Tony Harrison and Jermell Charlo hurled every possible insult at each other during the buildup to their rematch, which has been a year in the making.
Charlo has repeatedly referred to his rival as “Phony Harrison.” In response, Harrison has repeatedly called Charlo a “sucker.” Both claim that they're living rent-free in the other's psyche.
Their press conference Thursday nearly had Harrison and Charlo coming to blows during their faceoff, with both fighters sticking their hands in the other’s grill, before they had to be separated on the dais.
Friday’s weigh-in could result in the same.
When there’s genuine bad blood and hate like this, heat doesn’t need to be manufactured for the purposes of luring more eyes to the rematch. It’s organic, very real — and "Super Bad" loves it.
“I’m from Detroit, man,” Harrison told DAZN News on Thursday. “I came up off back and forth s—t talking. It’s something that I lived through every day. It weighs so hard on people where they do things, start getting addicted to s—t and start taking the wrong path or you get up and say, ‘I’m going to make something out of this.’
“It makes you a dog,” he said. “Coming from Detroit, you just gotta be a dog.”
All the back-and-forth trash talk and vitriol will come to a head Saturday night, when Harrison puts his WBC junior middleweight championship on the line against Charlo at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, Calif., in a nationally televised title bout. The fight marks a rematch almost exactly one year removed from when Harrison upset Charlo with a controversial unanimous decision to become the champ.
Harrison said he walked over to Charlo after that bout and told him he’d be willing to return the favor in the form of a rematch. However, Charlo clearly felt robbed. He took the mic in the ring that Dec. 22, 2018, night and delivered a different account, altogether.
“He knows I won this fight,” Charlo said. “He knows I won this fight. He told me.”
Harrison fired back: “I didn’t tell you that s—t! Why you lying? I didn’t tell you that!”
Harrison claims that was the turning point that made it personal.
Harrison and Charlo were supposed to have their rematch in June, but Harrison’s ankle injury postponed the fight. Charlo alleged that Harrison was really knocked out by sparring partner DeAndre Ware and faked the injury to purposely delay their rematch.
That’s when the bad blood and vitriol seeped even further into the equation between the champ and former titleholder, Harrison said.
“He has the followers, so people are going to listen to him,” Harrison said of Charlo's insinuation. “On my end, it’s like, ‘Whatever you say.’ My thing is, what his people ringside should be asking is, ‘Why are you so worried about what happened with why we didn’t fight in June and I’m right here ready to fight again?’”
When the 29-year-old Detroit native assesses the situation further, he’s more irked that fans believe Charlo than about anything else.
“It bothers me that people can’t see real from fake,” he said. “Everything he says is phony and fake as s—t, but it’s overshadowed because he has been on top longer than me, has the jewelry to prove it and is hanging around all the big stars. It’s easier for people to favor him because of who he knows and what he has over just the pure truth of what’s going on.”
Yet, Harrison stands here as the champion ready to defend his title with the firm belief that he has sold this rematch — not Charlo.
“They like that story of Tony Montana,” Harrison said about boxing fans, while relating the character from the movie "Scarface" to himself. “They like that motherf—r that crosses Sosa. They like it. They enjoy it. I’m so relatable to 90 percent of America.”
Through all the back-and-forth banter, Harrison (28-2, 21 KOs) said he’s never “felt better for a fight mentally.” He’s likely to feel all the “Lions Only” wrath of Charlo (32-1, 16 KOs) once the bell rings Saturday night.
If he’s able to counterpunch as brilliantly as he did in their original clash and have his hand raised via another victory, Harrison said it will finally be his time to grab the narrative and steer his career into 2020 on a high note. After all, it would prove that his victory over Charlo last December was anything but the benefactor of a good night.
“It’s a turning point for me and my life. It’s all going to play its part — God and fate,” Harrison said.
“I think it will be amazing to where now Tony starts to get what Tony wants out of the sport of boxing,” he added. “You know, boxing has controlled me.
“And I’m finally starting to get to the point where I’m controlling boxing.”