Tony Harrison feels he’s got the perfect opportunity to earn his long-awaited trilogy fight against undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo by defeating Tim Tszyu on March 12th in Sydney, Australia.
Harrison will need to box Tszyu for him to have a shot at winning this fight because it’s not going to work if he tries to go to war with him, as he’s done in the three fights that he’s lost during his career.
The former WBC 154-lb champion Harrison (29-3-1, 21 KOs) was picked out for the fight after Jermell suffered a hand injury and could not defend his four belts against WBO mandatory Tszyu (21-0, 15 KOs).
Harrison, 32, has waited four years to get a shot at redemption against Charlo after being knocked out in the eleventh round in their fight in December 2019.
In their first in 2018, Harrison beat Jermell by an upset 12 round unanimous decision by outboxing him and taking advantage of how he was loading up on his punches. Charlo still fights like that, loading up on every shot, and trying to knock out his opponents.
The difference between the two fights is that in the first encounter, Harrison boxed cleverly, outsmarting Charlo and taking advantage of the way he was loading up on all his shots.
In the rematch, Harrison came straight at Charlo, looking to slug with him, thinking he could KO him. In hindsight, that move cost Harrison big time because he was no match for Jermell in the power department and was ultimately stopped in the 11th round.
“They got me going against one of the top guys, one of the best people in the world,” said Tony Harrison to Showtime commentator Brian Custer’s boxing podcast about his fight against Tim Tszyu on March 12th.
We don’t know how good Tszyu is because he’s only fought one decent name during his career against 35-year-old Terrell Gausha last March, and he didn’t look good against him.
Gausha knocked Tszyu down in the first round and outboxed him in at least five of the first six rounds. Tszyu came on strong in the championship rounds to salvage a 12 round unanimous decision, but there were many fans who felt he lost.
“I’m like ‘what better way to show I’m the best fighter in the world,” Harrison continued. “And then, not only that, I get the only guy I’ve been chasing when I win this fight. I only want one guy, and I’m done. I only want one guy, and I’m out of it.
“I want one guy that got what I thought I gave to him. I feel like I gave it to him,” said Harrison.
