Jonathan NgNot every American boxer is backing Tony Harrison 29-3-1 (21) to upset Tim Tszyu 21-0 (15) in their fight for the vacant WBC interim junior middleweight title at Qudos Arena in Sydney, Australia on Sunday afternoon local time.
This week Sydneysider Tszyu, 28, labelled unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr 28-0 (22) “a punk” after backing his fellow American Harrison, 32, to defeat him.
Spence joined former two-weight world champion Shakur Stevenson 19-0 (9) in backing the underdog.
“He’s Team America, I guess — that’s how they are,” Tszyu said of Spence to Fox Sports Australia.
“But these punks, they will all be put on notice. I’ve got a long future ahead of me and I’ll pin-point all of them one by one.”
But not every American boxing personality is tipping Harrison to win. Former two-time welterweight world champion turned broadcast analyst Shawn Porter is firmly in the favourite’s corner.
“You go back to the youth. What that means is Tim should have a pretty good gas tank from beginning to end,” Porter said to Sporting News Australia.
“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.”
Tszyu has been taken the 12 round championship distance in his past two bout and has only grown stronger the later those bouts went.
“I’ve personally been in a lot of 12 round fights and knew ‘this is 10, this is 11, this is 12’,” Porter said. “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 pipes’.
“I think for fighters, we want to tap the mental just as much as we tap the physical. How do you tap Tony’s 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.”
