By Allan Fox: Jermell Charlo wasn’t in awe of what he saw from Tim Tszyu (22-0, 16 KOs) with his bludgeoning of former WBC 154-lb champion Tony Harrison (29-4-1, 21 KOs) at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
Charlo noted that Harrison didn’t fight aggressively against Tszyu, which he would have had to do if he’d fought him. Harrison looked passive and defensive from the first round and never made any course changes when it became clear that he was losing the fight after the midpoint of the contest.
That could be a sign of ring-wear for Harrison, as he’s performed much better than this during his career.
Undisputed junior middleweight champion Charlo said that he didn’t see anything from Tszyu’s performance that he hadn’t already seen from him in the past. Jermell says Tszyu looked slow and not that big. Charlo did admit that Tszyu looked strong, but he added that everyone punches hard in the 154-lb division.
Charlo stated that the newly crowned interim WBO junior middleweight champion Tszyu is next for him as soon as his broken left hand heals, and he’s ready to return to the ring.
If everything goes well, we could see Jermall and Tszyu fighting in the next four to five months, perhaps by the end of the summer.
“When I get my hand right, and we get back in the ring for some more training, put them back in,” said Jermell Charlo to Showtime, reacting to Tim Tszyu’s win over Tony Harrison last Saturday night in Sydney, Australia.
“No, this is exactly what we’ve seen,” said Jermell when asked if he saw anything different from Tszyu. “Come forward, not as fast and big. Bigger pace, strong. Of course, throws hard punches. Don’t we all?
“But I’m a different animal in there. Like, I’m a different fighter than Tony. You can’t compare me and try to compare Tony’s skills in boxing. He did move less than what he normally does,” said Charlo.
Harrison hasn’t looked like the same fighter since his eleventh round knockout loss to Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) in their rematch four years ago on December 21, 2019.
Harrison lost a lot from his game when he was held to a 12 round draw against little-known Bryant Perrella (28-3-2, 14 KOs) in April 2021. Perrella has losses to welterweights Abel Ramos, Luis Collazo, and Yordenis Ugas.
Harrison, a junior middleweight unable to beat Perrella, showed he’s been over the hill since his second fight with Charlo in 2019.
“The ring was smaller, but still, he didn’t try and dog it out. He didn’t bring that dog in. But if he wanted to fight me, he would have to bring more dog in him,” said Jermell about Harrison.
“Tim is next, and that’s what we had before the [hand] injury. So it’s not like I’m not prepared already,” said Charlo.
