the state of the heavyweights then (ands they're even worse now) most people would have felt he'd have picked up one of the big 4 belts.

I was excited by his Olympic medal win and thought we might have something here - he is big, mobile and a southpaw.

I met him at a show in London around the time of his pro debut and he came off as rude, arrogant and conceited..

Still, aside from his personality I thought he should be able to make waves on the international scene.

Who would have guessed that his china chin and lack of fighter's heart would see him deliver such an underwhelming career?!

As of now I really have little interest in seeing him box again.

I was very excited.

I remember watching him through the Olympics and thinking he looked almost to good to be true, coming just as Lennox wound down.

He was a great talker, charismatic and really seemed to get the country behind him at the beginning.

I am amazed he has achieved next to nothing, even though I never fell into the trap of believing he was the second coming of Lennox Lewis.

Many of the top amateur heavyweights and super-heavyweights globally post-Lewis have made little impact.

Lewis won his Olympic gold in 1988 using the old scoring system and knew what it was like to be in trouble during a contest - and get stopped by opponents

Since then it has been computer scoring so fighters have been turned into robots because of that method.

Before the 2000 Olympics, Harrison learned to beat a computer and never knew what it was like to face a crisis, take a shot or land a punch with venom.

That left him woefully short in the professional ranks.

Nevertheless he should have had enough to be the best in Britain, but Sprott proved he wasn't even the best in the Southern Area

Good topic. I thought he was the next british world champion and given that he could talk for england he was good for the sport. I also thought he'd fight danny williams quite early on.

That he had potential but the decision not to sign with a promoter was a huge gamble.

My belief was extinguished by the Julius Francis fight.

I'd heard about his chin (ko'd flat out in ABAs). And he didn't seem to have the hunger. Thought he would win British title though.......

I only became a boxing fan In 2004 so I didn't judge Audley until I watched the Williams fight. Most were saying he just fought Journeymen and fought like he had a glass chin and they turned out to be right.

That he had potential but the decision not to sign with a promoter was a huge gamble.

Think Lennox advised him to do It.

In the begining.

Fast hands, puts his punches together well for a Big Guy (his sheer size was another thing in his favour) - but didn't put them together enough. So I have always questioned whether he could fight for 3 minutes.

Oh, and lucky to win the Olympics - in a dire devision.

stujones wrote:In the begining.

Fast hands, puts his punches together well for a Big Guy (his sheer size was another thing in his favour) - but didn't put them together enough. So I have always questioned whether he could fight for 3 minutes.

Oh, and lucky to win the Olympics - in a dire devision.

Yes the Olympics super-heavies that year ere poor. Audley had lost to Samil San in the worlds for goodness sake.

Terry D wrote:I was excited. He looked the part and it was great to have him on the Beeb. The body shot he dropped victim 3 with, the Pole, was well executed and I was a fan.

There were times he looked a talent, against the Dutch Sonny Liston for instance. Drift, age, injury and conceit told in the end though. Funny as it was much the same for the Beeb.

I thought the hersisia fight was probably his best because of the way he moved his combinations from body to head and turned on the style as soon as he came under attack.

In flashes he was/is a good boxer I just wish he could/would put them together

chris s wrote:I am amazed he has achieved next to nothing, even though I never fell into the trap of believing he was the second coming of Lennox Lewis.

Many of the top amateur heavyweights and super-heavyweights globally post-Lewis have made little impact.

Lewis won his Olympic gold in 1988 using the old scoring system and knew what it was like to be in trouble during a contest - and get stopped by opponents

Since then it has been computer scoring so fighters have been turned into robots because of that method.

Before the 2000 Olympics, Harrison learned to beat a computer and never knew what it was like to face a crisis, take a shot or land a punch with venom.

That left him woefully short in the professional ranks.

Nevertheless he should have had enough to be the best in Britain, but Sprott proved he wasn't even the best in the Southern Area

I agree with all that.

I was delighted fro him when he won the gold. But had reservations about how far he would go as a pro. The amateur format in which he prospered is very different to the pro game

I thought he had only shown marginal talent every time i saw as an amatuer or pro.

Terrible jab, slow as hell, very tense and cautious...just nothing really stood out about him as being potentially world class.

That said, i didn't reckon on him turning out to be so lethargic and lacking in hunger and did expect him to improve more than he did.

Bruno on the other hand, was someone i did think would have been better than he turned out to be.

I actually thought he took a lot of undeserved flak at the start regarding his opponents for his first 10 fights. As to his ability I had an open mind but was always a little worried by how he reacted when hit. I finally lost faith though after the Julius Francis 'fight'.... I saw then that Audely lacked the heart and desire to really get anywhere.... he fought Francis like he was facing Mike tyson.... Audely hasnt been helped by the fact that the worse he's got inside the ring the more arrogant he became outside it.... his 'performance' after beating Williams said it all and I basically lost any future sympathy for him from then on.... simply put I think the guy is a bit of a bully who dont like being hit and when he is doesnt hang round for too long....

oliverfennell wrote: Personally, I thought he looked the goods and assumed his amateur success would take him a long way. I did think he needed to shift some weight and also move quickly, given he didn't turn pro until he was 29, but I was optimistic nevertheless.

I was much the same if i'm honest.

if ya talking about the very beginning then i was impressed.

that was in the 98 commonwealth games. he looked a real puncher in that tournament.

i was fairly impressed at the olympics as well. although i always knew that the pro's were a different ball game.

almost right from the beginning i wrote off his chances of pro success. especially when he struggled his way thru some early pro fights.

he never convinced me he could get beyond domestic level. as it turned out he never even beat the best at domestic level.

I bought into the whole gold medal hype tbh, and thought he would be a certainty to go all the way.

before knowing what i know now....

i was excited when i seen him in the olympics and then when he went pro. then he got cautious, clumsey, his desire and love for the sport became unapparent and his quick demise began. and tbh i cheered sprott on all the way in his lst fight. harrison is gobby but dosent everback it up with his fists.

but..........in my defence i was a teenager bk then n maybe less sceptical and more gullable than i am now.

fight fan 101 wrote:before knowing what i know now....

i was excited when i seen him in the olympics and then when he went pro. then he got cautious, clumsey, his desire and love for the sport became unapparent and his quick demise began. and tbh i cheered sprott on all the way in his lst fight. harrison is gobby but dosent everback it up with his fists.

but..........in my defence i was a teenager bk then n maybe less sceptical and more gullable than i am now.

when sprott knocked him out it was a great fornicating moment tbh.

I thought he had lovely teeth.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I thought he had lovely teeth.

That was his problem. No grit between them.

The Francis fight really exposed him once and for all, Francis himself seemed rather nonplussed by Audelys timidity and seemed to wish he had actually trained for the bout.....

I felt the same way as I did(and to an extent still do) about Khan.

Clearly supertalented but in the pro's u need to prove chin, stamina and punch power to make a successful transition.

Audley has yet to prove any of these yet

I still have my doubts about Haye also, though he does seem to have learned from the Thompson defeat, but I'm still not sure about his chin and stamina... as for his '12 rounder' that was just a joke and its a worry if he thinks that going 12 in that 'fight' was a true test of his stamina....