From where, might he forgive us for asking, has Audley Harrison found the temerity to risk the fragile roots of his latest, and surely last, comeback against the great knock-out hope of American heavyweight boxing?
Deontay Wilder will appear on the undercard of Amir Khan’s home-coming fight in on April 27 brandishing a perfect record of 27 wins, all of them by KO.
Harrison will emerge from the opposite corner with Britain remembering how he froze the last time he faced a hefty puncher in the north of England… and David Haye is nothing like as large and intimidating as Wilder.
Brutish: Deontay Wilder (right) has a perfect record and is set to take on Audley HarrisonHefty: Wilder (right) wants to add Harrison to his list of victims having beaten all previous opponents by knockout
Gleaming: Harrison shocked fans by winning the Prize Fighter tournament in February Down and out: Harrison walks away from Derric Rossy after putting his opponent on the canvas
So what makes the man dubbed Fraudley believe he can defy the odds as well as his own nervous tension this time?
The answer, apparently, is to be found in a gym in the US, where Harrison resides.
Reports from America have it that Wilder has been flattened by Harrison in sparring. Not once, but twice.
So when our former Olympic champion says, ‘This is a door I must walk through,’ that would explain why he is confident of remaining upright once he is inside the room.
Pointless? The last time Harrison came up against a big puncher he was floored by David PriceRise and rise: Price (left) celebrates his victory over Harrison (right) More from Jeff Powell... JEFF POWELL: Vorsprung durch technique (and speed, strength, fitness) - how the German super-athlete came to rule the football world... but what can Rooney and Co learn? 30/05/13 JEFF POWELL: Brutal Froch-Kessler fight has given a face-lift to the battered image of this hard old game 27/05/13 Jeff Powell's ten greatest British battlers... but where does Froch rank on the list? 26/05/13 Warhorse Froch eyes another charge at King Ward after heroic victory over Kessler 26/05/13 Best of British: Froch-Kessler could become one of the best - but what were the others? 24/05/13 Bring on the Gladiators - Froch v Kessler II could go down as one of the greatest fights in boxing history 24/05/13 Jeff Powell on Friday: Scholes and Co bowed out in typically understated fashion (unlike you-know-who), the bland new England shirt will cost parents a fortune... and City owners will have a conflict of interests in New York 23/05/13 Jeff Powell: Forget Beckham's millions, Manny and Money Mayweather show the hard old game is still a real box-office hit 20/05/13 Jeff Powell: Beckham transformed a reasonable talent into immense wealth and fame... for that, I have nothing but admiration 16/05/13 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE
What it does not tell us is why the Americans are sending their potential heir to the world heavyweight kingdom of the Klitschko brothers to Sheffield for a fight which looks for all the world utterly pointless.
The outcome is considered such a formality over there that the Showtime cable network are not planning to screen the bout in its entirety, no matter how brief the duration is likely to be.
Even Khan’s next step on the come-back trail – against former world lightweight champion Julio Diaz – will only be shown on tape delay in the US following live transmission of a title defence by the man who knocked him out, Danny Garcia, against an opponent he has stopped, Zab Judah.
Of Harrison v Wilder, the Americans can expect to see nothing more than edited highlights. Although there is a chance of course that a quick one-punch KO will amount to the entire action.
The reasoning seems to be that Wilder – at 27 a decade the younger - can be given experience of fighting abroad while adding a big name to his record.
Logic insists that the Americans are right. Yet Harrison remains an enigma.
Not for the first time the man who characterises himself as the A-Force has come back from being written off – and urged to retire - to win the Prizefighter heavyweight tournament.
Nor has there ever been any serious doubt about his natural talent. The big question marks hang over his appetite for the fray when the going gets not merely tough, but brutal.
Apprehension has been Harrison’s major handicap.
If, somewhere deep inside an American gym, he really has found the belief that he can handle Wilder then this contrary giant might even heave himself back up into the world championship rankings.
Perish the thought, many will say. And the odds, of course, remain massively against that happening. But either way – whether watching in person in the Motorpoint Arena or live on the BoxNation channel here – don’t blink.
All of a sudden, bang in the midst of his quest for redemption, Amir Khan finds himself only three fights away from a block-buster, life-changing encounter with the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world today.
Almost unnoticed, Khan has been ranked by the WBC as their No 2 contender. Not in the light-welter division of which he has been champion and is currently campaigning – but for the world welterweight title which Floyd Mayweather defends against Rober Guerrero in Las Vegas on May 4.
Even though Khan’s fight against former lightweight champion Julio Diaz in Sheffield on April 27 will be a catch-weight affair at 10st 3lbs, this is a peculiar move.
But assuming he beats Diaz – and if he doesn’t he admits his career will be in crisis – Khan will find himself being fast-tracked back to the big-time.
Onto a winner: Amir Khan could be in line to face Floyd MayweatherPeerless: Mayweather is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world today
Not immediately against Mayweather, since Mr Money is committed to boxing in September and that will not give Khan enough training time following the August end to Ramadan.
But herein lies the value of his relationship with his American promoters, Golden Boy, for which he has taken a deal of criticism while fighting on the other side of the Atlantic.
Golden Boy have landed a financially stupendous six-fight deal for Mayweather with Showtime, the US television network towards whom they have also steered Khan.
Oscar De La Hoya’s company are also shaping a mini-tournament – virtually two semi-finals and a final – from which either Danny Garcia, Lamont Peterson, Zab Judah or Lucas Matthysse will emerge as the unified light-welterweight champion.
Khan has been promised the chance of challenging for those titles this winter.
Paving the way: Oscar De La Hoya (centre) owns Golden Boy In the mix: Lamont Peterson (right) and Danny Garcia (left)Win that and the reason behind the manoeuvring of the WBC rankings becomes clear – a trans-Atlantic TV spectacular against Mayweather next spring.
A quantum leap too far after Khan’s recent setbacks? Not really, since he was robbed against Peterson, was out-classing Garcia until caught by an unusual punch behind the ear and stopped Judah.
Sometimes it’s not only who you fight, but who you know.
One of boxing’s forgotten stories of heroism is being made into a movie.
Harry Mallin’s return from the battlefields of the Great War, his recovery from serious wounds, followed by his winning of Olympic boxing golds at the 1920 and 1924 Games in Antwerp and Paris respectively is the subject of The Wilderness.
Writer/director Alexandra Boyd traces the path of this working class east Londoner from Eton Manor Boys Club, through the horrors of war and on to Olympian heights.
The founding of Eton Manor by wealthy graduates from Eton to give poor boys a sporting chance, as well as a good old-fashioned love story, flesh out the film - which is expected to reach cinemas early next year.
The gateway to boxing’s next fortune opened wide on Saturday night as Zou Shiming, the two-time Olympic gold medallist who is a folk hero in China, won his first professional fight.
The telecast from a glitzy casino in Macau is believed to have been watched by hundreds of millions in China, where prize-fighting used to be banned by Chairman Mao.
Good start: China's Olympic hero Zou Shiming won his first professional fight
Promoter Bob Arum and trainer Freddie Roach are both predicting that the 31-year-old Zou can be fast tracked to a world title challenge in 2014.
For the delectation of China’s population of billions, here comes Pay-Per-View.
That cash cow might arrive even earlier if Arum can harden up plans for Manny Pacquiao to make his autumn come-back in Macau.
George Foreman is saying that he has only one regret about his mighty world heavyweight championship career – that he took part in perhaps the most famous fight of all time.
‘There was no necessity for me to fight Muhammad Ali in that Rumble in the Jungle,’ says Big George. ‘I wish I hadn’t. I was only chasing the money but that man made me the dope in his rope-a-dope.’
Well, if it’s any consolation George, thanks for the memories.
Regrets: George Foreman wishes he'd never taken part in the 'Rumble in the Jungle' against Muhammad Ali (centre)Rope-a-dope: Foreman was caught out by Ali (left) as the heavyweight soaked up his attacks
Iconic: Foreman finds himself on the canvas after an accurate flurry from the great Ali
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