Defiant Harrison vows to continue with his career - comment
Audley Harrison has hit back at his critics and vowed to continue with his career that has been all but extinguished following his desperately disappointing ‘challenge’ to WBA champion David Haye. Harrison’s statement, released today, began with the following quote from Benjamin Mays:
“The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It isn’t a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for.”
Personally, I feel Andre Malraux’s quote below provides a closer reflection of the sense of frustration that many feel towards Harrison after his lame effort against Haye.
“Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one who has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act.”
Harrison’s talent has never been in question but his desire to really put it all on the line, when it really matters, has been lacking throughout his career and was ruthlessly exposed once and for all by David Haye. Naturally Harrison is insisting that he did enter the ring to win, only for his gameplan to be suddenly tore apart when Haye seized the initiative in round three. At best, Harrison’s “strategy” was beyond negative and utterly flawed.
He failed to use his height, reach and weight advantages. He failed to set the fast pace he promised to adopt to test Haye’s suspect stamina and pressurise the champion who likes to fight in bursts. And he failed to show any decent survival instincts and was buried under Haye’s first avalanche of blows.
Harrison’s assertion that Puerto Rican referee Luis Pabon’s stoppage was somehow “premature” is absurd. Arguably Pavon gave Harrison a long count which he barely beat when he rose after 9. Harrison was a sitting target upon the resumption of the action, he offered nothing back in retaliation, and was left on unsteady legs as Haye unloaded at will. It was about as clear a stoppage as you could wish for.
I’m glad that Harrison is at peace with himself (many wouldn’t be) but his decision to continue with his career is merely prolonging more inevitable failure, ridicule and shattered dreams. Harrison’s statement in full is published below.
“The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It isn’t a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for.” Benjamin Mays
“After spending some time away reflecting on the fight and outcome, I have made the decision to continue my journey in boxing and carry on my career as a professional. The David Haye experience had many highs away from the ring and I'm happy I had a great training camp and worked with two of my brothers again in camp. I surrounded myself with a world class team and pushed myself to the limit in training and left my changing room knowing I had given my all to get to this point. The outcry from the fight is expected as I didn't get the result I wanted and the critics have once again tried to bury me under the rubble and hope I disappear.
All I can say is I had a game plan and went into the ring to win. The way the fight ended was frustrating to me as I didn't get going and was just settling into my rhythm. Both styles of feinting and moving was off-setting the both of us in the first two rounds and I was just zoning in on his rhythm when he got through. I'll never be crash - bang - wallop and I'm glad about that; my style is unique but can run into problems like all styles can and I got caught by a good set of punches to go down. I give David credit as I never expected him to hurt me as he did, but anyone could see it was a premature stoppage and I should have been allowed to carry on and ride out the rough patch, even if that meant I would have got KO’d.
I think the Vitali Klitschko beating of Shannon Briggs a few weeks earlier and the public outcry made the referee jump in early and I was denied the opportunity to show my grit, determination and desire to be in there and compete and try to get back on level terms. Let the haters and negative comments continue – I don't really care. I know me and I can sleep at night as I'm happy with who I am today. Yes it hurts not to achieve your goals, but we roll up our sleeves and we try again; such is the beauty of life.”
