by James Slater – A good number of fight fans may well be saying “enough already,” with regards to the ongoing “Twitter row” between heavyweights David Haye and his would-be challenger Audley Harrison. But, with so little real action currently taking place in the heavyweight title picture (or expected to happen any time soon), the verbal sparring between the two is picking up a fair share of media attention.
And, whether or not Harrison is in any way capable of matching the WBA champion in the ring, he has at least proved he can match him in the sharp comments category. Yesterday, Haye called Harrison “Fraudley” and also told him, in no uncertain terms, to “shut the fcuk up!” Well, today, on his own Twitter page, Harrison has waded into Haye, promising him that if they do fight, he will lay Haye “out cold!
“Keep talking,” Harrison said. “You have your sidekick wasting out time working out a deal, yet you won’t sign. [Tomasz] Adamek is cut and [Nikolai] Valuev is injured. Hope you’re not waiting for James Toney this weekend. You really are becoming a joke blood. You are in for a big surprise. My left hand will connect with your chin at some point and you will be OUT COLD. 30 chin-ups are not going to protect your chin. MAN UP and sign!.”
Okay, Harrison hasn’t actually come out with any sound bites worthy of Muhammad Ali, and Haye, if he even reads what his fellow Londoner has said, will in all likelihood laugh at Harrison’s claims of knocking him out cold. But Audley is pretty much correct when he alludes to the fact that there is no-one else available for Haye right now but him.
Valuev is indeed about to undergo surgery on his shoulder, Adamek will have to let the cuts he picked up in his win over Michael Grant heal, Shannon Briggs is facing Vitali, Alexander Povetkin needs more time to “get ready” for a title fight, Sam Peter goes in with younger brother Wladimir and Chris Arreola bust his hands in his recent win. Maybe Odlanier Solis could face Haye, but he has his own fight coming up in October.
This doesn’t mean there is in any way a big call for Haye to fight Harrison, but the WBA champ has to face someone, and from a business standpoint, “A-Force” fits the bill; at least in the U.K.
If, however, the two don’t meet (Haye has vowed to “crush” Harrison if they ever do get it on), at least we’ve been somewhat entertained by the verbal jousting the two men have been doing. Perhaps this is the closest they will actually get to hurting one another!
If he has read today’s counter by Harrison, expect another volley from Haye soon!