Shawn Porter feels that the youth, power, and superior conditioning of Tim Tszyu will prove to be too much for the old pro Tony Harrison this Saturday night, on March 11, in their battle for the interim. WBO junior middleweight title at the Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, Australia.
Harrison (29-3-1, 21 KOs) and Tszyu (21-0, 15 KOs) are fighting to put themselves in a position to challenge undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo.
Harrison has already fought Charlo twice and split a pair, so he already knows what he’ll be up against if he earns that fight.
“On paper, this is a fight for Tim Tszyu to win. I think his youth will definitely be a big component in this fight,” said Shawn Porter to Sporting News Australia. “I think he’s going to outwork Tony Harrison. I think it’s going to be a close fight back and forth.
“We know that Tony is a masterful boxer. I think it’s going to be an interesting path Tony takes Tim on and whether Tim can keep up. Overall, it’s a 50-50 fight.
“You go back to the youth. What that means is Tim should have a pretty good gas tank from beginning to end. Tony, on the other side of that, has had a few losses and being a little bit older. Don’t expect his tank to be as full near the end.
“If you look at Tony’s record, those big fights that he lost, those came at the end of the fights. So if this fight ends in a knockout, put your money on Tim. If it ends in a knockout, it ends late.
“I think Tony is definitely going to take Tim on a rollercoaster ride with that boxing ability that he has and also that great jab that he has. A lot of power in that right hand, and I think it goes under the radar for Tony now.
“I think both guys have what it takes to make the fight end in a knockout, but I think there’s going to be energy coming from Tim, and it’s going to be hard to keep up with.
“If you haven’t been there before, you don’t know how it feels,” said Porter about Tszyu being involved in a 12 round fight. “I’ve personally been in a lot of 12 round fights and knew ‘This is 10, this is 11, this is 12.’
“So on top of that, you have the fact that Tony has been stopped in later rounds. I think it’ll be great for Tim and his corner to apply pressure early and keep that pressure on once rounds eight, nine, and teen start to creep in, you add more pressure. As the saying goes, ‘Pressure bursts pipe.’
“I think for fighters, we want to tap the mental just as much as we tap the physical. How do you tap Tony’ mental? You remind him that this is round 10. ‘I’m in great shape in round 10,’ and I think that’s how you get things to creep into Tony’s mind,” said Porter.
