Life as a professional boxer meant plenty of time in Las Vegas for British heavyweight Audley Harrison. In 2006, the pugilist was training in Sin City but had no interest in hitting the slots or jumping in on the craps action. Something a bit more competitive held his interest.
“What’s that room in the back?” Harrison remembers asking.
When someone told him it was a poker room, the Olympic gold medalist became intrigued. He signed up for a poker boot camp and then cashed in the second event he played. His thirst for winning in the boxing ring has transformed into a killer instinct at the poker table. Two weeks ago Harrison was among those in the first flight of the $400 Colossus at the World Series of Poker, one of many chasing a bracelet and a big payday.
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“Now I'm at a level where I sit down to win,” he says. “Before I was just trying to cash, but now I've taken the time to study and learn the game.”
Boxer to Businessman
Dealing with adversity has been a way of life for Harrison, both in the ring and at the poker table. He grew up playing multiple sports including rugby and soccer, but fell in love with the sweet science. In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he became the first British boxer to win a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division after also scoring a gold in the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
“When I was 9, I had an epiphany that I was going to be a famous sportsman,” he says. “So I think I was chasing this epiphany subconsciously. In the other sports I was okay, but wasn't great. I found boxing at 19, which is very late. But the first time I walked into a gym, I knew this was the one.”
At 6 feet, 5 inches, Harrison was an imposing presence in the ring. A pro career followed life as an amateur and Harrison became heavily involved with all business aspects of his career, working as his own promoter and manager. He signed a £1 million deal with the BBC to broadcast his first 10 professional fights.
Harrison officially retired from the ring in 2014 with a 31-7 record including 23 of those wins coming by knockout. Even from those early days in the ring, Harrison always had an eye for business and that continued in retirement via a chance meeting with the woman who’d become his wife.
The two happened to meet while Harrison was in Las Vegas courtesy of a trip from his mentor, former heavyweight champion and fellow British boxer Lennox Lewis. The “Pugilist Specialist” flew Harrison to Vegas as a reward for winning a gold medal. He signed with an American trainer and the string of events eventually led to wedding bells.
His wife was a celebrity hairstylist and just happened to work on the Olympic champion’s hair. They fell in love and were soon married. The Harrisons now live in Calabasas, California, where the boxer entered an unlikely business – a hair salon. Business has been good and the shop just celebrated 10 years with his wife running the day-to-day operations. The Harrisons even recently expanded with a haircare line of shampoos and conditioners.
“I've kind of taken over that,” he says. “I'm scaling it now with my business acumen.”
Looking back, that trip to Las Vegas may have set a course in motion to save his life, Harrison says, and helped him get away from some negative influences. Life as a happily-married family man with a successful business and a love of poker might not have ever been in the cards.
“I would have been back in England, single, probably girls everywhere, horrible,” he says. “I don’t even want to think about it. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m really happy – to have come from where I came from and get my life back on track.”
Pugilist to Poker Player
Three-bets and all-in shoves have now replaced the days of uppercuts and jabs. Harrison loves the game and has a goal of winning a WSOP bracelet. With a big score on the line in the Colossus, he hoped to keep his nice run of cards going. His biggest cash came in 2010 in a $2,000 event at the Venetian. A third-place finish for $ 90,298 included one interesting elimination.
“I knocked out Phil Hellmuth,” he says. ”He kept on bloody raising me every time and I had to keep him honest a couple of times and was able to take him down.”
Harrison now has $283,288 in live tournament winnings and is just one of the latest athletes to jump in poker after retirement. He jumped right into the Colossus after a cash in the seniors event. As a father, husband, and businessman, Harrison can't get away to Vegas all summer but plans to pop in for a few events here and there. In June, he was pleased to see some of his poker studies put to good use at the WSOP.
“I’ve learned so many different techniques that I didn’t know before,” he says. “And I put it all to good use and it held up and was working.”
As a regular on the poker scene back in California, Harrison has a group of poker pros he bounces ideas and strategies off. He’s a regular at the Commerce and Bike, but life as a father with two children heavily involved in sports doesn’t leave the 50-year-old as much time for playing cards as he’d like. His son also is involved in jiu-jitsu, but Harrison mixes in a little boxing training with him as well.
In 2019, Harrison’s two competitive passions merged as he trained Antonio Esfandiari for his boxing match against actor and comedian Kevin Hart. Esfandiari came out on top and Harrison is now an undefeated 1-0 as a trainer. He’s hoping that success carries over to the poker table now.
“I want a WSOP bracelet and I think I’m good enough to get it,” he says. “That’s what I’m focused on this year. I definitely have it in me. And then I’ll feel satisfied with my poker journey.”
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