By Nate Anderson: In a shocking upset, heavyweight Carl Baker defeated Danny Williams by a three round decision last night at the Excel Arena, knocking him down two times in the process of winning a the Prizefighter III competition. Baker dropped Williams with a big right hand in the opening 20 seconds of the bout as Williams blindly walked into the shots while trying to throw big power shots of his own in the opening seconds of the round.

After Williams got to his feet, Baker was all over him, nailing him with big shots. About halfway through the round, Baker knocked Williams down again, dropping him with a hard combination to the head. In the 2nd round, Williams still didn’t look that good as he repeatedly got nailed with big shots from Baker. Somehow, Williams was able to stay upright despite getting hit with some hellacious shots.

In the 3rd round, Williams tried as best as he could to stage a comeback, firing big right hands and left hooks that seemed to hurt Baker, causing him to clinch and hold onto Williams to get him to stop firing punches. However, all Baker had to do was just ride out the round and make sure he didn’t get taken out, and the victory was his.

Unfortunately for Baker, he was defeated by Coleman Barrett in his next bout, which removed him from the Prizefighter competition.

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Harrrison stops Barrett to win the Prizefighter competition

Former Olympic Gold Medalist Audley Harrison stopped Coleman Barrett in the 2nd round in the finals to capture the Prizefighter III tourney. In Harrison’s first bout of the night, he defeated Scott Belshaw to get to Barrett in the finals. Harrison, 37, was hoping to fight Danny Williams in the finals. However, Carl Baker pulled off an upset by defeated Williams by a three round decision.

Harrison had problems against Barrett in the opening round, getting tagged by huge salvos from Barrett that had Harrison covering up and looking timid. Harrison looked really bad, like a shot fighter as Barrett pummeled him with shots, tagging him nearly at will. There was a clash of heads in the opening round, which appeared to be initiated by Barrett. However, no cuts opened up on either fighter. In the 2nd round, Harrison suddenly came to life, blasting Barrett with a long left hand that badly hurt Barrett. Harrison then ended matters with a tremendous left to the head that sent Barrett sliding down the ropes onto the canvas where the fight was then stopped.

For Barrett, it was a disappointing loss. He came so close, beating Scott Gammer in his first quarter final bout, and then beating Baker to get to Harrison.

The victory was a great lift to Harrison’s sagging boxing career, although it’s still questionable what Harrison can accomplish at this point other than being a good local fighter. If he has any chance at being a success at the world level, he needs to fight with more urgency and come out fast like he did in the fight with Barrett. The problem for Harrison is that he often fights in a lackadaisical manner and can be outworked by fighters with lesser skills than him.