Audley: The Verdict

[Bodyshot3]

Serious thread.

Audley Harrison has now officially retired and it is time to take proper stock of a fighter who frequently infuriated, disappointed and under-performed as well as occasionally showing his real talent.

Sometimes he amused us. Sometimes he simply failed to deliver value for money or even produce a performance worthy of a heavyweight contender. Once in a blue moon he showed heart, boxing ability and some class.

What's your verdict on his pro career; an utterly wasted opportunity and the waste was self-inflicted or did Audley reach his natural level and delivered a good degree of entertainment along the way?

My view - a talent wasted by a failure to listen, commit and learn.

[Funky_Monk]

Alot of it I think stems from his management or lack of. The BBC contract was a disaster in so many ways. It burnt the BBC and perhaps didn't help public perception.
I think Harrison did well financially from it but maybe not mentally and professionally in boxing terms.

I must admit I have grown fonder over time, at least he tried to achieve his goal.
And when the board tried to withhold his purse for the Haye fight despite his obvious short comings I thought that was unfair.

If only he was as determined in the ring as his talk was outside it. I'm not sure the reason but his mind didnt seem to suit the pro game.
Who remembers the save the playground t-shirt!? I admire it in a weird way though.
He was true to his beliefs.

[taansend]

I remember when he won gold in Sydney. I was so chuffed. First time since 1968.

I remember his 1st pro bout was a farce as the opponent refused to come out unless he got more money. That pretty much set the tone for his whole career.

3 rounds is his limit. Maybe it would have been better for him to have stayed amateur.

I rarely say bad things about a fighter but Fraudley pretty much sums up the man. He ripped off the British public time & time again.

But he's now set for life so best of luck to him. He lives in a lovely area & I heard he's a nifty 5-a-side football player too.

[Funky_Monk]

Why would you say he is a fraud?

[Daddy T]

Its easy to slag off Audley ... easy and cheap.
Fact is he's an olympic gold medalist - I guarantee none of the people calling him fraudley (myself included at times ... I'm no saint lol) have achieved anything near as impressive as that.
As a pro well, he took his shot and failed at least he tried to make something of himself.

[yoz]

I still believe.

[papillon82]

He should be proud of his achievements. But he should have retired after the Haye farce. The end to his career has been painful to watch.

[Calza appy]

Tough one. I think calling him a wasted talent is not doing him Justice. Its not like he had some enormous talent but throw his career away because of drink or drugs etc. Its more to do with the talent he didnt have. Yes he clearly had the raw talent a boxer needs. You dont win an olympic gold without some talent as a boxer. His down fall was simply the fact that he couldn't take a punch. Thats not something you can train for or work at. If you cant take a punch as boxer then your going to have a bad time. Thats in your make up, your DNA. You could argue he made the most of the talent he did have (the dude is seriuosly wealthy). I think he would of been thought of more fondly if he had held his hands up after the first couple of KOs and stopped talking nonsense about being a world champ one day.

[piye]

The guy is an olympic gold medalist, @ times prize fighter champ, and European champ and former world title challenger! did he win the commonwealth as well?

Had a very good career in context plus made loads of money.

[mutharasha]

it's just a classic, what-might-have-been. He had all the talent to be great, but I don't think, despite all the smack talk, the he ever really believed he could be great, and that he could defy the odds, and that was his downfall