Pawn or Party Pooper? The Curious Case of Tony Harrison

 

 

Tony Harrison comes into Sunday’s showdown against Australia’s Tim Tszyu with opportunity knocking firmly at his door.

(29-3-1) ‘Super Bad’ Tony Harrison has stood on top of the Super Welterweight division previously, and victory on Sunday will hand him an unlikely opportunity to do it again.

Tim Tszyu had his own shot at the Super Welterweight crown secured, with a fight against current undisputed champion Jermell Charlo scheduled for January.

But plans came unstuck when Charlo was injured in training camp, a hand injury seeing a postponement until the second half of 2023.

It left Tim Tszyu and his team with a decision. Sit on his opportunity at the undisputed crown and wait for Charlo at some point later this year. Or remain active, earning another significant payday in the meantime, and put the Charlo fight on the line.

The Tszyu camp has chosen the latter, with the Australian scheduled to face former world champion Harrison on Sunday, for the interim WBO Super Welterweight Title.

Boxing is Risk vs Reward. There is plenty of both in Tony Harrison.

The 32-year old Harrison is the ideal opponent in the eyes of the Tszyu team. A fighter who has been largely inactive in recent times and is in the backend of his career. They see him as beatable.

He’s a marketable name, an opponent sufficient to earn the fight interim world title status – and a big payday for all involved.

The fight has sold plenty of tickets and pay-per-views. A win for Tszyu makes the eventual Charlo showdown even bigger. There’s the reward.

Harrison is a fighter who has defeated Charlo previously, and who can provide the needed seasoning to Tszyu ahead of his eventual showdown at the undisputed champion. Tough rounds against an elite level fighter.

The risk in all of it, is Harrison remains the most credentialed opponent Tszyu has ever faced.

You can argue Tim Tszyu is still to be properly tested. The marketing machine is firmly behind him, but good judges agree question marks are there.

Tszyu has been fairly emphatic on his way to a 21-0 career record. Wins over Terrell Guasha, Takeshi Inoue, Jeff Horn, and Dennis Hogan are the standouts on the Tszyu resume - but delve a little deeper and some cracks begin to appear.

Terrell Guasha has never quite reached the elite level in boxing. Losses to Erickson Lubin and Erislandy Lara, plus a draw with Austin Trout highlight this.

Guasha dropped Tszyu in the opening round and had his moments throughout their showdown.

Some experts came away chalking the performance up as an ‘off night’. The fight proving terrific education for Tszyu – his first on American soil. Others suggested advancing towards a Charlo showdown next was a mistake.

The glowing highlight of Harrison’s fight record is a unanimous victory over the division’s current undisputed king Jermell Charlo, where Harrison claimed the WBC World Super Welterweight Title – handing Charlo his only career defeat to date.

Harrison would go on to lose the title in the rematch, after Charlo dropped him in the second round, and finished him in the 11th.

Since that defeat in December 2019, Harrison has been inactive, fighting just twice since.

April 2021 saw him fight to a majority draw with the (17-3) Bryant Perrella – a fight that finished with a ridiculously lopsided scorecard (114-114, 116-112, 111-117).

In April 2022, Harrison responded with a comfortable unanimous decision victory over (33-1) Sergio Garcia, where Harrison claimed the WBC Silver Super Welterweight Title.

But is Harrison the fighter that defeated Charlo? Or is he the one that clung to a draw against Perrella, or the one knocked out on three occasions – by Charlo, Jarrett Hurd and Willie Nelson?.

Harrison is an enigma at times in the boxing ring. He’s beaten the very best in the division, but he’s flailed against lesser fighters.

There’s no denying though that he has more experience, he’s the more hardened fighter. Sunday will be his sixth world title fight.

Conversely it will be Tszyu’s first world title encounter, and alarmingly the Australian has only gone twelve rounds twice before in his 21-fight career.

This is where Harrison believes he has the edge. The American feels he can take Tszyu to the deep water – and drown him.

“You’ve got to dig in your bag (in boxing). He doesn’t have a bag to dig in, because he’s 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,” Harrison told Fox Sports.

Many experts see Tszyu’s damaging body shots and fight changing power as an X-Factor that will cover any perceived flaws. Tszyu has habitually broken-down fighters with ease, standing in front of his opponents and unleashing at will. No one has withstood it as yet.

But Tszyu has not fought a fighter with the credentials of Harrison. Harrison will not let Tszyu unload when he wants, and every round will be hard won. How will Tszyu react when things aren’t going his way?

It’s exactly the test Tim Tszyu needs before his showdown with Jermell Charlo. But in securing it, he’s opened the door to a dangerous Tony Harrison who is eyeing a career defining third fight with the same man.

The Charlo carrot is motivation for both. Sunday’s fight is a chance for Tszyu to again prove he belongs on the elite level of boxing, whilst Harrison looks to prove he isn’t the doorman to that very place.

ADAM SANTAROSSA

 

The reason Conor McGregor is 'retiring'

Conor McGregor shocked the world this week when he announced his ‘retirement’ at just 27.

But why the sudden move? Particularly when you’re set to headline the biggest UFC pay-per-view in history, in UFC200.

We’re yet to hear the reasons behind the move, but I think the reasons why are fairly clear.

McGregor failed to return to the United States for promotional duties ahead of UFC200, instead choosing to remain at his training camp in Iceland.

Conor is clearly aggrieved at the fact he has to do more promoting, when you can argue he’s been the only one doing so for the last twelve months.

It’s worth remembering that Conor McGregor’s last year in the sport was unprecedented.

In fact, he hasn’t stopped since September 2014 – when you consider each fight is generally preceded by a three month training camp.

Following his September 2014 win over Dustin Poirer, he rolled straight into a January 18 fight with Denis Siver.

This is also around the time that the UFC launched their partnership with Reebok, with McGregor front and centre as part of the deal. The Irishman also walked away with a tidy side deal, as one of a few UFC stars to hold a separate sponsorship deal with the company.

From there it was onto a lengthy multinational press tour to promote his fight with Jose Aldo.

Of course, that was set down for July 11, only for Aldo to withdraw, sighting a broken rib.

Chad Mendes had to be called up as a late injury replacement and although McGregor won the fight, he was taken down numerous times, all by a guy that took the fight on two weeks notice.

There were claims following the fight that McGregor carried a significant knee injury into the event, and also reports he had stopped training, anticipating a postponement, which then made cutting to the Featherweight limit harder than it needed to be – affecting performance.

Following his scratchy win over Mendes he’d go on to take part in The Ultimate Fighter series against Urijah Faber. This meant more weeks away from home.

Reports at the time suggested McGregor was close to walking away from his TUF commitment; however he came to a financial deal with the UFC which prevented this.

Strangely the McGregor-Faber series saw no fight between rival coaches, as is generally the case.

From there it was a December 12 fight with Aldo, which again was coupled with a lengthy press tour.

He then went straight back into camp, then scheduled for a March 5 fight for the Lightweight Title against Rafael Dos Anjos.

Yet again the fight would fall apart, with Dos Anjos pulling out with a fractured foot.

The UFC would draft in Nate Diaz as the replacement - who promptly arrives, spits out a few swear words and walks out with a million dollars, after submitting McGregor early in the second round- putting a large dent in future plans of the UFC and Conor McGregor.

2015 was a good year for McGregor and so far 2016 has followed suit, at least financially.

No one has made more money, no one has brought the UFC more pay-per-view dollars.

 But whilst McGregor continues to break records, it’s the UFC who take the lion’s share of revenue - grossing over $600 million in revenue for the past year – which is another sore point for the Irishman.

 

For the McGregor-Aldo fight, the UFC made over $10 million off the live gate alone, not to mention the 1.2 million pay-per-views buys at around $50 a pop.

For the McGregor-Diaz fight, the UFC made over $8 million off the gate, with 1.6 million pay-per-view sales, according to UFC President Dana White.

UFC don’t release the figures, but you’d be looking at somewhere between $60-$80 million profit for the Zuffa owned organisation off each event.

It’s estimated that McGregor made around $8 million dollars for his fight with Jose Aldo at UFC194, and closer to $10 million against Nate Diaz at UFC196, including an unprecedented $1 million show purse. This is total revenue, fight purse and pay-per-view money combined.  

Most would consider these earnings to be pretty good and they are to the everyman, but they don’t stack quite as well when placed up against other combat sports.

Miguel Cotto walked away with $15 million for his Middleweight World Title fight with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, who made $7 million, and all this before pay-per-view revenue was included.

That fight sold over 900,000 pay-per-view sales, ensuring both men would have earned substantially more.  

Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather had a ‘minimum guarantee’ of $32 million for his fight with Andre Berto, his lowest performing pay-per-view in some years. Berto, the challenger, earned $4 million, before his slice of pay-per-view.

Mayweather is Mayweather, but you could argue Cotto and Canelo are not as well known on the world scene as Conor McGregor.

 But if you factor in Cotto’s $15 million dollar purse, plus expected pay-per-view slice, he would have earned more money for one fight, than Conor McGregor did in two events.

Two events mind you that generated the second and third most pay-per-view sales in UFC history, and set a new gate receipt record.  

So simply put. Conor McGregor is doing all the promotion, and generating all the revenue, but it’s the UFC who’s taking home the largest slice of the pie.

Hence our current predicament.

McGregor played his card by no showing UFC200, so Dana White yanked him from the event. 

It's a ploy at negotiating a larger slice of the financial pie, that McGregor feels he deserves. 

Let’s hope they find some common ground soon enough, because things could get very interesting if they don’t.

ADAM SANTAROSSA