Audley Harrison leaves it late but fine punch wins it

The 38-year-old gained revenge over Sprott, who knocked him out back in 2007, and claimed the vacant European heavyweight title at Alexandra Palace last night.

But it was another unconvincing display from Harrison, who was a national hero after winning the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics ten years ago but a figure of derision for some of his performances since.

Reading fighter Sprott was well on top and heading for a points decision, but walked onto a left-hander from Harrison and crashed to the canvas.

Harrison admitted he would have "nowhere to go" if his latest visit to last chance saloon had ended in defeat. Instead, he could now incredibly be in line for a world title shot by the end of the year.

Such are the vagaries of boxing behind the scenes, Harrison may have even jumped ahead of Britain's newly-crowned WBA champion David Haye in the cue to fight WBC title holder Vitali Klitschko or his brother, the IBF/WBO king Wladimir.

Harrison took a big shot in the tenth as Sprott launched himself into a thudding right-hander, and was caught by a stinging uppercut towards the end of the 11th. But Sprott, who only needed to survive the final round, went on the attack again and was caught by what was surely one of the finest punches of Harrison's career.