By Sean McDaniel: Former Olympic Gold medalist Audley Harrison (26-4, 19 KO’s) will be fighting a rematch with Michael Sprott (32-14, 17 KO’s) for the vacant European Boxing Union (EBU) at the Alexandra Palace, Wood Green, London. The 38-year-old Harrison, however, is already thinking past the Sprott fight, aiming his sights for a fight against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

Harrison says in an article at the Sun, “David Haye fought on my undercard several times. He followed me around, slept on my floor and asked for help. But when I was down, I asked him to put me on his undercard and it never happened. There’s animosity there now. The one I want is Wladimir Klitschko – Olympic Gold Medalist vs. Olympic Gold Medalist. Beating Haye would be a blockbuster fight but it doesn’t give me the substance that beating a Klitschko would. That would seal my legacy.”

Harrison has always taken a hit from boxing fans for not fighting as hard as they would like him to. Despite having incredible athletic skills and huge size at 6’6”, Harrison hasn’t shown the fire in many of his fights to utilize his size. Recently, however, Harrison looked superb in winning the Prizefighter tournament last October, beating three opponents and stopping two of them.

With the fights being three rounders, Harrison was forced to fight really hard really hard and come out firing. With only a short period of time to get his work on, Harrison looked like the same fighter he once was when he captured the Olympic Gold Medal back in 2000. He came out fast, firing big left hand shots and giving his opponent huge problems. None of the three fighters were any match for him.

The win awakened Harrison’s career giving him new hope. He has lost two out of his last four fights going into the Prizefighter tournament, including a 3rd round TKO loss to Sprott in 2007. Harrison was flattened against Sprott in the 3rd round after controlling the action in the first two rounds. If Harrison wants to avenge his defeat to Sprott, he’s going to have to fight in the same way that he did in the Prizefighter tourney by fighting with some aggression instead of his usual pedestrian manner.

Should Harrison get by Sprott on Friday night, he’s still going to have beat a number of top fighters before he gets in the position to challenger Wladimir Klitschko for his titles. Currently, Harrison isn’t ranked in the top 15 by either the IBF or the WBO, meaning that he has a ways to go before he’s can position himself so that Wladimir would have to fight him. It’s highly unlikely that Wladimir will opt to fight Harrison if he’s ranked at the bottom of the 1st tier.

Harrison is going to have to get some meaningful wins beyond just the local opposition that Harrison has mainly been fighting for the past four years. At 38, Harrison has to work quickly. He doesn’t have a lot of time left no matter how young he says he feels. He’s going to start showing his age really soon if he doesn’t start to show it this Friday night against Sprott.