Former WBC junior middleweight champion Tony Harrison has his eyes on a hoped-for trilogy fight against unified IBF/WBA/WBC 154-lb champion Jermell Charlo if he wins his match this Saturday night against Bryant ‘Goodfella’ Perrella.
Harrison (28-3, 21 KOs) and the 32-year-old Perrella (17-3, 14 KOs) are headlining this Saturday, April 17th on FOX PBC Fight Night at the Shrine Exposition Center, Los Angeles, California. The start time for the Harrison vs. Perrella card is at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.
It’s been a year and a half since ‘Super Bad’ Harrison, 30, was stopped in the 11th round by Jermell Charlo (34-1, 18 Os) in their rematch in December 2019, and they’re now 1-1 in their two fights.
Harrison defeated Charlo by a 12 round unanimous decision in their first fight in December 2018 after out-boxing him for the entire fight.
Although Charlo maintained that he’d been given a bad deal when it came to the scoring of the first fight, the boxing public still viewed him as the clear loser. But in their second fight, Charlo evened the score with Harrison by taking him out in the 11th round.
“I’m a fighter; I’m a competitor. For the level of hatred we’ve got for each other, I don’t understand why it wouldn’t be a rubber match,” said Harrison to DAZN about his goal to fight a trilogy with Jermell Charlo.
“I don’t need it to be for a belt, we can meet at a catchweight, but I don’t want to retire from the sport of boxing with me and Jermell Charlo at 1-1,” said Harrison.
Charlo should want a trilogy with Harrison, but his mind is set on wanting to take on WBO junior middleweight champion Brian Castano next for the undisputed 154-lb championship.
There’s talk of Charlo and Castano being in negotiations for a unification fight that could take place this summer on pay-per-view. Boxing fans are already looking forward to the Charlo-Castano fight despite it still not having been announced.
The winner of Charlo’s match against Castano (17-0-1, 12 KOs) will be the undisputed champion in the junior middleweight division. Harrison will have an excellent chance of challenging the fight’s winner as long as he beats Perrella this Saturday.
“I think it would be great for the sport, and he knows the fans want to see it again, but the ball is in his court. He’s chasing legacy,” said Harrison about a rubber match between him and Jermell.
Since his win over Harrison, Charlo has captured two additional titles at 154 with his recent 8th round knockout victory over IBF/WBA champion Jeison ‘Banana’ Rosario last September.
Charlo’s success since his win over Harrison will make it difficult for Tony to justify that he deserves a trilogy match. Harrison has got to get busy and start taking on top 10 contenders. There’s nothing wrong with Perrella, but he’s not mentioned in the same breath as these top guys:
- Erickson Lubin
- Jarrett Hurd
- Erislandy Lara
- Israil Madrimov
- Tim Tszyu
- Jeison Rosario
- Sebastian Fundora
- Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams