Haye stops Harrison to retain heavyweight title

The West Australian

David Haye stopped bitter British rival Audley Harrison in three rounds in the second defence of his World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight title in Manchester on Saturday.

The 30-year-old inflicted Harrison's fifth professional defeat in front of 20,000 fans at the MEN Arena in Manchester after exploding into action in the third round, flooring the challenger before following up to force the stoppage.

Haye, who won the world title with a points win over Russia's Nikolay Valuev a year ago, improved his record to 25 wins, one loss and 23 stoppages while Harrison slipped to five losses and 27 wins since turning professional after capturing the gold medal at the 2000 Olympics.

It means Haye can go on hoping for a unification title fight against one of the other world heavyweight champions, Ukrainian brothers Wladimir (IBF and WBO) and Vitali Klitschko (WBC).

But for Harrison, at 39, an unfulfilled career could be at an end.

Harrison claimed he would put everything on the line against his one-time friend and former sparring partner, but when it came to it he froze and failed to land a single noteworthy punch.

Harrison was booed into the ring and there were more jeers at the end of a non-eventful first round when the challenger failed to throw a single punch.

Haye, who had strapping on his right calf, and Harrison were both warned by referee Luis Pabon to start hitting each other rather than just dancing around the ring in the second round.

But Haye exploded into action in the third round when a right shook Harrison and left the challenger tottering forward.

There were three more bursts of punches from Haye before a barrage of blows, mostly from his right hand, sent Harrison falling forwards onto the canvas, with his gumshield spilling out.

Harrison gamely got to his feet at the count of eight and was waved forward but Haye was in unforgiving mood and piled on the punishment until the referee waved the fight off after one minute 53 seconds of the third round.

Get the latest news from in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails