ONTARIO, California – Tony Harrison needed something different from Detroit.
That’s why the WBC super welterweight champion went away for an entire training camp for the first time in his career these past couple months. Harrison has trained in his hometown throughout his eight-year professional career, but he prepared for this rematch against Jermell Charlo in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Harrison, 29, called camp at the same gym where Keith Thurman trains “perfect.”
“It was to get my mental right,” Harrison told a group of reporters after a press conference Thursday at Toyota Center. “I had to get my mental right. That’s all. It was being off a year, getting my sh-t together, that’s all.”
Harrison hasn’t fought in almost exactly a year, not since he upset Charlo to win his 154-pound crown last December 22 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Their immediate rematch was supposed to take place June 23 in Las Vegas, but Harrison sustained an ankle injury and withdrew from it.
Charlo kept busy by knocking out Harrison’s replacement, Mexico’s Jorge Cota, in the third round June 23 at Mandalay Bay Events Center. His lengthy layoff encouraged Harrison to take training camp to the gym where Dan Birmingham has long trained Thurman once he was medically cleared.
“We just wanted something new,” Harrison said. “We wanted a new look. I knew everything about Detroit. I know everything about the fighters in Detroit, the sparring in Detroit. So, I just wanted a new look. I went to Florida. Florida is where Keith Thurman is from, and plenty of other champions. So, I just wanted to go out there and just get a new look.
“It was great. Dan opened the gym for me. It was amazing. The fighters there were amazing. Everything there was perfect. Everything was perfect.”
Harrison made it perfectly clear that moving his camp had nothing to do with uncertainty about being able to beat Charlo a second time. He was an 8-1 underdog before their first bout, but Harrison won their 12-rounder on all three scorecards (116-112, 115-113, 115-113).
“I made some changes for me,” Harrison said during the press conference. “It didn’t have to do nothing [with] him. I made changes for me. It didn’t have nothing to do with the sport. It had everything to do with up here [in his head]. I was out a year, the longest layoff I ever had. I had to get right up here [in his head]. I had to get mentally correct. It wasn’t nothing physical. I had to get mentally correct – period.”
Harrison (28-2, 21 KOs) and Houston’s Charlo (32-1, 16 KOs) will headline FOX’s tripleheader Saturday night from Toyota Center.
The telecast, set to start at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, will begin with an eight-round lightweight bout between Karlos Balderas (9-0, 8 KOs), a 2016 American Olympian from Santa Maria, California, and Mexico’s Rene Giron (13-1, 7 KOs). Following Balderas-Giron, Nigerian heavyweight prospect Efe Ajagba (11-0, 9 KOs) is scheduled to box Georgia’s Iago Kiladze (26-4-1, 18 KOs) in a 10-rounder.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.