Boxing: Harrison is given the full Nelson

As Audley's fight for credibility moves to the States, Alan Hubbard hears a sceptical view

Before he left for Atlantic City last week, to prepare for his United States debut against his eighth opponent, Shawn Robinson, Audley Harrison made it plain that he doesn't give a stuff about what the pundits or promoters think of him so far. It is professional opinion that counts, he said, citing endorsements from the likes of Lennox Lewis, Naseem Hamed and Marvin Hagler for the singular way he has orchestrated his career.

One name he did not mention was that of Johnny Nelson who, alongside Lewis, is Britain's most senior pro. The World Boxing Organisation cruiserweight champion had less than kindly words for the Olympic super-heavyweight champion's world-title prospects when Harrison turned pro and his view has not changed much.

"He's only been in the game for five minutes, but the way he conducts himself and goes about things seems disrespectful to those such as myself who have been around for a long time and worked hard," he says. "He is more or less saying we are idiots, and that he can do it the easy way.

"That's why I am not too sweet on him. He's done a good job of promoting himself because everyone knows who he is. That's OK when you're winning, but when he gets whacked out by someone, who will want to know him then? I'd love to be the one to expose him."

Nelson, a professional since 1986, is undoubtedly the best defensive boxer in the land, if not the world, but more often than not he is Mogadon Man rather than Action Man. But he says he still has aspirations to move up to heavyweight and get to the British title before Harrison, so comparisons may well be made when Nelson, 36, defends his title for the tenth time at the Derby Storm Arena on Saturday night a few hours before Harrison, only five years his junior, attempts to convince his first American audience of his credibility as a future world title contender in Atlantic City.

Nelson's opponent, is the 6ft 4in Guillermo Jones, of Panama City, known in the trade as "The Incredible Growing Man" for the way he began at welter and worked his way up through the divisions.

There have been occasions when a good book and a sleeping bag have been pre-requisites for watching a Nelson fight but they say Jones is a "come forward fighter" which might liven up things. "I'll never say I'm an exciting crash, bang, wallop fighter, but I'm an excellent tactician, and unless you understand boxing you won't appreciate that," says Nelson in his defence. So, one for the aficionados then? Breath should not be held. More explosive action is likely from the fists of Bradford's British light-welterweight champion Junior Witter, who some, not least himself, believe has the beating of Ricky Hatton. Witter meets Guiseppe Lauri, an Italian dispatched by Hatton in five rounds, in a final eliminator for the WBO title.

With the proliferation of tinpot titles which seem to be plucked from a Scrabble board it is deeply significant that one of the biggest fights of the year took place recently without a label to its name yet the winner is now generally recognised as the world champion. When Hamed's nemesis Marco Antonio Barrera beat a former three-times world champion Johnny Tapia in Las Vegas no title was officially at stake as the sanctioning bodies had been told by the fighters to take a running jump.

Barrera and Tapia successfully called the bluff of the Alphabet Boys, whose organ- isations only exist by courtesy of the huge sanctioning fees paid from the combatants' purses. Could it become a trend? The British promoter Frank Warren says: "It certainly makes you wonder if we need titles", while Nelson admits he would seriously consider a similar scenario if the circumstances were right.

"Barrera and Tapia were doing what the fighters should do, saying, let's just get it on, me and you, and then people will know who is the real champ," Nelson explained.

"Listen, a title is very nice, and a belt is very nice. But it is just a title and it is just a belt. It is more important to feel fulfilled within yourself, to know what you've done and who you've beaten. If they said to me, 'Johnny, you've got a chance of fighting, say, Vassily Jirov, the top guy from Kazakhstan, no titles at stake but the winner being recognised as the true world champion', I'd say sure, let's get it on. You don't need labels."

Which will hardly be music to the ears of the likes of Jose Sulaiman, the portly president of the World Boxing Council (WBC) whose organisation is on the brink of bankruptcy following a judgment in New York which awarded the sum of $31million (£21m) to a German fighter, Graciano Rocchigiani, who won a WBC- sanctioned fight with American Michael Nunn for their light-heavyweight title. This had been vacated by Roy Jones, who then changed his mind and said he wanted it back. Sulaiman complied, Rocchigiani sued and now the WBC are facing the embarrassing prospect of being ko'd by a convict – Rocchigiani is currently serving a 12-month prison sentence for violation of a probation order.

Such is the bizarre world of boxing. But it may be a changing world thanks to the stand taken by Barrera and Tapia, who have indicated the real power is with the men of war, and not the men of letters.