By Ryan Burton
Tony Harrison improved his record to 27-2 on Friday night with a split decision victory over Ishe Smith in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The fight headlined a Premier Boxing Champions on Bounce TV tripleheader that took place at Sam's Town Hotel and Gambling Hall. Smith was coming off a competitive decision loss to super welterweight contender Julian Williams this past November.
The victory was Harrison's third in a row since his stoppage loss to Jarrett Hurd in February, 2017. The vacant IBF super welterweight belt was at stake in that loss and Hurd has since gone on to also add the the WBA title to his collection.
Harrison was winning that fight on the scorecards through 8 rounds before being stopped in the 9th. He said that a rematch against Hurd is the fight he wants the most.
"Jarrett Hurd I love you bro. I ain't even gonna lie. I love you as a person, I love your team, each and everyone one of y'all but we can shake hands like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier did and we can do it one more time. It would be a pleasure. You see what I just did in a 10 round fight. I could have done it 2-3 more rounds and pushed the pressure if I needed to. That is one I want back bad. He is at the top of the sport right now in our division," Hurd told BoxingScene.com.
The 27-year-old Harrison believes he is a much improved fighter since that loss. He pointed to the fact that he even stood up between some rounds and used a lot of lateral movement throughout the fight.
"You can see it. My movement is different. I stood up the last few rounds. I was standing up in the championship rounds. It shows the kind of condition my brother put me in. I made a statement. I answered all the questions. Ishe did land a couple good shots on me but I shook it off. I ate that shit up," Harrison explained.
Rising cruiserweight Andrew Tabiti (15-0) stopped Lateef Kayode in the sixth round in the co-feature bout in chief support of Harrison's victory over Smith.
Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter
