BOXING WBA TITLE FIGHT:TYSON FURY will not be going to the MEN Arena tonight to watch two fighters he claims he could beat already, after only 12 professional bouts. Bravado aside, the unbeaten young Manchester heavyweight says he will have £100 on Audley Harrison at 12-1 to knock out David Haye and take the WBA heavyweight title.
There are more than a few casual observers who share the big man’s view. The reasons are Harrison’s size and Haye’s chin. Harrison, of course, agrees and hopes to grind down the champion with a three-stone pull in the weights and an eight-inch reach advantage. But if picking a winner were that straightforward bookmakers would soon be out of business. The imponderables make for a more interesting scenario.
The fight brings together a 6ft 6in, 39-year-old challenger who weighs more than 18st but boxes as if he were a gnat on an elephant’s backside, and a champion nine years younger, three inches shorter and three stones lighter, who fights with the edgy intensity of a recently released lion. It ought to be a good mix. But, as Fury points out, it could equally be a “boring chess match” if Harrison does not come out of his shell and Haye has to chase.
For the first time since the fight was announced, Harrison yesterday dropped his amicable front and stormed away from the weigh-in with the anger and resolve of someone nobody seems to be taking seriously. He has as much to prove to himself as to his detractors, and that could work for or against him.
If he does throw punches from the start, and if enough of them land to put Haye out of his stride, Harrison has a chance. Perversely, however, it could be his undoing because the very quality that annoys fans, his ultra-defensive attitude and reluctance to engage in heavy exchanges, is the one that may frustrate Haye the most.
It is Haye’s task to break down that considerable barrier.
“I’m going to get close to Audley and make him fight every second of the fight,” Haye said. To do that, he has to get under Harrison’s unusually long leading right arm, all 86 inches of it, and work the body. Once there, he will probably turn southpaw himself in the clinches to prevent Harrison chopping down on him with his numbing left hand.
Harrison reckons he will be too strong for Haye. “He is so scared of losing, he has trained like a crazy man. We did not expect him to come in so light,” he said.
A few pounds either way will make little difference. What will win it for Haye, probably inside five rounds, will be his speed – which weighs nothing at all but delivers a concussive result.
Guardian Service
