By A.J. Venn

'14.07 - A-Force' Audley Harrison's 6th pro fight was his most exciting yet, and the Olympic Gold medallist continued to show flashes of world class. His opponent on July 10th at the Wembley Conference Centre, London, was Dominic 'The Milky-Bar Kid' Negus (13-4-1), who took a break from his day job - a bodyguard for Claudia Schiffer - to step in the ring and have a crack at Harrison.

Negus, having fought at Cruiserweight and Super-Cruiserweight, came in at just under 17 stone (238 lbs) and looked in pretty decent shape. Harrison, at 18 stone (252 lbs), was at his lightest since turning pro, which is good, as Harrison's style dictates the need for hand speed and stamina as he doesn't appear to have a knock-out punch.

The first couple of rounds Harrison clearly dominated with a sharp looking right jab, and straight lefts. In the 3rd he used a lot more variety teeing off with hooks to the body and uppercuts, which were the perfect weapon to catch Negus with as he tried desperately to charge in and close the range.

In the 4th, big Audley's crunching left cross rammed home and stunned Negus, who staggered back onto the ropes, with just one of his arms holding him up. Harrison waited a split-second, assumed Referee Ian John-Lewis would step in - he did not - so Audley fired in a left hook to the temple. Negus was furious, spat out his gum-shield and charged at a smirking Harrison and head butted him. The Ref had words with both contestants and duly deducted a point from 'The Milky Bar Kid'.

Now Audley wanted to end the argument and punches rained in from all angles, but Negus had a tough head on him and took them. The next round saw both fighters tiring and the work was mainly lack-luster in-fighting.

Audley came back replenished at the bell of the final round and threw almost every shot in the book - left and right uppercuts, hooks and crosses - where you can see the influence of former Riddick Bowe trainer - Thell Torrence.

At 59-55 on the scorecard, the job was done pretty convincingly by Harrison, who rightly blasted his interviewer and critics for constantly putting him down, and ignoring the positives. Since turning pro Harrison has been absolutely slated by the British press and the BBC have not helped either - which amazes me as they paid Audley £1m for covering 10 fights. This was a marketing mistake by the BBC, as they were trying to get boxing firmly back on terrestrial T.V., but were naive to think anyone's first 10 fights would appeal to anybody other than the die-hard fans. My conclusion is that Harrison has been made a Scapegoat.

Of all the digs aimed at Harrison not one of them is 'bullet proof'...

1. Power. They say Harrison has no punch, so therefore won't get a Title.

I agree he is not huge puncher, but neither was Ali or Holyfield - both Olympic and later undisputed
champs. Also, punch power can be improved with better timing, balance and a few extra trips to the weights room.

2. Stamina. He's been heavily criticized for appearing lethargic in middle/late rounds.

True, but how many 6'5" 12 round fighters go through sleepy patches by the middle rounds? Lewis-Rahman 1? Holyfield-Bowe 2? Klitschko-Purity? Also, with only a pro record of 6-0(3),stamina is
something which will improve with each fight as only 2 years ago Harrison was an amateur brought up on four 2 minute rounds.

And if his stamina was in question in the 5th, how come he came back so well in the last round - by far his strongest?

3. Opponents. criticized for choosing 'nobodies and no-hopers'.

Again, true - in his first 4 - but those are the types you're supposed to fight when you first join the
pro ranks, the last 2 were both ranked in Britain's top 20 - which indicates a huge step up in class.
Look at most of the fighters people like Joe Calzaghe or Ricky Hatton still face now, for example - most of them hand-picked has-beens with big names (eg.Freddie Pendleton) or club-fighters (eg. 'Kid Fire' McKintyre) - but no-one criticizes them.

To sum up on Audley's current stage on his road to a World Title.

To improve on - looks a little open defensively and off balance when going back, does need a couple more pounds per square inch in his punches and maybe needs to strengthen his chin, as non-puncher Mark Krence wobbled him with a punch in his last outing.

On the plus side - superb hand speed and a good work rate for a big guy (especially the body punching/in-fighting), and excellent variety of punches - seems to get a little better each time he
fights. Also he seems to be strong mentally and can adapt to different problems during a fight.

With no clear successor to Lennox Lewis, the future looks bright for Harrison if he continues to improve at this level.