How can David make Haye?

Audley Harrison - the man has seemingly died and come back to life more frequently than Doctor Who. The man who promised so much after the Sydney Olympics and let down so many people with his dull sluggish style (or lack of it) looked to be on the brink of an ignominious retirement. Then came the Prizefighter series on Sky Sports - an evening of quickfire matchups featuring 8 heavyweights, including Harrison, his old conqueror Danny Williams and six relative novices. Williams bowed out with a whimper after being knocked down by a man resembling a fridge. But Harrison won through in his usual style (or lack of it) to revive his career. Of course, the boos still remained.

Then came his one-armed assault on Michael Sprott, a man who had previously beaten him, in April. Down going into the 12th and final round, Harrison managed to find something within himself to knock Sprott out and become European Champion. For the first time, Harrison had shown some resolve and clearly has the belief that he can still do something with his career at the age of 38. In fact, he thinks he can take on the Klitschkos. Which brings us to current WBA Heavyweight Champion David Haye.

What does Haye stand to gain from fighting Harrison for the second defence of his title? If he wins, all is well and as expected and Harrison will slip off the radar forever, to the relief of many I'm sure. He surely will outclass the A-Force but this will prove none of his potential to go onto greater things. A defeat of this old veteran will hardly have Vitali and Wladimir quaking in their oversized boots and certainly will do nothing to increase the size of the purse when one of those two does eventually come calling. By the way, the way in which the Klitschkos appear to ducking Haye is very similar to that of Floyd Mayweather Jr with Manny Pacquiao - blaming anything and everything other than their own vulnerability to a superior fighter for the fights not going ahead. And why is this matchup taking place at the MEN Arena in Manchester? These guys are both Londoners - surely Wembley Arena or The New Den, home of Haye's beloved Millwall would have drawn more loyal fans and created a better (more hostile for Harrison) atmosphere.

The sensible option for Haye if the Klitschkos were indeed genuinely unavailable, would have been a rematch with Nikolai Valuev, ugly though that initial fight was. If Haye could have kept his hands in one piece and knocked the giant Valuev out for the first time in his career, then it would be a true sign of a man who could unify the heavyweight division.

Knocking bells out of Audley will not prove that

RM