By William Mackay: 40-year-old Audley Harrison (27-5, 20 KO’s) wants to look good in his next fight on May 26th against Ali Adams (13-3-1, 5 KO’s) in their fight at the Brentwood Centre, in Brentwood, Essex, UK.

The fight should be sell out, as long Harrison doesn’t keep suffering injuries that postpone the fight into the distant future. Harrison supposedly is going to retire after this fight, but you know how those things go. If Harrison wins impressive, which there’s a good chance given the 30-year-old Adam’ very limited skills, talent and experience, Harrison will likely put off his retirement.

Adams is an opponent that will probably make Harrison look like the Gold Medalist he was back in 2000. This is a guy that Harrison should be able to KO and really impress. That is, as long as Harrison fights with some fire and looks to slug with Adams. If Harrison lets him hang around, he’ll be clinched into submission with Adams’s constant clinching. Seriously, this will be a real boring fight if Harrison looks to fight sparingly. Adams will do what he normally does in his fights, and will try to rush Harrison early to see if he can take him out. If it doesn’t work, then we’ll see 10 rounds of clinching by Adams unless Harrison can do something to get him out of there.

The skills levels between Harrison and Adams is pretty dramatic, even now with Harrison now 40. He’s still a world above Adams in talent, but he’s going to have to fight with some intensity if he wants to show that. He won’t be able to dominate Adams if he paws away at him.

It’s hard to believe that Harrison hasn’t fought since being stopped by WBA World heavyweight champion David Haye in their controversial bout in November 2010. It was controversial in that neither fighter threw any punches until the 3rd round, when Haye suddenly erupted with a flurry of shots as if he was following a script. Harrison immediately caved in after getting knocked down.

Harrison really needs to retire win or lose unless he’s happy with being below a handful of other heavyweights in the UK.