Audley a tough case for gumshoe

The impression remains that, having agreed to a derisory fee of reportedly £3,500, Middleton will be hanging on for not a moment longer than necessary when Britain's much-lauded Olympic super heavyweight champion makes his professional debut. Indeed, bookmakers William Hill have cut the odds on a first-round knockout from 4-1 to 2-1.

Such first fights always tend to flirt with the surreal and this one is no exception. The adversaries met for the traditional pre-bout 'head- to- head' at the RAF Museum at Hendon because of the American's military past. Since he spent four years in the U. S. Army's 24th Infantry Division, the local branch of Boots might have been more appropriate.

Middleton claimed the two boxers first met in an elevator prior to the Lennox Lewis-David Tua contest last November.

'I don't remember that, ' countered Harrison with all the studied disdain of the spider looking down on a trapped fly.

The Sydney gold medallist was determined to look and sound mean.

'My hands are both fine - they are punching like mules,' he declared.

Middleton looked like a 21st century peroxide version of a Raymond Chandler character: He walked slowly into the room, his dark glasses hiding the eyes of another late night. He wore a long black mac, though it had not been raining. Suddenly, the sun disappeared, blocked out by a 6ft 7in, 18 stone monster with menace on his mind. 'This is gonna be my toughest case,' he thought to himself.

Away from the opening paragraphs of a paperback, the 6ft 1in, 151/2st Middleton came across as bright and likeable, a conscientious gumshoe with a degree in criminology who might have been a lawyer had he not joined the military at the age of 23.

'My work is usually sitting in a car a lot watching people,' he explained. 'I do insurance claims - when people slip and fall in a supermarket and hurt their back, they want to sue for a huge amount. So the super-market hire me to follow them around and video them water-skiing, or whatever.

'People have been making light of me because I have a day job. I'm sorry I'm not a boozer from Hackney, but having a day job doesn't mean you can't be an athlete as well.'

There was a sense of deja vu yesterday for the man once dropped behind enemy lines. He arrived in England sans manager and trainer, though both are due tomorrow. 'I am a little overwhelmed and, yes, alone and isolated,' he said.

The previous occasion, during the Gulf War, saw him hit by a piece of shrapnel when the blowing up of an ammunition dump went wrong.

'No big deal.' he said. 'Nothing compared to the business of being punched for a living. You take your life in your hands when you go into the ring every time. But I'm not frightened. I am looking forward to it. I see it as an opportunity.'

Despite the meagre cheque, this will still be Middleton's biggest boxing pay day and, in theory, a chance to level his record at nine wins and nine losses with one no-contest.

On that occasion both fighters fell out of the ring.