Haye Hits Bum Note

Just a quick addendum to Hellie's post about the Haye - Harrison fight yesterday.  Most pundits reckon that the fight is going to be a fairly easy one for Haye - the bookies have him a 1-3 favourite to win by knockout, and 1-12 to win the fight in any method.  It's also odds on to finish inside the distance, and there are no surprises there.

Another person who thinks it is likely to be one-sided is Haye himself, as you can see from the quotes below.  Here's another, that didn't really emerge until the publication of the papers today however.  Haye said to Audley: 'You're going to get violated... This fight is going to be as one-sided as gang rape.'

Unsurprisingly, the comments have been met with widespread condemnation.

In the heat of the moment, men in particular say a lot of things that aren’t met.  While never being in the situation, I can imagine that to be particularly likely in a pre-fight press conference – two men are building themselves up to dislike the opponent, while controversial comments sell tickets, and in turn generate money.  Therefore, odd as this may seem, I can understand why Haye said this.  I cannot, however, condemn the fact that he has yet to apologise.

Rape of any kind is a heinous crime, and to liken a fight to it is quite frankly disgusting.  For a man who sells himself as a genial fellow, and one who the British public in particular should like, his refusal to apologise is surprising.  Controversy may generate publicity, but to this extent it is not needed.  The fight will still go ahead, it will still cost fans €22 or so to watch it on TV, and I’m sure many will spend that...  But I hope Haye sees the error of his ways sooner rather than later.

Another Fight I wanna see!

David Haye
Born 13 October 1980 in Bermondsey, South London
WBA Heavyweight World Champion
Former Cruiserweight World Champion


 Height 191cm or 6ft 3
 Reach 198 cm


 Total Fights 25
 Wins 24
 Wins by KO 22
 Losses 1

Audley Harrison


Born 26 October 1971
Sydney Olympics 2000-First ever British gold medal in Superheavyweight boxing
Turned professional 2001


Height 1.96m or 6ft 5
Reach 86inchs 


Total Fights 31
Wins 27
Wins by KO 20
Losses 4

And the point to this post today?? 

News out today is that David Haye will defend his WBA World Heavyweight title in a fight against fellow Briton and Olympic Gold Medalist Audley Harrison.  (which explains the fact-file type section above!) I loved the press conference from the BBC today so I'll put the link HERE. It's well worth a look but I'll leave some of the quotes that made my day right here for you to nose through at your own time!

"I don't believe Audley deserves a chance but enough people want to see him finally destroyed, that is why this fight is happening," Said Haye

"The fight will be a public execution"

"His resume is not as good as that of the last five people I have fought." Thems fighting words there Haye....

"I'm the most devastating fighter on the planet. This is the time your career gets well and truly finished." You'd never think that these two used to be friends and trained together would you? That is until a falling out some time last year...

Although Harrison had a few choice words to say as well!

He is a guy I groomed,"  

"I have tasted his punches and power and he never hurt me in a training session.

"This is my destiny - on 13 November Audley Harrison will be champion of the world and of that there is no doubt.

"If David Haye thinks I've taken this fight strictly for a payday, he is in for a rude awakening."

As I say this is a fight I badly want to see... Bring on November 13th for what should be a great fight from a World Champ and the wannabe Harrison who recently won Prizefighter...Not that he's had a fantastic career but David Haye is decent fighter and I suspect this to be a cracking fight (as Gavin would say)

I've marked it into my diary already...

Audley Is No Prizefighter

When Audley Harrison won his gold medal at the Sydney Olympics, it seemed that glory and fame were within his reach. He was physically impressive, strong, had the necessary skills and he was loved by the British public. He signed a £2m pound TV deal with the BBC and it seemed that he was set to box his way to a world title in front of the nation. His mantra was clear and was often repeated for anyone who would listen: “I will be world champion.”

What happened next, as they say, is history but unfortunately for Fr-Audley it wasn’t the type of history that he had hoped to make. He won his first 19 fights, none of them impressively, before Danny Williams handed him his first defeat in a drab encounter. The British public rejoiced. Audley had fallen from grace, in a big way. I can’t find video to show it, but the way in which promoter Frank Warren celebrated Williams’ knockdown of Harrison in the 10th round was a metaphor for the nation. Boy, were they delighted to see him on his ass.

Since then Audley has lost three more times – to the average Dominick Guinn, to Michael Sprott and to Belfast taxi driver Martin Rogan. Rogan got the fight with Audley on the back of his win in the original Prizefighter tournament and now, after winning another version of it last night, Audley will be hoping that Prizefighter can do the same for him.



For those of you who don’t know, Prizefighter is one of the ways in which boxing is supposedly fighting back against the threat of the UFC and the rest of the mixed-martial arts scene. I don’t really like it, much as I did enjoy last night’s event. In short, it’s an eight-man knockout tournament which requires the champion to win three fights in the one night. It works, sure, but it’s boxing for people with A.D.D. The longer forms of the sport will always be better in my eyes.

Audley really shouldn’t be fighting in something like this. He should be better than it. Yet his career is now at the point where he had no option but to. To give him credit, he took his chance and was crowned the winner last night. He then repeated the mantra we’d heard so many times: “there's still hope for me and hope for Britain to have a world champion.” I doubt it. Audley beat Coleman Barrett, Danny Hughes and Scott Belshaw last night, a series of moderate fighters but no more. To think that a win over a Galwegian who is considerably lighter and has less experience would put him in the frame for a world title shot is ludicrous.

The old boxing adage goes “you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate” and this is Harrison’s best hope. He needs another TV deal, and he needs to engage with the British public in a way he’s not done since he was basking in the glow of his Sydney triumph. That, however, seems unlikely.