Boxing: Harrison admits dramatic win over Sprott was a real tester

AUDLEY HARRISON acknowledged his win over Michael Sprott at Alexandra Palace last night was anything but straightforward.

The 38-year-old gained revenge over Sprott, who knocked him out back in 2007, and claimed the vacant European heavyweight title with a 12th round knockout.

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 but walked onto a left-hander from Harrison and crashed to the canvas. Harrison said afterwards: "My shoulder went in about the second round, my whole right side locked down. Michael was excellent, caught me with lot of shots but I showed a lot of heart. To pull out that shot showed I wanted to be European champion, wanted to keep my career."

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