Tszyu vs. Harrison Preview
The Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia will play host to a junior middleweight title on Saturday March 11th. Sydney born fighter Tim Tszyu will battle former champion Tony Harrison for the interim WBO junior middleweight title.
Tszyu (21-0, 15 KO) is coming off a unanimous decision victory over former title challenger Terrell Gausha last March. The Australian was originally scheduled to face undisputed champion Jermell Charlo, but a hand injury forced the champion out of the fight. Tszyu commented on Charlo being replaced Harrison.
"I was really devastated," Tszyu said of Charlo’s injury. "I was devastated because it was such a big opportunity. ... But you have to realize, there are so many more problems you face in life than this. It's just a little hurdle. I'm at that top level now where there are plenty of opponents. There's no point crying about things like this.
"Harrison is a bit quicker and rangier. They have some similarities but I think Harrison has more boxing skills."
The 28-year-old undefeated fighter recognizes the skills of his opponents, but he does not get phased by any mystique an opponent such as Harrison may bring into the ring. "Honestly, man, for me, each fight I take it's me versus me," he said. "I try to improve myself all the time and be better than what I was. It's not based upon who is in front of me. I feel like if I keep working and improving myself, I'll be able to handle whatever may come my way."
Despite being scheduled to fight the undisputed champion, Tszyu believes Harrison has the better skillset. “I think he’s got superior skills. He’s got a good jab, and good movement, and is hard to hit, slick, and always moving. Different type of opponent to anyone I’ve ever faced,” Tszyu said.
“I’m not underestimating him. This is going to be a tough fight. I know that. He’s got better skills than Charlo, he beat Charlo and was winning his last fight with Charlo [before the knockout].”
Tszyu may recognize the skills of Harrison, but the Australian is highly confident he will win impressively on Saturday. “If it goes past four he’s going to be in trouble,” Tszyu said. “My aim is to grab him by the neck and pull him down into the ocean and just let him sink – drown him.
“It will start from round one and we’ll see when he gets some air. He’s going to want to tap. He’s going to wish it was UFC. He’s tall but my sparring partners are much taller. He looks fragile. You can just see it. I’ve been sparring big, strong unbreakable blokes and he looks like I could crack him in half.”
Harrison defeated Charlo in 2018 to become champion but lost in the immediate rematch by 11th round KO, all while being ahead on the judge’s scorecards. Since losing to Charlo he is 1-0-1 but most recently defeated Sergio Garcia by unanimous decision last April.
The 32-year-old knows what he is up against in Tszyu. "I'm here on a mission,” Harrison said. “My only focus is on Tim Tszyu. I'm extremely confident in my abilities and in my training, but I know Tim is going to be tough competition. I can't wait to see the crowd all out there to support him, because I'm going to give them no choice but to love me too. I hope he's ready for 12 grueling rounds, because I'm ready to go as long as he can last."
Harrison believes he has faced better competition than Tszyu, and it will show in the fight. “Tim think he’s going to do the same thing, like the same thing is gonna happen two or three times in a row — it doesn’t happen. It doesn’t happen to a Detrioter. I think Tim’s fighting a mature, fine-tuned wine, wine and dine king now. I’m not a young, unstable, vicious lion, I’m more of a seasoned vet now. So all the mistakes I made in the beginning was perfect for me,” said Harrison.
How does Harrison feel the Australian fans will react to him? “I’m really a hard guy not to like. I’m a hard guy not to go for, you know what I’m saying. I think everybody’s going no only — past the skill, just the charisma and just the way I interact with people. And I think Tim is the total opposite, he’s corny.”
The Detroit native is ready to prove he is tougher and has better skills. “His skills are totally beneath me. 100,000 totally beneath me, but does he have other attributes that are tougher than mine? Toughness and pace and stuff like that? Yeah, he can win fights like that,” said Harrison.
“Will it be enough to win this fight? It won’t. It’s not. You’ve got to have everything. Once you get to the championship, you’ve got to have more than toughness and punching ability to punch as many times as you can punch. It comes with a little more.
“You’ve got to dig in your bag. He doesn’t have a bag to dig in because he never had to dig in one. This time, he’s got to dig in that bag and find that. He’s got to find that this time,” said Harrison.
The main card can be seen on Showtime at 10:45pm ET
