Tony Harrison: I Just Don't Like Anything About Jermell Charlo

Tony Harrison knew he wouldn’t be short on motivation heading into his rematch with Jermell Charlo.

Running into his old rival once again only served as a reminder of how much more than his junior middleweight title is at stake.

“I just don’t like him… at all,” Harrison (28-2, 21KOs) told BoxingScene.com of the man he dethroned 52 to weeks to the date of their scheduled Dec. 21 rematch at the Toyota Arena [nee Citizens Business Bank Arena] in Ontario, California. “I know he don’t like me. My father always taught me not to feel (hatred) towards any other man… but I just don’t like anything about [Charlo]. I don’t like him as a person. I don’t like him as a boxer. There’s just nothing I like about him and it’s always going to be that way.”

The bad blood quickly resurfaced between the pair of top 154-pound entrants during their press conference Thursday afternoon to formally announce the rescheduled rematch, which will air live in primetime on Fox. Their strong-willed rivalry dates back to their first meeting last December, also on Fox and where Detroit’s Harrison pulled off one of the year’s biggest upsets in outpointing the previously unbeaten Charlo (32-1, 16KOs). There were immediate outcries of a scoring controversy, with most viewers believing Charlo deserved to retain his title. That bitterness carried over into their planned rematch this past June, only for Harrison to suffer torn ligaments in his ankle which required surgery.

Charlo went as far as to accuse his lone ring conqueror of faking the injury and alleging his issues in training camp prompted the delay. It all came to a boiling point during Thursday’s media session in Los Angeles.

“I don’t think there will ever be a spot where we can run into each other and something like this not happen,” insists Harrison, who has been out of the ring since their first fight. “It’s always going to be like that. I’ve never felt like this for any other opponent. Even against Willie Nelson, I got out of my head at the wrong time [Harrison suffered a 9th round stoppage loss after having dominated every part of their Aug. 2015 fight to that point], but it wasn’t on this level. It’s just personal with him.

“But that’s alright, we got this out the way and now it’s time to train to shut his ass up once and for all. It’s been a year. I’ll be ready. He can stop with all the f----n’ excuses, stop with his f----n’ crying and watch me beat his ass again.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox