PRIZEFIGHTER: The Heavyweights III

For the first time, promoter Barry Hearn’s Prizefighter tournament has taken on a big-fight feel with the inclusion of British champion Danny Williams and Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison in the latest installment of the series in London on Friday.

Such is the interest in Prizefighter: The Heavyweights III that the show has been moved from York Hall — where it was almost an instant sellout — to the much larger ExCel exhibition centre in London’s Docklands.

Some see these events as what the agent Rick Glaser refers to as “gimmick boxing”, but the one-night knockout tournament format has been around for years.

The great British promoter Jack Solomons ran what he called “heavyweight novice” tournaments in the 1940s and staged them on and off for another 30-odd years. As now, the format was the same: eight contestants, with four bouts in the quarterfinals, then two semifinals and the final, all on the same night, and all bouts over the three three-minute rounds distance. The only difference is that Solomons would scatter the bouts during an evening of boxing, which gave the fighters more of a rest between bouts; with the Hearn format it is one bout after another in rapid succession.

Jack Gardner, who went on to become British heavyweight champion, launched his professional career with three one-round knockout wins on the same night in a 1948 Solomons tournament.

Danny McAlinden, another future champion, also got his professional career off to a flying start with three KO wins in one night to win a Solomons heavyweight tournament in 1969. Interestingly, in his opening bout he knocked out another fighter who went on to become a champ, Richard Dunn, in the first round. I doubt if anyone in attendance that night at the old World Sporting Club in London’s Grosvenor House hotel could have dreamed they were watching two future British heavyweight champions when McAlinden and Dunn came out for the first round.

There have been similar heavyweight tournaments in North America over the years — George Chuvalo made his professional start by winning one in Toronto in 1956.

In Friday’s tournament, there is a distinct departure from the previous pattern for British tournaments. Instead of a field of up-and-comers and hopeful journeymen, Hearns has brought in two big names of British heavyweight boxing in Williams and Harrison. Obviously, the hope of most people in the arena or watching on Sky Sports in the U.K. is that Williams and Harrison will meet in a so-called grudge match in the final. Each has beaten the other, but Harrison scored by far the more devastating victory when he demolished Danny in three rounds three years ago. Williams has been talking about how he is eager to beat up Audley to exact revenge, but Williams is such a pleasant, easy-going individual that one suspects this line of talk is just hyperbole (or maybe an attempt to get himself into the right frame of mind).

Harrison and Williams are the clear favourites to win the tournament outright, but in three-round fights anything can happen, and there is always the chance that the more seasoned, better-quality professional can be outworked over such a short distance by a less-talented but ambitious underdog.

Here is a look at the four first-round matches.

AUDLEY HARRISON vs SCOTT BELSHAW

Harrison -800; Belshaw +500

Audley Harrison is 37 and has given some dreadfully disappointing performances, but the 2000 Olympic gold medallist in the super heavyweight division still clings to the belief that he can become world champion. Harrison says he sees the Prizefighter tournament as a great opportunity.

If Harrison can win this tournament it can at least get his career out of the morass into which it has sunk, and there are those who feel that boxing in three-rounders will suit Audley because of his success over the shorter distances in the amateurs. Harrison is so cautious, though, that he will always be at risk of letting winnable fights slip out of his grasp.

When Harrison feels confident, however — that is, if he feels his opponent isn’t a threat — he can box well and punch hard. I think he will look upon Belshaw as someone who isn’t on his level, and perform accordingly.

Belshaw, a 24-year-old from Northern Ireland, is tall and rangy but doesn’t stand up to pressure too well. He was outmauled by the trial horse Daniil Peretyatko, and in his last fight Belshaw crumpled from body shots in the second round against prospect Tyson Fury.

There is no need for Harrison to be timid in this fight. He is the more experienced, more talented and more powerful man, and I expect him to move in and drill Belshaw with left hands from his southpaw stance to bring the referee’s intervention in the second round.

DANNY WILLIAMS vs CARL BAKER

Williams -600; Baker +450

Danny Williams’s British heavyweight title isn’t at stake in the tournament, but if he loses the championship will be declared vacant by the British Boxing Board. It would be a major surprise if Williams lost to Carl Baker in the first round of the tournament, but I don’t see this as a formality even though the “Brixton Bomber” has to be considered a big betting favourite.

Baker is a huge man at 6ft 4ins and around 300 pounds, he’s a southpaw and he has won his last four bouts, so, in a three-round fight, he might have a chance of sneaking a decision if he can get off to a good start, land some punches in the first couple of rounds and then get through the last round.

Williams is obviously the much better fighter and the bigger puncher, but sometimes his concentration seems to wander. Baker has a fleshy physique and he's wide in the waist, but he is apparently a strong fellow, with legs like tree trunks, and although I haven’t seen him box I’m told that he has a useful right jab and is a fairly heavy puncher with his clubbing lefts from the southpaw stance. He might be able to land some jabs and left hands, lean on Williams, smother him and make it the sort of punch and clinch fight that the underdog could win.

This is the biggest event of Baker’s life while Williams might see it as a colossal step down from meeting the likes of Vitali Klitschko and Mike Tyson.

Baker returned to boxing last May after three years away from the sport, but he hooked up with a well-regarded trainer, Glyn Rhodes, and won every round of his first fight after the layoff. Baker says that he has a game plan for the fight.

If Danny goes in thinking all he has to do is to land one big punch, and fights down to the level of his opposition, while Baker sticks to a well thought-out strategy — which I would think will be built around the right jab and keeping a tight defence — then there is the potential for an upset.

Williams shouldn’t, of course, lose to a comparative novice such as Baker, but this is a three-rounder and Danny is Danny — for me, it wouldn’t be an earthshaking surprise if Williams blows the fight.

SCOTT GAMMER vs COLEMAN BARRETT

Gammer -250; Barrett +180

Scott Gammer, a former British champion from Wales, has had more than twice as many fights as his Irish opponent, Coleman Barrett and his opposition has been on a higher level. On paper, Gammer is the clear favourite. I am not so sure he will win, though.

Barrett, 26, is a southpaw who has won all eight of his professional bouts. As an amateur he was a bronze medallist in the 2000 world junior championships, losing to Israel’s Roman Greenberg (who had a winning run as a professional before forgetting to duck against Cedric Boswell).

While Barrett isn’t what you could call a hard hitter he seems to be a capable boxer and I get the impression that he is serious about the game after dropping out of boxing for four years. He easily won both of his bouts this year.

Gammer is big and strong, a good left hooker and certainly a useful boxer at the British domestic level, but a ninth-round stoppage defeat against the much more experienced Danny Williams seems to have taken something out of him, and the Welsh boxer has been stopped in his last two fights. Even though a hand injury was the reason given for Gammer’s corner retirement against Francesco Pianeta, I thought he had a listless look. Meanwhile, I get the sense that Barrett is extremely enthusiastic about boxing in this tournament and that he genuinely feels he will do well.

I think that, over the three-round distance, Barrett might be a bit too quick and busy for the heavier handed Gammer. I’m going with Barrett — a cousin of Irish Olympic representative Francis Barrett — to pull off the upset.

DANNY HUGHES vs NEIL PERKINS

Hughes -150; Perkins +125

Unbeaten prospects meet when Danny Hughes, from Sunderland in northeast England, takes on Neil Perkins, from Birmingham in the midlands.

Perhaps Perkins is a bit old, at 27, to be considered an up-and-comer, but he has won all four of his professional bouts and being a competitor in this tournament seems to have given him the incentive that I think he might have been lacking.

Each man stands 6ft 5ins but Hughes, at around 270 pounds, is the bigger man and he has had a few more pro fights. Perkins was dropped in his last fight but won when his opponent suffered a cut over the eye, whereas Hughes won every round in his last two fights. One could say, then, that Hughes is boxing better than Perkins at the moment, and, with his size advantage, he is the slight favourite. Perkins, though, had a bit more amateur experience (although he shouldn’t be confused with the stocky southpaw Neil Perkins, who was twice an English national amateur champion at middleweight).

From what I have read of Perkins’s comments to the British media, he seems to have the right idea for the tournament format — start fast and keep a busy pace for all three rounds.

I haven’t seen either man box, but Perkins clearly seems the more agile, and from what I can gather he has a good left jab. Also, Perkins owns his own fitness club, so even though he has boxed only once in the last 15 months I would imagine that he stays in good shape year-round.

This looks a spin-of-the-coin fight to me, but I’m guessing that Perkins can use speed, movement and the left jab to eke out a tight win on points.

TOURNAMENT WINNER: As unreliable and frustrating as he has been, I’m leaning towards Audley Harrison to get it right and walk away with the Prizefighter trophy.