Harrison Stands and Delivers a Win

Twelve days ago, heavyweight Audley Harrison sprained his right ankle in training. He couldn’t spar. He couldn’t run.

The prudent thing to do would have been to pull out of Thursday night’s nationally televised, 10-round main event against Robert Davis at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula.

But Harrison is tired of being prudent, tired of waiting for an injury to heal after enduring 12 months out of the ring because of a torn ligament in a finger on his left hand, tired, at 33, of seeing the years of promise slip by.

So he taped the ankle, strapped a brace over it and went out and beat Davis on a seventh-round technical knockout to improve to 18-0 with 13 KOs.

Looking tentative and flat at times, his mobility understandably limited, Harrison managed to put Davis (31-7, 19) down in the first round before finishing him off in the seventh.

“I didn’t want to pull out of the fight,” Harrison said. “There were too many people depending on me.”

Besides, he has been through this before. Harrison won the gold medal in the super heavyweight division at the 2000 Olympics for Britain despite fighting with a ruptured knuckle.

The final sequence in Thursday night’s match began with a Harrison left hook that connected with the right side of Davis’ head. Another solid Harrison left sent Davis staggering across the ring to a corner where he stuck his head through the ropes to avoid further blows. Referee Raul Caiz Jr., had seen enough, halting the bout at the 2:21 mark of the round.

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A half empty ballroom before the start of a telecast is not where former heavyweight contender Kirk Johnson had hoped to be at this point in his career after 12 years as a pro.

But after sitting out 10 months because of a broken hand, the 32-year-old Johnson, like Harrison, is happy to be back in the ring. The Canadian fighter was even happier after winning his comeback fight, beating Cuban Yanqui Diaz (13-3, 8) on a technical decision in a semi-main event.

The fight was stopped after the fifth round because of an accidental head butt that left Diaz unable to continue.

Continuing might have proven futile for Diaz anyway. He had been knocked down three times and was behind on all three judges’ scorecards.

“I’ll go right back into the gym,” said Johnson, who improved to 36-2-1 with 27 knockouts. “I don’t have no time to waste.”