By Lem Satterfield
Tony Harrison wants the same thing Jermell Charlo wants: An immediate rematch.
“I wanna go straight to Jermell Charlo again,” said Harrison, who, like Charlo, is 28. “It’s about legacy and pride and showing everybody who the new junior middleweight world champion is.”
A seething Harrison spoke to BoxingScene.com from his native Detroit on Sunday shortly after 1 p.m. -- just moments after having completed a full review and critique of what he considers to be his defining moment at the home of a cousin.
On Saturday night, Harrison (28-2, 21 KOs) overcame his status as a 12-1 underdog by dethroning Charlo (31-1, 15 KOs), of Houston, as WBC champion via disputed unanimous decision at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Julie Lederman and Ron McNair each scored it 115-113, and Robin Taylor, 116-112, all for Harrison, who is angered at the notion that his skills weren't more widely appreciated.
“This was my first time watching the fight, and I swear I controlled everything about it and dominated that boy. I was dictating with my jab, giving him angles and there was a lot of subtle movement, like small steps to the right or left. My feints kept him off balance and flinching and more or less reacting,” said Harrison.
“Every time he tried to get something started, I would counter him with good counter shots or freeze him with the jab. I told everybody before the fight this was going to be one of those easy fights, and that I knew it wasn’t going to be what everybody thought it was gonna be. I felt like I controlled everything about the fight, that I looked like the champion, and I swear, today, I definitely 100 percent feel like the champion.”
Charlo confirmed during their post-fight press conference that he planned to enforce an immediate rematch clause mandating a return bout within four months.
Harrison said that’s exactly what he wants.
“I’ll leave that up to [their mutual advisor] Al [Haymon,]” said Harrison. “But like I told Jermell Charlo in the ring after the fight, I would give it [title shot] to him again."
The 6-foot-1 Harrison has won four straight since losing by ninth-round TKO to current IBF/WBA counterpart Jarrett Hurd (23-0, 16 KOs) in an IBF vacant title fight in February 2017.
Harrison’s previous three victories were a unanimous decision over Paul Valenzuela Jr. in October 2017, a fifth-round TKO over George Sosa in February 2018, and a 10-round split-decision victory over former champion Ishe Smith in May.
Harrison scored a third-round knockdown against Smith, whose left eye was left swollen nearly shut from repeated right hands from "Superbad." Harrison made a statement concerning his conditioning against Smith by standing between rounds in his corner from the eighth on, his father and trainer, Ali Salaam, told BoxingScene.com.
“I straightened out my conditioning against Smith, where I let my hands go a little more. But if there is one thing I needed to improve on against Charlo is I still need to finish stronger in the championship rounds. My Dad was telling me in the corner that Jermell Charlo was going to be desperate because he’s down and that he might need a knockout," said Harrison, whose won three straight after a ninth-round TKO loss to Willie Nelson (July 2015) that ended his run of 10 consecutive knockouts.
"But I might have given up a little too much ground in the 11th and 12th. That’s why I wanna go straight to Jermell Charlo, then, I would go straight to Jarrett Hurd. So these are the three guys on my list: Either a rematch with Charlo or Hurd, or go overseas and do a good money fight with somebody like [former 147-pound champion] Kell Brook [of England.] I'm 100 percent not taking a fight if it's not Jermell Charlo or Jarrett Hurd, so Kell Brook's not in the discussion, right now. Anything other than that, I’d be wasting my time.”
