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EXCLUSIVE Yahoo Sport interview with Audley Harrison, MBE.

The Olympic gold medal-winning super-heavyweight boxer on his sporting heroes, Ali v Tyson, the greatest fight he’s ever witnessed, Tyson Fury, and his laudable work for the charity, The Samaritans.

Who were your sporting heroes growing up? Were they all boxers, or were they a mix from across different sports?

They were a mix, yeah. When I was growing up, what got me into boxing was the Marvellous Marvin Hagler, because I grew up in the ‘80s, and then I got to learn about Muhammed Ali and he became a hero. I just love talent, I love people achieving things. I remember sitting up in the middle of the night watching the Super Cup, watching Liverpool in it and other teams in the ‘80s. I just follow success, and I’ve always been a sports fan. From cricket with Ian Botham, to Nigel Mansell, to Ian Wright, I’ve always followed and been passionate about all sport.

And then as a youngster I used to sit up and watch the Rocky movies, so even though I didn’t find boxing until I was 19, I’ve always been passionate about sport. And then when I got into boxing, I kind of became a historian - I found people like Jack Johnson, Bill Richmond. I’m on a discovery, because there are some amazing stories of boxers. Jack Johnson was the first black heavyweight champion from America. He had an amazing life, and an amazing story. His persona is kind of similar to Chris Eubank’s - I see a lot of Jack Johnson in Chris Eubank.

There’s history in all sports, I’m a historian of life, and anybody who had personal sacrifice - from Martin Luther King, to Gandhi and Mother Theresa to Bob Marley. Anyone who stood up and made their mark - I’m inspired everyday by somebody or something.

I’m sure people would be inspired by some of your fights, say that second one against Sprott? That knockout punch…

Yeah, yeah, that was really something. I tore my pec in that fight. I know people sometimes question my heart, but in that match I tore my pec and I knew I had to win because it was a rematch, and in the first fight he knocked me out against the run of play. So losing wasn’t an option. And my pec tore for the second time in my career, and I was fighting the guy with one arm, and so I couldn’t win on points I was just too far behind. But I never lost that spirit, or that attitude, and I just knew. They were screaming at me, and I was so calm and focussed, and I knew I was going to get him - and it was hail Mary, for sure!

And when you land a punch like that, does time slow down? Or does it happen so quickly that they’re just on the floor and you’re celebrating?

Yeah, but I lined it up. I take a step and I line it up, and it’s almost divine. It was like a feint and he let the hand go, and I was already throwing my hand when he went to catch me with a shot. It was just so sweet, when you hit clean like that you don’t even feel like you’ve hit anything. From a technical, tactical and physical point of view, just everything is perfect. It was a perfect set-up and shot, and it’s just lights out. It was a beautiful thing.

In boxing the two kind of greats that most people hold up are Muhammed Ali and Tyson. Would win a bout with both of those in their prime?

The reason we revere Ali so much is because of his personal sacrifice. The stances he took, not just in the ring. He was involved in some of the greatest battles in the ring - from Joe Frazier to George Foreman - some of his fights were epic fights, but why we revere him is because what he stood for outside of the ring. He took stances the average person wouldn’t take because of that personal sacrifice. So in terms of the man, him and Tyson, there’s just no competition.

In terms of the athlete, they were both great athletes. Those two together would have been a great fight. Joe Frazier and Mike Tyson weren’t too dissimilar in terms of their style and their tenacity, so if you put them in the ring together it would have been a great fight, a similar fight. But as the man, Muhammed Ali is the greatest of all time for what he represented. He bought all people together, he was a lover of people, and a lover of life, and he set the world on fire with his charisma and his bravery.

What’s the greatest fight you’ve ever witnessed?

I’ve seen some great fights. Big fights. I’ve seen so many great fights, but one of the greatest fights I’ve ever seen was Laila Ali versus Jackie Frazier, the two daughters, in the Hall of Fame building. I was up there in 2001 and those two put on a 9-round slugfest that was like their fathers. Laila Ali had the moves of her father with the feints, and Jackie Frazier was throwing hooks to the body and hooks to the head. It was just an amazing contest, and one of the best I’ve ever seen.

Nigel Benn vs Gerald McClellan was a great fight, although unfortunately McClellan was permanently injured in that fight. But that fight, we were all just jumping out our seats, I remember watching it getting so involved. I’ve been privileged to be at big occasions, Lennox Lewis/Mike Tyson was a big, big fight in a big arena. Lewis/Klitschko, too. I’ve been blessed to have seen these great fights.

And what’s your personal career highlight?

The Olympic medal, obviously, is the big, big, big one. Going there, with all pressure, and cool as a cucumber, preparation was perfect. Even though I had a bad injury in the semi-final, I tore my knuckle but I wasn’t going to be denied. Talk about having to overcome adversity, with my hand breaking down. It was a big moment, not just for me, but for amateur boxing too, because when I won the Olympics that’s when all the funding started.

Part of the reason I stayed amateur was to lobby the government and everyone to make boxing part of the World Class Performance Plan. I was fighting for my future but also for boxing’s future, so I knew I had to get the gold. And with all the funding we’ve gone from maybe getting a medal to getting 5 medals in 2012, with Luke Campbell, Anthony Joshua and Nathan Adams getting golds. So we cleaned up. The lottery funding made a huge difference, allowed us to be well prepared with sports science, from the psychologist to the dietitian. My gold medal allowed that funding to come into place, so for me it’s a massive thing.

As a professional, Danny Williams 2 was a big thing, because I’d lost my first professional fight to him. So the rematch in 2006 was a big one, and I got the revenge in the TKO in the 3rd round. Same with Michael Sprott, getting that rematch was huge for me. And also coming back and winning Prizefight at 42, an old man coming back.

I was 19-0, regarded as the future of the heavyweights, and I kind of fell, I lost my strength and lost that belief and hunger. It’s something I’m going to talk about in my second book, later this year. I didn’t do too badly, but I didn’t get everything I wanted, so I do rue those days a bit. Life goes on, though, and I’m trying to move into different areas and still do some good.

Recently Tyson Fury’s made headlines with some controversial comments. How important is it for a boxer to be arrogant, to be able to smack-talk, and do you think he went a bit too far with it?

Well, I think everyone is different, and everyone has a different role. I think what we do is try and put people in roles, and they don’t want to be put in a box. Tyson Fury is one of those people, he doesn’t want to be put in a box, and he wants to be who he wants to be. If people don’t like it, he has the attitude that he doesn’t give a hoot. And he brings that into the ring - he’s got that confidence, that swagger. He’s not the most athletically gifted, but he brings that swagger into the ring, and when he gets knocked down he gets straight back up and that’s the right attitude.

He did that against Klitschko, and he got the win. Whatever you want to say about him, how many fighters have tried to beat Vladimir over ten years plus? It hasn’t been done, and he was able to do it. You’ve got to give him credit for that, although what he says out of the ring sometimes doesn’t do him any favours, but he’s young and I’m sure when he gets older he’ll look at it differently. Hindsight is a beautiful thing, but at the moment he’s thinking I’ve won the title and everyone should celebrate me. But once you’re in the public eye, everything is magnified and you can’t get away with it. He has apologised for a few of the things that he said, so maybe he’s warming down.

Who was the hardest opponent you ever came up against?

The hardest opponent I’ve ever come up against is myself. It’s true, I was fighting against myself in there, and when I was ready and focused it didn’t matter who I was facing, or if I had one hand or whatever, I was Superman. The minute I lost that confidence, you’re fighting against yourself. I think you’re always fighting against yourself, more so than your opponent. As an athlete, if you focus on your technical, tactical, and your own inside metrics for success, you don’t need to worry about who you are facing or when you are facing.

You’ve recently been working with the charity, The Samaritans - can you tell us about that?

I’ve recently become an ambassador, and obviously I’ve heard of the Samaritans and the work they’ve done over the years, but basically we came together kind of organically through the WeListen campaign. They reached out to me to help publicise the campaign, but what was kind of poignant with that was that I had just been speaking to my hair-stylist, because Sam Sarpong had just passed away in America.

Sam was the brother of June Sarpong, who is also June’s hair-stylist, said ‘Audley, look, you’ve got that song, you’ve got to release that song to encourage people’, because the song is called Never Ever Give Up. So the Samaritans reached out to me, and it was poignant because June had heard the song and it had kind of lifted her spirits a little bit. So when the Samaritans reached out to me, it seemed like a natural fit. And then I just started plugging their WeListen campaign, and I told them 'Look, I’ve got a song that might be perfect for you’, and it just kind of grew from there.

Audley Harrison has teamed up with Samaritans to release his debut single, Never Ever Give Up, available now on iTunes

www.audleyharrison.com | https://twitter.com/audleyharrison