09.06.06 – By Karen Belford: Audley Harrison (19-2, 14 KO’s), the former 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist, will make his return to the ring tonight against American, Andrew Greeley (11-12-2, 7 KO’s), at the Tropicana, in Atlantic City. Greeley, despite his poor record, he has good power and skills, making him a good test for Audley who will be using this fight to sharpen his talents under his new trainer, James McGirt. However, no matter how you look at it, Audley will have the usual critics attacking him for his choice of opponent, not understanding that he’s using the bout for his development as a fighter.
While it may seem like a backwards step to many people, however, they fail to understand that Audley is coming off of two consecutive losses against Danny Williams and Dominick Guinn and, granted, they were both close losses, Audley still needs to work on fine tuning his offensive output, something that has been a thorn in his side for his last two fights.
Many people, I know, are counting Audley out, but those same people don’t see his true talent. First off, he’s got the size, at 6’5″ 255 lb, reach, 86″ and the power to dominate the division, once he develops under his talented trainer. However, in terms of raw skills, Audley is far advanced over the heavyweights in his class, such as Wladimir Klitschko, James Toney or Calvin Brock. All of this, combined with his Southpaw stance, his beautiful straight left and right and left uppercuts, makes him the most dangerous of heavyweights, in terms of offensive talent.
Nevertheless, with all his abilities, Audley must learn to not be so kind towards his opponents and to let his hands go much more often. The worst part, nevertheless, is that given all his skills and talents, he’s starting almost from the bottom with his new trainer. All the same, I doubt that it will take him long to get on the right track, for when I visualize the needed changes that need to be made with his offense, my mind’s eyes see a picture of a confident, bold fighter, one that is shooting his jab out and throwing constant left hands that are overpowering his hapless opponents.
Tonight, people will see that Audley is back, and contrary to what they already think about him being a marginal heavyweight, they’re about to see that he is, in fact, the best heavyweight in the division, by far. Yet, somehow, even with a fine performance tonight, I seriously doubt his detractors will be impressed. There’s something about Audley, perhaps it’s his huge size or his calm demeanor, which sets people off, making them want to criticize him and apply their poisonous labels. Eventually, though, they will learn and take back all their doubts. By then, I expect that Audley will have destroyed the top fighters in the division like Wladimir Klitschko, Nikolay Valuev and Sergei Liakhovich.
I hope people can learn, like I have, that feelings of anger, envy and attachment are the three poisons of the mind and they will burn you up inside, if you add fuel to them. These things, among many others, I’ve learned in my daily practice of Buddhism and it helps to understand why people tend to grasp the negative rather than cultivating joy. It’s difficult for people, I know, because the mind tends to wonder towards the negative.
In the meantime, however, Audley must first take care of Andrew Greeley, later on tonight. Don’t expect Greely to be still standing beyond the 3rd round.
Please send any comments or suggestions to me at karenbelford1@yahoo.com