Betfair Prizefighter: Travis Walker to win battle of the International Heavyweights

Audley Harrison is looking to bounce back yet again

The Betfair Prizefighter series is back this weekend, and it's the turn of the International Heavyweights. Alex Steedman casts a glove across the line up, which is headed by a certain Audley Harrison.

If you're a fighter seeking redemption, who you gonna call? If you're a young buck on the make, who can you call? If you need a few quid for your old kit bag, who will you call? Prizefighter. So the story has regularly run on the popular Sky Sports show with some surprise names answering the call this weekend.

The line-up for the latest Heavyweight Prizefighter may look like a re-run of Dad's Army with Audley Harrison the star name among a field of thirty to forty-somethings but it is laced with storylines again. And a bit like Silas, the self-flagellating Monk in The Da Vinci Code, I feel strangely drawn to the idea of Harrison 7.06/1 pulling one last rabbit out the hat. Yes I do. Really? Hmmm.

Fair or not, most boxing fans gave up on Harrison some time ago and everyone else followed after his defeat to David Haye in 2010. Harrison lasted only ten minutes that night, less time than it had taken him to convince some that he had a chance. David Price didn't give him that hope last October when he brutalized him inside 100 seconds. If Harrison was considered gun-shy before, how will he behave on the back of such a beating? He also happens to be the named target coming into this too.

Certainly this is a different line-up to the one Harrison outclassed when winning Prizefighter back in 2009. A-Force enjoyed two stoppage victories that night at York Hall and though he enjoyed a charmed draw against rookies, there are no bone-chillers here. Old rival Martin Rogan, who hassled Harrison out of a decision over ten rounds previously, won the inaugural Prizefighter nearly five years ago. He has the style to prevail at this format though the jury is out on where he is at.

Rogan 5.04/1 turns 42 in May and has fought just twice in two and a half years. His recent, four-round warm-up against a journeyman was workmanlike and inconclusive but Rogan is a warrior and has the best attitude of anyone in the competition. 

This International version of Prizefighter has proved lucrative for the travelling boxers with Irish based Cuban Mike Perez and more recently Tor Hamer winning both events. Americans Travis Walker 3.55/2 or Derric Rossy 26.025/1 are most likely to continue the trend. Walker has been found wanting against the better heavies Chris Arreola, Johnathon Banks and Tomas Adamek but he's not exactly swimming with sharks here. Walker had Adamek down and stunned early in their September fight (remember Adamek was world champion at Cruiserweight and went 10 rounds with Vitali Klitschko) and with 31 KO's from 39 wins, he can punch. No doubt Walker has his own vulnerabilities but he'll feel like he's back in the baby pool here.

Rossy has a similar resume having lost twice to Eddie Chambers (went some rounds with Klitschko and Povetkin) but proving good enough to beat the also-rans. Rossy should be fit having fought two weeks ago but he has lost three of his last four and was a very late call-up. 

Prizefighter has always been a potential platform for unknown or hidden talents and Briton's Ian Lewison 4.77/2 is the novice in the pack. At 31, Lewison has only had nine fights, losing just once and while I haven't seen much of him, that defeat to Colin Kenna raises questions about levels. Kenna may have had too much experience for Lewison but he himself has been stopped by domestic level fighters Sam Sexton and Germany's Edmund Gerber. Lewison would have to improve significantly on that form even in a tournament of doubts and I think he's price up on the shortcomings of others.

Still, it's a few levels above the French Prizefighter in which Claus Bertino 34.033/1 was beaten in the opening bout. That event was neck deep in European journeymen so the Dane is probably a million. 

Albert Sosnowski 6.05/1 reached the semi-finals in the event won by Hamer and it's not that long ago he was losing respectfully in European title fights but there is the feeling, even at 33, that he is nearing the end of his career. Sosnowski will at least have a go while 38 year old Timo Hoffman 34.033/1 is durable. He went the distance with Vitali but that was nearly 13 years ago and he has lost more recently to the remnants of Holyfield and Botha so he's pretty much gone.

Prizefighter though is very much here to stay and this renewal could provide one of the strangest sporting stories of the year. I've grown weary of Audley Harrison like many others but his treatment by the mob that night in Liverpool was simply too much. It reminded me of 'Gladiator' and the power of the coliseum crowd. Audley lost that crowd some time ago and winning Prizefighter won't secure their grace again but it might just help a little, if not restoring Harrison some peace. My fingers are crossed though the punting trigger finger is aimed at Walker. 

Recommended Bet

Travis Walker to win at 3.55/2