By Scott Gilfoid: The new and improved Audley Harrison (31-6, 23 KO’s) has agreed to the terms for his fight against the gigantic 6’7” Deontay Wilder (27-0, 27 KO’s) for a scheduled 10 round fight on April 27th at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
The fight may be scheduled for 10 rounds, but it’s not going 10 rounds. This fight has got an early KO written all over it. I’m not going to sell Audley short, because I think he’s definitely improved immensely since he took off 20 pounds of blubber that he’d been carrying around since he turned pro in 2001, so I think I think he’s got a punchers’ chance of winning if he can blitz Wilder early.
It’s got to be early because once Wilder bounces a handful of huge right hands off of Audley’s chin, this fight is going to be over. The only way for Audley to get around that is to go straight into the teeth of Wilder’s offense and look to score a quick KO.
It won’t help running because Wilder is able to land long right hands with one-punch power. Also, Wilder is devastatingly powerful when he’s throwing shots even while being held onto in a clinch, and I imagine Audley will be doing an awful lot of clinching if the fight goes for more than one round.
Audley said on his social media site: “My side has agreed all points. Waiting to sign on the dotted line. Here is my logic for accepting this fight. Take the biggest risk, 4 the biggest reward. Lose 2 any 1 from this point on it’s over. Here we go.”
I think Audley needs to forget about the retirement threats. We kind of have seen that one used way too many times by him in the past, and I don’t think anyone buys it anymore.
If Audley gets smashed by Deontay on April 27th, then you can believe that it won’t be more than a month or two before Audley is talking about returning to the ring, and giving it one more shots. The British public will likely buy, and then it’ll be Audley fighting someone else and getting good ratings.
This is a good fight because Audley is much improved upon the fighter that lost to David Haye and David Price. He’s so much lighter on his feet and faster, and also seems to have become smarter in the ring. He’s using jab more and boxing from the distance. Will that be enough for him to beat Wilder on April 27th? Probably not, but he’s got a chance and I rate his chances a lot higher than I would someone like Price or Haye if they were fighting Wilder.
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