American Tony Harrison says Tim Tszyu boasts the same “balls to the wall” fight style that sends boxers punch drunk, warning: “You need to throw that sh** away.”
Only days out from arriving Down Under for his WBO interim super welterweight blockbuster, Harrison is already taking swings at the undefeated new face of Australian boxing, who he challenges at Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday, March 12.
Undoubtedly the biggest test of Tszyu’s career, the 32-year-old Detroit native also doubles as the only man to have beaten the division’s undisputed king, Jermell Charlo.
Watch the return of Tim Tszyu as he faces former world champion Tony Harrison LIVE at Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney on Sunday March. BUY TICKETS or ORDER ON MAIN EVENT ON KAYO SPORTS >
While stressing he has “no beef” with the young Aussie, Harrison insisted he would win the title – and therefore another crack at Charlo – by overcoming an exciting, yet basic, Tszyu style he likened to Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots.
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Speaking in an Australian exclusive with Main Event’s Ben Damon, Harrison also predicted Charlo would need less than eight rounds to KO Tszyu, who he added was yet to experience boxing’s “seasons”.
Quizzed on how the Tszyu-Charlo headliner would have gone had the latter not withdrawn with a broken hand, Harrison said: “Charlo would knock him out.
“That fight ain’t going past eight.
“Tim ain’t seasoned enough, brother.”
Seasoned enough?
“With boxing comes seasons,” Harrison explained.
“When it’s snowing you gotta go get a shovel. And when it’s fall you gotta go get a rake.
“There’s season to this.
“But Tim, he’s skipping every season there is.
“Terrell (Gausha, Tszyu’s most recent opponent) was like spring.
“Everyone loves spring, you ain’t gotta do ssh**.
“You go outside with your drawers on, your chest hair, you ain’t gotta do nothing in the spring.
“But (it also means) he got wet a little bit too.
“Got knocked down.
“Got wet a little bit.
Tim Tszyu pays Collingwood a visit | 01:30
“But what happened to fall? What happened to the rainy season? The flood season? The winter time?
“He skipped all those.
“And now guess what?
“He got winter.
“I’m the blistering cold. I’m the wind at 100 mile per hour.
“You ain’t been in that kind of weather yet.”
Asked his thoughts on Tszyu’s style, Harrison labelled the Sydneysider a tough, courageous, even exciting fighter — and an “excellent example of Australia” — who does, however, get hit too much.
“Tim is exciting,” the American said.
“For me (though), an exciting fighter is a guy who gets hit.
“Like you have to show me you’re tough.
“I’m not one of those guys who is going to show you I’m tough.
“I don’t like getting hit.
“Tim is going to pop, pop, pop … like Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.
“So when people say he’s the toughest guy in the division, you know why? Because he gets hit a lot.
“That’s why this guy is the toughest.
“I don’t like getting hit.
“I want to show you why I’m better than you. Why my mind thinks 10 times higher.
“I fight how I want to fight. Keep my distance and jab your ass to death.
“Bop, bop, bop, bop, bop.
“And people can say it’s boring, boooo … but what I’m hearing is this (starts clapping).
“But Tim has made that career for himself.
“He is one of the most exciting fighters in our division … but everybody touches him.”
Later Harrison doubled down saying he had no interest in being a fighter who “wants to be all action and tough” like Tszyu.
‘How did he get there?’ Tszyu called out | 02:09
“I don’t parade myself on being the toughest,” he said.
“Throw that ssh** away.
“You don’t want to be known as the toughest.
“You know why?
“The toughest guys talk like this … (starts mumbling inaudibly).
“And that’s no disrespect.
“I’m not making fun of nobody.
“But that’s what happens when your mind puts you as wanting to be the toughest guys in boxing.
“This isn’t cheerleading. It isn’t bicycling.
“It’s boxing.
“The brain is not meant to get hit.
“So I don’t want to be known as the toughest. Throw that ssh** away.”
Elsewhere, Harrison also questioned the legitimacy of Tszyu’s record, where one of his biggest wins is countryman Jeff Horn.
“Which shows what you have in Australia and what we have in the US,” he said.
“And I’m not knocking Jeff Horn.
“Jeff Horn beat a fighter (in Manny Pacquiao) I thought was the best ever.
“So Horn accomplished something many of us thought he never could.
“Even through discrepancies and the decision, he did it.
“So who could say something about him?
“He made it happen.
“But the skill level in Australia, and the skill level here in … Terrence Crawford destroyed that man.
“The skill level is different, brother.
“Jeff Horn is like the man over there, right?
“But LeBron James is the man everywhere.
“I don’t even know who your big dog is over there to be honest. I’m not knocking anybody … but the guys here, we’re known everyone.
Tszyu unfazed by Harrison’s barbs | 01:23
“The obstacles we have to hurdle over, it makes us the best.
“We’re competing against everyone every single day”
So does Tszyu even have a chance?
“Anything is possible,” Harrison shrugged. “But I’m here to tell you I’m nothing like the guys he’s fought.
“So he gotta go in his bag.
“And I don’t know how deep it is.
“I’m not talking about a money bag. He gotta go in that talent bag … and I haven’t seen it.”
