By Sean McDaniel: With his three impressive wins, two by stoppage, could heavyweight Audley Harrison (26-4, 19 KO’s) be on his way to becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world? Harrison seems to have jump started his failing boxing career with his victories over Coleman Barrett, Danny Hughes and Scott Belshaw during the Prizefighter competition on Friday night. Could those victories have been the magic elixir to free Harrison from the bonds that have been holding him back from realizing his potential all these years?

Harrison came out of the 2000 Olympics with a Gold Medal in the Super Heavyweight class, and looked to be well on his way to winning a title or three in the heavyweight division. It’s hard to say what caused Harrison to fall short of his goals, because he certainly had loads of talent and great physical size.

At 37, nothing has changed really Harrison may be a little older, but he still appears to have the same power and potential that he did then. He’s a very young 37-year-old, maybe with a physical age of 28 or 29. He looks very youthful for his age and has no doubt kept himself in top physical shape during his eight year professional boxing career.

He’s had problems in the past with a handful of his fights, losing his concentration and getting beaten by Danny Williams, Dominick Guinn, Michael Sprott, and Martin Rogan. However, Harrison appears to have put those defeats behind him and has moved to another level with these latest victories in the Prizefighter competition.

I actually this whole tournament was a good thing for Harrison, because not only did it give him a shot in the arm in terms of self confidence, but it also taught him how to fight with urgency because the Prizefighter bouts were limited to only three rounds instead, say, 10 or 12. This is the missing ingredient. Harrison needs to fight as if each fight is only three round fights.

He needs to see the bouts as three segments where he goes all out for three rounds and if he is unable to score a stoppage during that time, he needs to start over again in his head for the next three rounds. The point is, Harrison has to unleash his physical talent by letting his hands go and fighting all out. We saw recently how this same practice worked well for David Tua with a 2nd round knockout win over Shane Cameron. This is exactly the thing that Harrison needs to do.

Other than the Klitschko brothers, Harrison easily has the best talent in the heavyweight division. At 6’4 1/2″ 250, with an incredible reach of 86 inches, Harrison has the size that other heavyweights could only dream of having. Never mind that Harrison has been reluctant to use his tools in the past, I think he’s beyond that point now.

If he can see the bouts as three round fights, Harrison has the tools to take out any fighter in the division, including the Klitschko brothers. Audley’s left hand is like dynamite. If he can let it go and land it like he did against Barrett and Belshaw, no one can stand in his way. His management needs to immediately set up with fights against leading contenders in the division and make sure that he fights the same way he did in the Prizefighter competition.

If Harrison is fighting like that, he is unbeatable. He has to be going forward and not waiting around. We saw that when Harrison is fighting with determination, he’s lethal with his power. Once Harrison picks up an easy title over someone like Nikolay Valuev of David Haye, then Harrison can begin to tackle the tougher bouts against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko and his brother, IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.