By Jim Cawkwell
Dominick Guinn thought that all his Christmases had come at once. He’d just taken the punches of his gargantuan opponent, weighing 255-pounds and standing six-feet-six-inches tall, yet absolutely nothing happened. Standing only six-feet-three, and scarcely allowing his weight to stray beyond 230-pounds, Guinn was an under-sized specimen fighting to resurrect a career gone south in disastrous fashion. The task was made altogether easier for him because of one factor: the enormous frame before him housed very little resembling an actual fighter.
Perhaps Audley Harrison was doomed from the beginning. Turning professional with the distinction of Olympic Champion brought Harrison much publicity, but the gold medal soon became a troublesome burden, ever-galvanized by the rate of expectations increasing with his every appearance.
Sobering realism is not exactly a suitable chaser to the euphoric high of Olympic glory. With that one successful campaign, Harrison was no longer an obscure heavyweight fighter surviving on the meager sustenance of lottery funding; suddenly, the world regarded him as a champion and professional success promised him a fortune as Lennox Lewis’ successor.
The stark realities of the situation were that Harrison was twenty-nine-years-old, and despite the weakness and disarray of the heavyweight division, dangerously unschooled in the rigors of training and fighting as a professional heavyweight, let alone one capable of becoming a champion.
Of course, all of the signs went unacknowledged, as even the British public that would eventually despise him, showed encouragement, almost daring him to take up the daunting challenge.
Harrison’s professional debut held an expectant air, but unlike the amateur-to-professional transition of Amir Khan, around whom the British public swooned, the feeling of expectation upon Harrison was not whether he would succeed, but when and how badly he would fail.
At last, he has obliged the answer to those questions.
Criticized at every turn, Harrison met a public that dared him into action one moment and heaped derision upon his every move the next. Making matters worse, he chose to deflect the advances of his accusers with rebuttals full of arrogance while refusing to demote himself to a support attraction in order to learn the professional trade and all its intricacies.
The truth is that while Harrison’s behavior alienated many, he made use of the tools he had, but for the task ahead of him, they were insufficient.
Entering the professional ranks at such an advanced age posed several problems for Harrison. Firstly, like most athletes of that age, he was prone to injuries, and sure enough, a catalogue of physical setbacks plagued him. Of course, this meant that he was unable to meet the necessary requirements of a fighter in such a position who must be ready to fight every few weeks in order to maintain sharpness.
Furthermore, Harrison faced the perceived impossibility of having to readjust the mechanics of his body to suit his new environment.
The desired end in both the amateur and professional sectors of the sport is to win, but the manner of doing so differs drastically between them.
Though some amateur bouts end when a fighter succeeds in penetrating the protective head-guard with a knockout punch, or causing sufficient damage to his opponent to prompt a stoppage, the emphasis in victory for an amateur centers largely on collecting as many points as possible. A wide point’s differential can signal the premature ending of a bout, while the majority are won through registering a substantially greater amount over a short distance.
Meanwhile, points victories in the professional game offer the desired outcome, but a greater emphasis is given to knocking your opponent out; a task which a fighter has thirty-six minutes to achieve. Professional heavyweights train their bodies to receive and administer greater amounts of punishment. Harrison’s age rendered the task of teaching his body this new discipline unlikely, before the constant interruptions to his preparations took it beyond his reach.
This is not to suggest that Harrison fought as an entirely ineffective offensive force. Few heavyweights could boast his great hand-speed, nor could they call on the skill that assisted him in picking out perfect combinations to disassemble the threat of his opponents. But in an unforgiving new terrain, and without the mechanics that would have turned his punches from score-stealers to sledgehammers, Harrison found himself surviving on the basis of his boxing ability alone.
Thus, Dominick Guinn, a fighter of considerable ability yet distanced from serious contention by his own curious apprehension, helped himself to a crossroads victory over Harrison with apparent ease.
Harrison has already hinted that this, his second consecutive loss will not signal the end of his career. The temptation is to wonder whether he would be in this predicament at all if he had fought his opponents as stubbornly as he resists the waning of his fighting life.
Without a bargaining tool to tempt his fellow fighters, or a crowd-pleasing style to attract viewers, it is difficult to envision where a significant fight might arrive for Harrison; one that if he won, might help him erase some of the negativity surrounding his reputation. Otherwise, a humbling step down into a rebuilding campaign awaits him, and thirty-four-years-old seems awfully late to have to begin again.
Perhaps retirement is the best option. The name Audley Harrison holds historical significance in amateur boxing, but in the professional ranks, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, its currency is spent. Even attempting to add some perspective to his demise fails to engender sympathy for his failure.
Great Britain has never enjoyed a luxurious abundance of quality heavyweights, possesses none now, nor even the hope that one might emerge to take up the chance that Harrison squandered.
Many casual boxing fans and even those once enamored with the possibilities of Harrison regard his career as a colossal waste of time and talent. But now, surely more sinful would be an attempt to continue it.
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