by James Slater – With his now twice postponed fight with Northern Ireland’s Martin Rogan being held up by a hand injury suffered by Rogan, Audley Harrison has had a replacement opponent drafted in for his next bout. Now, this coming Saturday night at The MEN Arena in Manchester, “A-Force” will box 34-year-old George Arias of Brazil in a scheduled ten-rounder..
The 5’11.5″ and approx 215 pound Arias, 41-10(29) is a reasonable replacement opponent, especially at short notice. The Brazilian has not fought in almost a year, however, and it’s not clear what kind of shape he will be in on September 6th. Arias lost his last fight, too, on points to the Ukrainian, Taras Bidenko. Arias went the full 12 rounds in the fight held in Germany, though, and is usually a pretty durable fighter.
Only having been stopped four times in a pro career that began way back in October of 1996, the Brazilian may take the 36-year-old southpaw at least a few rounds. Should Harrison blow him away quickly, he will have earned himself a fairly decent victory. The quickest anyone has gotten rid of Arias is in four rounds, and that came in a fight that took place over three years ago – when Cuban southpaw Juan Carlos Gomez proved too quick for him. If he’s in reasonable fighting shape, has his weight down and is ready for a rumble, the 34-year-old from Sao Paulo just might give Harrison a bit of an argument.
“A-Force” should win though. Much bigger and heavier than the man who once went the distance with Britain’s Johnny Nelson (down at cruiserweight, and for the WBO title), Frenchman Fabrice Tiozzo (also at cruiser) and Owen Beck and Sinan Samil Sam, the former Olympic gold medallist will have all the physical advantages. Also, the southpaw stance the huge Brit fights out of is likely to cause Arias problems, as Cuban lefty Gomez was able to stop him quite quickly.
Most of Arias’ fights took place in his homeland, although he has boxed in England before, when he fought Nelson. And the Brazilian has also fought in America, France, Denmark and Germany. It is unlikely, therefore, that he will be phased at all by having to travel for the bout. To repeat, though – we just don’t know what kind of shape Arias was in when he received the call offering him the fight. Is he coming over just for the payday? It’s possible. If, however, Arias IS in condition he just might give the Manchester fans in attendance an okay performance.
A cautious fighter now that he’s been KO’d, I see Harrison breaking his man down in around 6 or 7 rounds.