Harrison back to winning ways

Audley Harrison got back to winning ways 14 months after he was knocked out by Michael Sprott at Wembley when he stopped Jason Barnett in the fifth round at the Thomas & Mack Centre in Las Vegas.

Harrison, 36, who got a mixed reception and was largely negative before a right hook just below the ribs took all the fight out of Barnett at one minute 48 seconds of round five. Barnett was up slowly at nine, but Russell Mora, the referee, waved the end.

Harrison outweighed Barnett, from Florida, by 30lb, but the former Olympic super-heavyweight champion was ponderous, although to be fair, Barnett was interested in nothing but surviving. In the third round, one fans shouted out "What are you guys, friends?" and an outbreak of booing brought a slight upping in the workrate.

The win brought to an end a terrible period for Harrison, who was injured in a car crash last September, the week before a planned comeback fight and also lost his brother, Vincent, who died suddenly in January.

“I felt a little rusty," Harrison said. "It’s been 14 months since I’ve been in the ring but I’m happy with my jab, that’s what I’ve been working on and I got the rhythm.

"When my corner told me  to start going downstairs that’s when I broke him down. He was a live opponent and after 18 months I’m just happy to be back.”