Plumber Price turns the tap off on Fraudley's career

It took very little time for Audley to hit the canvas

This past Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, local 6ft8 heavy hope David Price turned in a devastating display to end the career of 2000 Olympic Gold medallist Audley Harrison in a mere 82 seconds. Price deserves all the praise that's coming to him from all corners of the Boxing universe, but the focus has to be on another terrible display from "A-Farce".

Harrison has got to go down as one of the worst Gold medallist from any Olympic games in any weight class, the fact is this man has made a fortune from the sport, despite several failures. Despite that truly embarrassing display against David Haye in November 2010, Harrison still got himself many column inches pre-fight, including a double page spread in Thursday's Mirror, which I was disgusted by. In that interview he talked of being back to the form of his March 2004 4th round knockout of Richel Hersisia, but I doubt anyone would have believed his deluded hype this time around.

Before his comeback bout with Ali Adams, Harrison had talked of fighting a Klitschko and in media interviews before his meeting with Price, Audley got himself another buzz word, this time it was 'redemption'. This after his infamous "Yes I can" speech pre Hayemaker. Harrison deserves respect somewhat for defying so many critics, but there is no way he's bouncing back after this latest debacle.

Harrison in better days

The reason I've written this post is not to make fun of Harrison however, I respect what he accomplished as a Gold medallist and the legacy he left in the amateur game for the likes of Amir Khan, James DeGale and Anthony Joshua, who benefited from increased funding after Audley's Sydney success. What I did not like post-fight was people on TV and online speaking against the Echo crowd for taunting Harrison for a terrible display. Many have said it takes great bravery to enter the ring, and that's true, Boxing is a violent sport, but many of those in the arena on Saturday could have done what Harrison did and would have done it for much less money. Once again he failed to throw a power punch and like in the Haye fight he turned into a human punch bag.

His career has long been tainted and he has played his part in three of the most recognisable TV channels ending their interest in the sport. The 40 year old turned pro at Wembley Arena in May 2001 having signed a million pound deal with the BBC, and blew plenty of opponents away early, which he could afford to do for a two or three years, but the excitement and hype started to wain, people lost interest in Harrison v "a bum" and the BBC ended their coverage of live Boxing, and are very unlikely to return. Audley was then given an opportunity with Frank Warren, who had a new TV deal with ITV, but the beginning of the end started as he lost for the first time in a split decision snore-fest against Danny Williams in December 2005. He did overturn that defeat, but that was after a loss in the States against Dominick Guinn, and just three months after the Williams rematch, he was knocked out in three rounds by Michael Sprott, and Warren soon returned to Sky. Dishwater wins over Jason Barnett and George Arias followed, but after a loss to unheralded Belfast cab driver Martin Rogan, Audley split ties with the veteran promoter.

The Wembley man went on to win Prizefighter and claim the European title with a stunning 11th round knockout of Sprott, which got him the shot against Haye in Manchester. The buzz around the fight was great, Harrison talked up his chances, but his display was one of the worst seen in a world title fight. This fight was screened on Sky Box Office and the uproar from the public made Sky discontinue with charging fans extra for fights. This changed their perception of the sport and has got them to the situation we currently have, which is one promoter providing all of their content, Warren launching his own TV channel and Frank Maloney and Ricky Hatton with no TV contract for their stables.

What it may seem is that I'm pinning a lot of British Boxing's troubles on Harrison, that is not true, there are many contributing factors to the ongoing politics festering in the game, but in the last ten or fifteen years, I can't think of many figures who have tainted Boxing as much as Harrison. I don't know how anyone can justify anything that he has done in his career or how he performed on Saturday night, well done on winning the Gold, but 12 years on, he must take a long, hard look in his mirror at home and think, what have I achieved? It's hard to know what Harrison will do without Boxing, it's never easy to give the sport up, and I personally hope he finds something that gives himself the same fulfilment as he had in Sydney, but judged on the amount of PPV buys he got Sky that November, a job as a door to door salesman isn't a bad idea.

Fury v Price would be a huge fight in Britain

Let's not forget Price here though, this guy looks the real deal, a massive grudge match with Tyson Fury could beckon in 2013, this after the Manchester man launched two separate foul mouthed rants aimed at Price on Saturday night. Like Harrison, Fury could sell time to an inmate, but unlike Fraudley's fight with Haye, that could be a heavyweight fight which lives up to it's hype and puts the former's bout firmly in the back of our minds.