by James Slater – Well travelled 35-year-old British heavyweight Michael Sprott, the former British, Commonwealth and European Union belt holder, has agreed to step in at short notice to fight Audley Harrison on April 9th, in a fight that will decide the European title Poland’s Albert Sosnowski vacated so as to challenge WBC king Vitali Klitschko in May..
Sprott, 31-14(16) has agreed to face the man he sensationally KO’d in the 3rd-round back in February of 2007, but first he must get past Germany’s Werner Kreiskott, 7-13-1(5) this coming Saturday, in a bout that will help make up the under-card to the Wladimir Klitschko-Eddie Chambers world title clash. This is the word according to Boxing News magazine’s web site.
As fans know, 38-year-old southpaw Harrison, 26-4(19) was to have faced Sosnowski in an April fight where “A-Force” felt a win would lead him to a world title challenge. But with the Pole’s “dream fight” coming against Klitschko, Team-Harrison had to look for another worthy opponent. Enter the capable Sprott.
And, if Sprott can come through okay against the fairly limited Kresikott in two days times (as he should), and as long as he picks up no cuts or other injuries in the bout, the return with Harrison will be on. Can Sprott KO the former Olympic gold medallist a second time, or will the recent “Prize Fighter” winner get his revenge?
An interesting fight, especially for British fight fans, this one could very well go either way. Though Sprott is not known as a massive puncher, he well and truly flattened Harrison just over three years ago when the two met at Wembley. However, it must also be remembered how Harrison managed to put Sprott on the floor in the opening round of the 2007 fight.
Sprott has had mixed fortunes since bowling Harrison over. He has had five fights since, losing all but one of them (all distance fights) and, on a sadder note, Sprott lost a close family member a few months ago, and this personal event prevented him from participating in the October 2009 edition of “Prize Fighter” that was won by Harrison.
Harrison has fought six times since being parked by Sprott, winning all but one of them (the loss coming on points to Belfast’s Martin Rogan back in December of 2008). On recent form then, the older man has to be looked at as a slight favourite to win on April 9th. But then again, Sprott may just have Harrison’s number.
Hopefully, Sprott will take care of business in a complication-free manner on Saturday (an impressive KO win would be nice) and then get it on with the man who still insists he can become heavyweight champion of the world.
Something tells me big Audley will indeed extract his revenge over Sprott next month.