Audley Harrison

As a youth Audley Harrison was involved in street gangs and petty crime. After being sentenced to three years in prison for robbery and assault he used his time inside to turn his life around. After his release he devoted his time to amateur boxing and to his education. He eventually graduated with degrees in sports science and leisure management from London’s Brunel University.

Harrison began to achieve success as a boxer at national level from 1997 onwards and became a regular competitor at major championships. Whilst he made little progress at World or European championship he was crowned Commonwealth Games champion in 1998 and qualified for the Sydney Olympics, albeit at the last possible opportunity. The defining contest of his successful Olympic campaign was probably his first. Trailing European Champion Aleksey Lyozin 7-5 at the end of round 3, Harrison floored the Russian with a left hook and the fight was stopped with Lyozin still groggy on the ropes. The other three fights were relatively straightforward for the British boxer although he was later revealed to have fought with a serious knuckle injury.

Harrison was forced to take a year away from fighting to recuperate before turning professional as a self-managed fighter. He won his first 19 professional fights and even claimed a world championship of a sort when he won the obscure World Boxing Federation heavyweight title. Harrison then took a step in class to face former world title challenger Danny Williams and lost his unbeaten record via a split points decision.

His career appeared to stall after this and he lost as many as he won over the next couple of years. Following a run of victories against modest opposition he secured a shot at the vacant European heavyweight title and duly claimed the title with a dramatic final round knockout. This in turn earned him an opportunity to fight fellow countryman David Haye for the world title in 2011. The fight ended badly for Harrison as, after barely landing a punch on his foe, he was knocked out in the third round.