Boxing: Harrison faces fans' revolt over mismatches
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Your support makes all the difference.The ring education of heavyweight Audley Harrison has not gone to plan and tomorrow night he fights for just the seventh time against a man who will probably leave the ring in short order.
Harrison and the men and women whom he has selected to guide his career have imported an American called Wade Lewis for tomorrow night's fight at the Olympia in Liverpool. On paper, Lewis looks hopeless.
The criticism of Harrison started long before his first fight last May and since that débâcle it has intensified. Harrison is convinced that the media has an agenda to ruin his progress to the heavyweight title and there have been several confrontations.
Lewis is the type of American heavyweight who once upon a time slipped in and out of the UK as cannon fodder in the 70s and 80s, but things should be different now. Less than three months ago, Lewis was stopped in one round by his fellow American Dominick Guinn. Harrison's first opponent, the loveable but useless Michael Middleton, was fresh from a medical ban when he briefly shared the ring with Harrison last year.
In total, Lewis has won 11 of his 14 fights, but only one of the 11 men he has beaten entered the ring having won their previous fight and only one actually had a winning record.
Harrison, who was once a shrewd judge of boxing and boxers, must know that this is not acceptable and he must also recognise that more than two years after winning a gold medal in Sydney he is face to face with a public revolt over his career. He may be big, but he has a thin skin for a boxer and he hates criticism.
Back in July, Harrison went six rounds with the Essex bouncer and stand-up comic Dominic Negus in a fight that thankfully captured the public's dwindling interest and the BBC's viewing figures went up from just over two million to more than three million. However, in May 2001, more than seven million tuned in to watch Harrison's big adventure start.
Harrison has been working extremely hard on improving his stamina and by using a variety of sparring partners it is possible that he is in the best shape that he has been in since he captured the Olympic title.
Tomorrow night he should be able to remove Lewis in the opening round and if he requires six rounds once again, as he has in three of his six fights, it will not be a good learning experience. Men like Lewis are hired to be chopped down and beaten quickly and any messing around is pointless.
It is to be hoped that Harrison will fight once more before Christmas and if his entrance for tomorrow night's fight is marred by the boos that were heard at his last fight it is possible that the BBC's top fighter will require canned applause in addition to the corporation's best spin doctors in the future.
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