By Andrew Walker – Putting the experienced world level campaigner and former undisputed cruiserweight world champion David Haye aside, there has been a buzz about the heavyweight boxing scene once again here in Britain these last few months. A great deal of that has been down too two men in particular though. Martin Rogan and Tyson Fury. Helping them to create this interest has been a supporting cast consisting of Sam Sexton and Derek Chisora. Also waiting in the wings but not discussed here is one fight pro novice former Olympian David Price..
It seems finally that the British heavyweight scene is nearly free from the strangle hold that had been placed on it with the repeated round robin contests between Matt Skelton, Danny Williams, Michael Sprott and Audley Harrison. All that is needed now is for one of the newer challengers to step up and rip the British title away from Danny Williams and perhaps we will finally be rid of the same old names fighting at the top of the British heavyweight tree.
Now before I get too far ahead with this piece I want to make it perfectly clear that I have no agenda against the likes of the aforementioned. I think Danny Williams at his peak was a genuine world class operator who had he been able to correctly motivate himself may have had the ability to have won a portion of the main four recognised belts had he came up against a lesser opponent than Vitali Klitschko. Williams had boxing skill and power and you could not question his heart. It’s just that on one occasion too many he would leave all of that in the gym and not take it to the fight. You honestly would never know which Danny was going to show up.
Matt Skelton may not have been the most gifted of the four but he gave 100% in training and in the ring and to achieve what he did in becoming the British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight champion in his short boxing career was nothing short of amazing. A gentleman outside of the ring and he can be rightly proud that he worked his way up to a shot at a world title and went the distance against Chagaev in a competitive fight. One of Britain’s boxing good guys (if a little dirty inside the ring) and at the age of 42 he is still fitter than most thirty year olds.
Michael Sprott’s career stats might not look too impressive on first glance but take a deeper look and you will see that his losses have come against a mix of world class operators and questionable “home” decisions whilst boxing out in Germany or elsewhere abroad. It’s fair to say he is the least successful of the four but Sprott is still much sought after as a test for any up and coming heavyweight star both here and in Europe.
But the boxer with by far the most talent and the one who has failed to reach even 50% of his potential is Audley Harrison. The 2000 Olympic gold medallist had the world at his feet nine years ago. All he had to do was turn pro and the money and fame would continue to roll in. What happened next was a virtual boxing bible of what not to do if you want to succeed in the harsh world of boxing. Harrison made bad decision after bad decision. He may well have earned good money from his initial deal with the BBC but that would have been peanuts compared to what he could have earned.
Harrison’s bad decisions have been well documented before so I will not dwell on them here but those aside he also had another glaring problem. He was frightened in the ring! Audley Harrison was a proper heavyweight in size and always looked to be in great physical condition. He had speed and an accurate mix of punches in his armour if not one punch knockout power. But bizarrely even if his opponent was a much smaller man with less skill the second they attacked him he would wince and cower away. Covering up and holding on as if his very life depended on it.
This is not a good trait to have if you wish to make a career out of being a boxer. It will take someone with far greater knowledge of this sport than me to unravel the mystery that is Audley Harrison so I won’t try to here. Suffice to say he has proven to be a big disappointment.
So with the old guard almost out of the headlines who are these new heavyweight prospects that have been getting all the attention in Britain lately?
Without doubt the most vocal and possibly the most talented of the new generation is a young man by the name of Tyson Fury. Just twenty one years old and despite only turning pro last December Fury has already amassed six pro fights with all of them finishing inside the distance. For sure the level of opposition is not stellar but for a six fight novice his opponents have been very tough indeed. Fury seems to be improving rapidly with every fight in both craft and fitness and is surely, politics aside only a fight or two away from challenging for the British title.
He could win it tomorrow on his raw talent alone but many a prospect has come undone by getting carried away and running rather than walking to their goal. If the Hennessy team can match Fury against someone of the calibre of Michael Sprott in his next fight (scheduled for next Saturday) and he comes through that as impressive as his previous fights then I would think he has proved to all he is ready to fight for the British title. His next opponent has yet to be named (it won’t be Michael Sprott as he is scheduled to fight Alexander Ustinov on the 20th of this month) so we will have to wait and see for now.
Martin Rogan may have lost to Sam Sexton in his last fight when he made his first defence of the Commonwealth title he won so dramatically from Matt Skelton previously but the 38 year old still has options to fight on and make a run at the British heavyweight title. His loss to the younger and arguably more talented Sexton was controversial and although he was being out boxed by Sexton, Rogan had the younger man out on his feet and was perhaps unlucky to have had the fight stopped by “controversial” referee Dave Parris. A much deserved rest is in order for the big punching Irishman before he makes his next assault on the British heavyweight scene. He might not be a young gun but Rogan has captured the hearts and interest of the British boxing public.
As mentioned previously Sam Sexton is the reigning Commonwealth heavyweight champion and he had been looking to either rematch the only man to beat him Derek Chisora or make a play for the British title against Danny Williams. With Chisora now suspended a move to unify the British and Commonwealth titles with Danny Williams now seems favourite. Calls to rematch Rogan seem to have been ignored for now at least. If Sexton can find the same intensity he showed against Rogan than he could break the spirit of a disinterested Danny Williams. If a motivated Williams shows up then Sexton will need to guard that suspect chin of his.
The last of the new contenders is as of late also the most controversial. Derek Chisora has attracted few fans with his lazy unexciting style. His best win being over Sexton when he caught big Sam late in the final round. Up until then he looked far from having his arm raised as the winner if it had gone the distance. But in his last fight against the limited but game Butlin, Chisora finally showed the skills we had all been told that he possessed. He showed a good armoury of punches that were both accurate and hurtful. Bizarrely though he decided to bite opponent Butlin’s ear even though he was comfortably on top at the time.
After the fight he claimed that he had not but has since received a suspension of four months by the BBB of C. This has put paid to his much touted on, off, on fight for the British title against Danny Williams. If Sexton can get the fight with Williams signed and more importantly won then I’m more then sure that his first defence would come against Chisora if Frank Warren has anything to do with it. To be fair it would be a great fight and one that would be hard to call.
So in summary there are some exciting British heavyweight matches to be made over the next 24 months. Whether they will produce a boxer who can go onto to successfully fight for a world title remains to be seen. I look forward to finding out and if pressed my money is on Tyson Fury to be the fighter who emerges to take on the world. I’m sure the other contenders will be looking to dispute that.