Boxing: Bitter Audley stripped of BBC title, page 1

Audley Harrison has suffered the first defeat of his professional career - KO'd by the BBC, whose late-night screening of his 17th fight, against the Polish champion Tomasz Bronin next Saturday, will be the last under the exclusive arrangement that has made him a millionaire.

The Olympic super-heavyweight champion has revealed that no new deal has been negotiated and he is now turning his back on Britain, probably to fight only in the United States. He says: "I don't know when I am going to fight again either on television or in this country. So well done to those people who have been campaigning against me. Well done.''

The bitter ending of his glove affair with the BBC must be a massive blow to Harrison's ego. It comes about, he claims, because the Premiership is returning to the Beeb, who will have no room in future for Saturday-night fights. However, I understand that negotiations actually broke down because the BBC had demanded greater quality control of his opponents after the procession of inadequate no-hopers and has-beens who have crossed Harrison's path, albeit that this is the traditional route for a heavyweight hope. They felt they should have more say in whom he fights, and when, after their initial investment of £1m for his exclusive services following his Sydney triumph.

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