Tony Harrison doesn’t understand why Tim Tszyu agreed to fight him.
If Harrison were in Tszyu’s position – guaranteed a shot at fully unified 154-pound champ Jermell Charlo next – the former WBC super welterweight champion admits he would not have taken this type of risk. In fact, Harrison says he would’ve waited for Charlo’s hand injury to heal and simply rescheduled their bout without boxing another opponent.
Tszyu (21-0, 15 KOs) instead opted to fight Harrison on March 12 in Tszyu’s hometown of Sydney, Australia, for the WBO interim junior middleweight title. Though Tszyu is consistently listed as more than a 2-1 favorite, Harrison (29-3-1, 21 KOs) is the only opponent who has beaten Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) and clearly the most accomplished foe of Tszyu’s six-year professional career.
As surprised as Harrison remains that Tszyu will fight him, the Detroit native doesn’t believe Tszyu earned his spot as the WBO’s mandatory challenger for one of Charlo’s championships.
“I mean, I think he’s an excellent example of Australia,” Harrison told FOX Sports Australia’s Ben Damon during a lengthy interview recently. “I think he’s a tough competitor. I think he balls to the wall. I think he balls to the wall, for sure. I think like win, lose or draw you gonna get the best Tim in and out every time he steps in that ring, right? But I do think he’s a flawed Tim. I do think he hasn’t faced any level of opposition.
“I don’t even know how he got here for Jermell, to be honest. You know what I mean? Like how did he – what steps did he take to get there? You know what I mean? I fought guys like [Jarrett] Hurd and Charlo, and then I was lining up to fight [Sebastian] Fundora. So, to get there my road was expensive. Like I had to expend a lot to get to my road back to Jermell.”
The 28-year-old Tszyu will end an 11-month layoff when he encounters Harrison in a 12-round main event at Qudos Bank Arena that Showtime will televise live in the United States. The son of former junior welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu hasn’t fought since he got up from a first-round knockdown to unanimously out-point Cleveland’s Terrell Gausha last March 26 at The Armory in Minneapolis.
Tszyu’s victory over Gausha (22-3-1, 11 KOs) and his stoppages of fellow Australians Jeff Horn (20-3-1, 13 KOs) and Dennis Hogan (31-4-1, 7 KOs) are the most noteworthy wins on the undefeated contender’s record.
“How did he get there?,” Harrison said. “You know what I mean? He beat Jeff Horn. He beat [Dennis] Hogan. How did he get there? You know what I mean? So, it just lets you know that everything is political, man. And his father’s name carry weight. And Australia carries weight. And Australia got the money to carry the weight. You know what I mean? But how did he get there? You know what I mean?
“Like what did he accomplish to get there, to say he’s next up to fight for every single one of the belts? Who did he beat? Who did he fight? You know what I mean? For me, I had to go through hell, the fire in America. You know what I mean? He don’t have those kind of complications, those obstacles that he had to hurdle over and go through to get there. You know what I mean? But I think this one will show you that it’s so many levels to why you shouldn’t skip levels.”
The 32-year-old Harrison has lost only to Charlo, Hurd (24-2, 16 KOs), who’s a former IBF/IBO/WBA 154-pound champion, and Willie Nelson (27-3-1, 17 KOs) – each of whom stopped Harrison. If Harrison upsets Tszyu, he’ll earn a third fight against Charlo, who knocked him out in the 11th round of their rematch in December 2019 at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.