"I don’t want it to be a nip and tuck fight. I want to go out there and absolutely put on an exhibition. I really want to break (Audley Harrison) down slowly. Punish him. And then violently knock him out. It’s going to be a public execution. I’m positive about that.” – David Haye
Sitting at the dais on a sunny September morning to announce their upcoming heavyweight championship match, Audley Harrison and David Haye looked more like two actors auditioning for Guy Ritchie’s next heist flick than your typical British prizefighters.
At 6’5”, 250-pounds, Harrison wore a smart black suit, black tie and matching sunglasses – his famous dreadlocks framing the boxer’s smiling face. Sitting opposite him, two inches shorter, 20 pounds lighter and nine years younger, was the current World Boxing Association Heavyweight Champion, who arrived wearing a sequined black t-shirt bearing the “Hayemaker” logo, several gold earrings and sporting his trademark braids.
Displayed on the table in front of Haye was the black and gold WBA championship belt … the physical prize both Brits will be fighting for when they square off this Saturday, Nov.13, at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester.
However, more than a world title is at stake on Saturday, which is why this bout has captured the attention of the mainstream British sports fan and is expected to generate large buy rates for Sky Sports’ pay-per-view arm across Europe and around the globe.
Haye and Harrison, two former friends who grew up in London, are two of the best British heavyweights in the country’s history. But this fight is about more than talent. Saturday's matchup has grabbed an entire nation by the throat because even casual fans in England know how personal this fight really is. And the closer we get to the opening bell, the more antagonistic and hateful the dialogue has gotten.
"Everything I’ve worked for over the years, I can’t let it get undone by Audley “A-Farce” Harrison. No way am I going to let that happen. He’s been around too long. His name is sort of synonymous with losing … failure. He’s a joke. And I can’t allow someone like that to drag me down.” David Haye
Audley Harrison: ‘David Haye was the Student, I was the Master’
The road to a world title shot wasn’t supposed to be this difficult for Audley Harrison.
A decade ago, both he and his mate David Haye were members of England’s national amateur boxing squad. At the time, each was considered a raw talent with unlimited potential.
“David was a young lad then and a bit green,” recalls Stevie Bell, who was the captain of England’s national amateur boxing team. “He listened to Audley and he did the things Audley did. They literally lived in each other’s socks. To have somebody as a mentor like Audley, who had a lot of experience and won a couple of ABAs, you could see that David wanted to learn from him.”
Harrison agrees.
“I believe I was a genuine friend to David Haye on his way up, showing him the ropes,” Harrison told the press back in September. “David was kind of like the student and I was the master.”
But even then, according to those who knew them, Haye stopped deferring to the older man when the two laced up the gloves and got in the ring to spar with each other.
“We used to love watching them spar because they were vicious, and on the England team that was really unheard of,” Bell told Sky Sports recently. “Sparring was just (to practice) technique. But with them, when they went at it, they went at it.”
Probably because he was more experienced than his younger protégé, Harrison earned fame first.
In 2000, at the age of 28, the man who dubbed himself “A-Force” came out of nowhere to win the Gold Medal in the Super Heavyweight Division at the Sydney Olympics – the first British heavyweight to accomplish the feat in more than 80 years.
With the win came a lucrative television deal with BBC Sport that guaranteed the charismatic Harrison a reported one million pounds to broadcast his first 10 professional fights. And though Harrison left the boxing team after the Olympics, he continued to play mentor to Haye even after the youngster turned pro.
“If you look at (Haye’s) early career, he fought on my undercards,” Harrison says. “He didn’t have to sell a ticket. He could just turn up. Obviously, I wasn’t paying him. He had his own deal. But still I allowed him the opportunity to build his career.”
Is Audley Harrison ‘A-Force’ or a Farce?
Once the deal with BBC Sport was inked, though, Harrison quickly fell out of favor with the domestic press and public. Ignoring top British promoters of the day, including Frank Warren and Lennox Lewis, who was trying on his promoter’s cap at the time, Harrison decided he wanted to guide his own career and serve as his own manager and promoter. While such a move is not uncommon among top professionals today, it was viewed as an act of arrogance at the time.
Also, Harrison’s contract with the BBC meant all of his fights would be prominently featured and the network wasn’t keen on spending big money to show mismatches. Most new professionals are given some time to learn the pro game. They do that by taking on a series of relatively “safe” opponents who they can learn from. But the BBC and the British boxing press wanted to see Harrison tested right out of the gate.
When Audley announced his pro debut would take place against Mike Middleton, a trial horse who had scored only eight wins in his 17 previous professional fights, the British press drug the Olympic hero over the coals for choosing an opponent who wasn’t expected to mount a serious challenge.
After stopping Middleton in one round, Harrison responded to the criticism on the air, saying: “What the press has got to realize, and I know boxing fans around the country realize, is that Audley Harrison is the Olympic champion. But that was as an amateur. Now, I’m turning professional and I’m right at the bottom of the scale. I need to learn. If I fight the best straight away, I’m going to be out of my depth. It’s going to take time. They need to be patient with me.”
But asking the press to be patient only threw more fuel on the fire.
And Harrison’s troubles didn’t end there. Because he served as his own manager and promoter, Audley also had to deal with all the headaches typically handled outside a fighter’s view.
On the night of his debut, Harrison got into an argument with Middleton over his purse and a share of the television rights. The American threatened to pull out of the match while the BBC broadcast was on the air. Middleton was eventually appeased, but the network wasn’t happy.
By Harrison’s second professional fight, the press had their knives and forks out and Audley was hearing boos from fans for failing to stop Derek McCafferty inside the scheduled six rounds.
Haye was also growing weary of the mentor-mentee relationship, whether Harrison was aware of it or not.
“When I was younger, when I was a teenager, we both boxed for England together. We were both going around the world. We were training together. I looked up to Audley at that stage. He went out there and won the Olympic gold medal. Something I always wanted to do. I didn’t achieve that. He did. So obviously I looked to him for inspiration in my early years. But as time went on, in the professional game, that was a different story.” – David Haye'
See Also (Part 2) Best of Enemies: 'Karma is About to Smack David Haye in the Face'
See Also (Part 3) Best of Enemies: 'Knocking out David Haye is My Destiny'
See Also (Part 4) Best of Enemies: David Haye Carries Harrison, KOs Audley in 3
See Also (Part 5) Best of Enemies: Audley Harrison Avoids Fine, Receives Full Purse
