Audley Harrison, (born on October 26, 1971 in London), was a British Heavyweight boxer. He was the first Briton to win an Olympic gold medal in the Superheavyweight division since its inception in 1984. He was also the first Briton to take the gold in boxing in 32 years, and the first at the highest weight class since 1920. After his Olympic success he turned professional, fighting in Great Briain and America, though without the success of other former Olympic champions.

After his medal win, Harrison was awarded an MBE and landed a £1 million deal with the BBC to show his first ten professional fights[1]. The first was against US club fighter Michael Middleton, whom Harrison knocked out in the first round.[2] He was then out of action for several months with a pectoral injury, but by the end of the year outpointed Briton Derek McCafferty over six rounds.[3] Harrison was again criticized in the boxing press for his seeming unwillingness to take on his fellow British contenders such as Michael Sprott, Matt Skelton, Trevor Adey, Keith Long, or Pele Reid, who would have given him a real test.

Audley often brings up his past glories of Olympic Champion with quotes such as "they don't give gold medals away". This kind of comment is used to counter crticism about his professional career. It has been noted that although he won the gold medal in Sydney the fighters in the competition were not good enough to make it in the professional fight game. The one noticable fighter whom Harrison fought in his amateur days was Sinan Samil Sam, who beat Harrison on points. This can be compared to other Olympic champions such as Lennox Lewis, who beat World Professional heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe on his way to winning the gold medal.

Harrison continued to fight in 2003, and in February 2004 he took out US club fighter Rob Calloway in 4 rounds,[4] outpointed Ratko Draskovic over 8 slow rounds,[5] and knocked out one-time British fringe contender Matt Ellis in 2 rounds. Although Herbie Hide and Danny Williams were calling him out, Harrison was instead trying to arrange a fight with 41 year old ex-World champion Frank Bruno, who had been retired for 7 years. A war of words at York Hall, Bethnal Green with the erratic Hide after the Ellis fight resulted in a violent and unsightly riot.[6] The proposed Frank Bruno fight would collapse shortly afterwards, when Bruno was sectioned under the Mental_Health_Act.
Source : Wikipedia