Former WBC junior middleweight champion Tony ‘Super Bad’ Harrison 29-3-1 (21) is planning to use Tim ‘The Soul Taker’ Tszyu 21-0 (15) as a stepping stone to land a third fight against undisputed 154-pound champion Jermell ‘Iron Man’ Charlo 35-1-1 (19).
The 32-year-old from Detroit, Michigan remains the first an only man to defeat Charlo in the professional ranks.
Harrison scored a close but clear-cut unanimous decision victory over Texan Charlo, 32, in December 2018 but lost the rematch a year later when he was stopped in the 11th round of a close and competitive fight.
He will now face WBO number one contender Tszyu in Australia for the vacant WBO interim title on March 12 at a venue to be determined. Tszyu was originally scheduled to challenge Charlo on January 28 in the United States before the American injured his left hand in sparring in December and was forced to withdraw from the bout.
Charlo’s injury opened a window of opportunity for Harrison and jumped straight through it.
“[When Charlo hurt his hand] I felt like I lost something that belonged to me, and my whole road to get what I lost back,” Harrison said of contesting a trilogy with Charlo,” Harrison said on The Last Stand with Brian Custer.
“For me to get the fight with Tim Tszyu, I’m like damn, he’s already number one (contender), he’s already next up, if I skip the line and just go and fight a guy like that – it just made perfect sense for me.”
It will be Harrison’s first outing since April last year when he pitched a 10-round shutout on two of the judges’ scorecards against Sergio Garcia 33-2 (14).
“My last fight was just preparation for the same kind of guy I’m facing,” Harrison said.
“Tim is a very tough fighter but he’s just so basic to me.
“He’s somebody I see around the block, he’s like somebody at the park when I’m fighting somebody at the park. There’s nothing special about him. His defence is not stellar, his offence ain’t stellar. He’s just a very tough competitor.
“Everybody ain’t blessed with power and besides the power, there’s nothing else that I don’t have. I just feel like I’m gonna out-will him, out-skill him, I’m gonna have fun in there. I don’t really see too many ways he can beat me, to be honest.”
There is only one fight Harrison wants after Tszyu before hanging up the gloves, a trilogy bout with Charlo.
“They got me going against one of the top guys, one of the best people in the world,” Harrison said. I’m like, ‘What better way to show I’m the best fighter in the world’. 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’m going into the rafters after that.”
