Audley Harrison Wins Prizefighter III
Harrison Claims Title, Danny Williams' Career Is Now In Tatters
Oct 3, 2009
Audley Harrison breathed new life into his boxing career last night with a second round stoppage of the previously unheralded Coleman Barrett to win the latest installment of Prizefighter: The Heavyweights at London's Excel Centre. The 37-year-old former Olympic champion made light of many observers suggestions that he would struggle with the all-action, three round format; scoring four knock-downs in three bouts en route to the title and £32,000 first prize. The biggest shock of the night though, was the failure of Danny Williams. The reigning British champion and former WBC title challenger was the pick of the contenders and was expected to prevail, however he suffered a humiliating quarter-final defeat at the hands of Carl "The Fridge" Baker, hitting the canvas on three occasions.
Danny Williams and Scott Gammer Eliminated at the Quarter-Final Stage
Danny Williams was expected to make light work of Carl Baker (8-3) however The Brixton Bomber may just have seen his fourteen year professional career ended, after getting floored so easily by a fighter he would have dispatched with ease in his prime. Williams has shown a surprising loss of punch resistance in recent bouts and, although the brave warrior fought back to drop his opponent in the third, it was too little too late and he should probably take this as a sign to finally hang up his gloves.
The defeat of the returning Scott Gammer (18-5) to Ireland's Coleman Barrett was less surprising. Although a former British champion, the Welshman has fought only sporadically since losing his title to Danny Williams in 2007 and was not expected to figure at the sharp end of the tournament. In the other bouts, Audley Harrison dropped Scott Belshaw with huge left hands once in each of the first two rounds - with referee Dave Parris waving the contest off at the end of the second - and Danny Hughes floored Neil Perkins after just 45 seconds of their contest.
Audley Harrison Continues Winning Run
The semi-finals pitted Danny Williams' conqueror Carl Baker against Coleman Barrett and Audley Harrison against Danny Hughes. Whilst most at ringside predicted a comfortable victory for Harrison in the latter bout, the winner of the Baker-Barrett match-up was far more difficult to pick.
Carl Baker started the busier of the two men, dominating the first round, however the biggest man in the tournament (weighing in at 287 lbs) started to visibly tire from the second round onwards, allowing the smaller and lighter Barrett to come on strongly and work his way to a convincing points win.
In the second semi-final, Audley Harrison started slowly against Danny Hughes, before coming alive in the second and third rounds to take a clear points decision after flooring Hughes near the end of the contest.
Audley Harrison's Final Chance For Glory
After six all-action bouts of what had been arguably the most exciting Prizefighter tournament to date, an unexpected final line-up saw Audley Harrison facing unfancied Irishman Coleman Barrett. Having worked his way convincingly to the final, it looked after the first round as though Harrison was going to blow his big chance, the eight fight novice Barrett dominated the opening stanza and looked on course for a fairytale victory. Harrison, though, came alive in the second round, working his way back into contention and unloading the big left hand yet again to score his fourth and final knockdown of the tournament. Barrett was sent sprawling back against the ropes and, although he tried to struggle to his feet, could not beat the count, leaving Audley Harrison the victor.
Where Do Audley Harrison and Danny William Go From Here?
This intriguing tournament had the potential to make or break more than one career. Defeat for Harrison would have left him with nowhere to go but into retirement, his potential unfulfilled, whilst Danny Williams faced being stripped of his British title should he not prevail. Williams lost convincingly and the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) is therefore expected to declare his title vacant, so where does that leave the Brixton man? Williams has had a decent career and can be proud to have reigned over the domestic scene for the best part of a decade, however, victory over a faded Mike Tyson aside, he has failed every time he has stepped up in class and should now retire because he has nothing left to gain from fighting on for ever-smaller pay-days.
Surprise finalist Coleman Barrett demonstrated today that he has the skills to have a bright future in the sport, at least on the domestic scene, but it almost certainly will not be at heavyweight. Barrett was the lightest and smallest man in the tournament and will probably need to boil down to cruiserweight if he is to ever be anything more than a journeyman fighter.
Lastly, the future for the oft-derided Audley Harrison is not really that much clearer than before the tournament started. No disrespect to his opponents but to win the title he has beaten three virtual novices - with a combined record of 24-2-1 - and it remains to be seen whether Harrison will perform any better than in previous years when he returns to ten or twelve round bouts against a better class of opposition. For future fights Harrison will be promoted by Prizefighter organiser Barry Hearn who should be able to guarantee him a British or Commonwealth title fight should he manage to string together a couple of wins, but it is still difficult to see how A-Force can manage the step up to world class even in today's chronically weak heavyweight division.
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