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| Date | 13 November 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | MEN Arena, Manchester, United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA Heavyweight Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Haye defeated Harrison via 3rd round TKO | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
David Haye vs. Audley Harrison , billed as Best of Enemies, was a professional boxing match contested on 13 November 2010, for the WBA Heavyweight championship. [1]
After his stoppage win over former champion John Ruiz in his first defence, WBA champion David Haye entered into negotiations with the Klitschko brothers with Wembley Stadium and Stamford Bridge being mentioned possible venues. [2] This talks however were unsuccessful as the brothers agreed to face former champions Shannon Briggs and Samuel Peter instead. This left the main options for Haye as, European champion (and former amateur teammate) Audley Harrison and former 2 division champion Tomasz Adamek. [3] Ultimately Haye came to an agreement with Harrison to meet in November. [4]
The build up to bout was marked by a great amount of trashtalk from both fighters, including Haye saying "Fortunately, there are enough people in Britain who want to see him get destroyed, completely annihilated. That's why this fight is happening. They want me to close the curtain on the joke that is the Audley Harrison show." While Harrison said "When I came out of the Olympics they called me Muhammad Ali, then four years later I'm 'Fraudley'. But after this fight I'll be extraordinary.". [5] [6]
It was expected that Haye' superior speed, coupled with his uppercut would give him the edge over the slower and innately more cautious Harrison. [7] [8] [9]
This was only third time in history that two brits had faced each other for the heavyweight title, and first on UK soil since Lennox Lewis vs. Frank Bruno in 1993.
Harrison entered the ring to a chorus of boos, prompting BBC Radio 5 Live co-commentator Steve Bunce to comment that "Audley looks troubled, he looks nervous and he looks tormented". [10]
The first round was extremely tentative with neither fighter landing any punches. The second round started in the same vein before the referee briefly halted the action to encourage the pair to engage, prompting cheers from the crowd. Haye begin throwing more through the rest of the round, but nothing seemed to trouble the challenger. Haye came out firing at the start of the third and he hurt Harrison with a big right hand. Haye followed up with a pair of left-right combinations that sent Harrison down. He beat the count but Haye immediately launched a barrage of unanswered punching with Harrison against the ropes, prompting the referee to wave it off giving Haye a third-round TKO victory. [11] [12] [13] According to punchstats Harrison only landed 2 of the 28 punches (both jabs) he threw although the whole bout.
Harrison's performance was widely criticised by both boxing experts and fans, [14] [15] leading to the British Boxing Board of Control withholding some of his purse while a full investigation of the bout was carried out. [16] After the investigation into the fight was concluded, Harrison would be granted his full purse on 11 January 2011. [17] [18]
Haye would again call out the Klitschko brothers, with his trainer Adam Booth saying to BBC Radio 5 Live "They (the Klitschkos) want a defining fight and David wants a defining fight. David will be retiring in October next year so they haven't got a lot of time to speak sense. He'll take out Wladimir before summer and take care of Vitali after the summer." [19] Haye would face criticism for suggesting that he bet on himself to win in the third round saying in a post fight interview "I put a lot of money on the third round and a lot of my friends and family did. I didn't want to let them down by doing him too early. Ask around - I told everyone I'd knock him out in three rounds. That's exactly what I did. No way was he going into that fourth round." [20] He would later clarify that he didn't bet any money personally, [21] which was accepted by the BBBC. [22]
Confirmed bouts: [23]
| Winner | Loser | Weight division/title belt(s) disputed | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
 George Groves | Kenny Anderson | Commonwealth Super middleweight title | 6th round TKO |
| Stuart Hall | Gary Davies | British Bantamweight title | 7th round TKO |
 Enad Ličina |  Felix Cora Jr. | IBF World Cruiserweight title eliminator | Unanimous decision |
 Edmund Gerber |  Colin Kenna | Heavyweight (8 rounds) | 1st round TKO |
 Johan Pérez | Johnny Greaves | Light welterweight (4 rounds) | Points decision |
| Navid Mansouri | Daryl Setterfield | Light middleweight (4 rounds) | Points decision |
| Jerome Wilson | Henry Janes | Welterweight (4 rounds) | 1st round TKO |
| Mark Heffron | Chris O'Brien | Welterweight (4 rounds) | 1st round KO |
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 Denmark | TV2 Sport |
| Germany | ARD |
 Hungary | DigiSport |
 Poland | Polsat |
| United Kingdom | Sky Sports |
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