By Ian S Palmer
WBC World Jr. Middleweight Champion Tony Harrison of Detroit, Michigan will be defending his belt for the first time in a rematch with Jermell Charlo of Richmond, Texas this Saturday, December 21st. The 12-round bout takes place at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California and can be seen live in North America on Fox and Fox Deportes. The two fought last December 22nd with Harrison taking the title in a controversial unanimous decision. Charlo had won the vacant title in May, 2016 when he stopped John Jackson in the eighth round and lost it to Harrison in his fourth defence. He then stopped Jorge Cota in the third round this June while Harrison hasn’t fought in a year.
The 29-year-old Charlo will climb into the ring with an impressive record of 32-1 with 16 Kos. He stands 5-feet-11-inches tall and has a reach of 73 inches. He turned pro back in 2007 and has boxed 215 rounds since then. Charlo doesn’t have as much power as his twin brother Jermall as his current knockout ratio is just 48.5 percent. But one of the reasons for this could be the better grade of opponent he’s faced up to now such as Harrison, Austin Trout, John Jackson, Joachim Alcine, Vanes Martirosyan, Gabriel Rosado, Demetrius Hopkins, Harry Joe Yorgey, Charles Hatley and Erickson Lubin.
Charlo typically relies on his slick boxing skills to win fights but has enough power to stop a foe with an accumulation of well-placed and timed punches, which is what he did with former world champ Alcine. Although he has slick boxing skills, Charlo isn’t usually an overly-exciting boxer to watch. Up until meeting Harrison he was just a little bit too good for the opposition and the bouts didn’t result in much action or drama. Hopefully for the fans the trash talking and bad blood between Charlo and Harrison will produce some more fireworks on Saturday night.
Harrison is also 29 years old and climbs into the ring with a mark of 28-2 with 21 Kos. He’s got quite a bit of power with a knockout ratio of 70 per cent but his chin’s questionable since he was stopped in both of his losses. These came at the hands of Jarrett Hurd in the ninth round in February of 2017 for the vacant IBF Title and to Willie Nelson in the ninth round of their July, 2015 fight. Harrison’s boxed 128 rounds since turning pro in 2011. He’s a good sized junior middleweight at 6-feet-1-inch tall with a reach of 76.5 inches.
This gives him a two-inch height advantage over Charlo along with a 3.5-inch edge in reach. Harrison’s best wins have been against Charlo, Ishe Smith, Paul Valenzuela Jr, Siarhei Rabchanka, Fernando Guerrero, Antwone Smith, Bronco McKart, Grady Brewer and Calvin Odom. He struggled a bit when moving up in class before beating Charlo and while he’s a good boxer with power he isn’t really on the elite level.
Prediction…
Charlo and Harrison are probably a bit underrated when it comes to skills and power and even though Harrison has a superior knockout ratio it was Charlo who landed the harder and more hurtful shots in the first fight. Harrison relied on his boxing skills last year and I think was fortunate to take the title. This rematch was supposed to take place in June but Harrison suffered an ankle injury so it was delayed. This means they’ve had six more months of getting under each others skin. Both of them need to keep their emotions in check once the bell rings though and if they do I believe Charlo will regain his title.
