Two days after Tony Harrison became the first man to defeat American superstar Jermell Charlo, he gave up his attached WBC belt.
Not because he didn’t want a world title gold medal.
No, he just felt someone deserved it more than he did.
Specifically, his old man.
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Tim Tsuju: ‘I’m ready to take him out’ | 00:47
When Harrison soon arrives Down Under to challenge Tim Tsuju for the interim WBO super welterweight title, you should know that that same father’s face will be engraved on Harrison’s chest.
Like his trunk, the Detroit native carries the acronym LLA.
or long live ants.
A small but narrative tribute to the fighter’s late father and coach Ali Salaam.
Not only did he raise this dangerous American boxer first as a little boy and later as a world champion, but he also coached both his sons Tony and LJ through countless lessons, and more. A man who knows some people. Right or quick foot, but confidence, loyalty, respect and honor.
They say they believe in young men, even though it was precisely the belief that young men longed for.
Then there are memories that didn’t seem so big back then.
Like that night back in 2003, Tony and his father sat in a lounge room in Detroit watching Green Bay’s Brett Favre take the field just 24 hours after his father died of a heart attack. I was.
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Ahead of Monday night’s football game against Oakland, the Packers’ star quarterback explained how Irvine Favre wanted his boy to play.
So the play the grieving son played.
By full-time, Favre had scored the best performance of his storied NFL career.
Harrison was 13 at the time.
But as he recently revealed, this game is one he never forgot.
It was the same deal that his father turned to him on the way, speaking in a peculiarly unsettled tone, stating: you have to get the job done. ”
On March 12th, Harrison and Australia’s newest boxing star, Tim Tuju, made headlines for the world title.
Nicknamed ‘Superbad’, the 32-year-old American fighter isn’t just chasing a WBO title and trying to break the hearts of entire continents, he’s finally getting the ultimate tribute to his biggest supporters. can be given.
Especially considering that by the time he stepped into the ring to face Tszyu, it would be almost three years since Ali Salaam died of COVID-19 at the age of 59.
Lost not only his close-knit family, but also the countless other young men this old fighter and son of a fighter he became a father figure to, especially within the family’s Superbad boxing gym. .
Here was a man who devoted much of his life to making young people stronger.
Better.
Since then, his son has proven “how important a single human life is.”
That’s why, when he landed in Australia to take on the country’s newest boxing Golden Boy, Harrison didn’t just have the old man inked on his chest or sewn to his torso, but in his heart, he carry it all in the heart of
Over and over again, I recount conversations from the night Brett Favre gave it his all.
“You must get the job done”.
This also helps explain why this impending WBO showdown is the biggest fight and risk of Tszyu’s undefeated career.
We also explain why, within hours of the fight being announced, welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. tweeted how to bet over $10,000 on Harrison’s upset.
It was Tszyu who, like Christmas Eve, ended up battling Charlo in Las Vegas for all four world title straps.
But then the champion broke his hand in sparring.
It means that the battle has been delayed.
Tsuju Risks It All Against Harrison | 03:41
Unenthusiastic about sitting around doing nothing, along with Tsuju, who has always chased his greatest chances, has switched his focus to one of Harrison’s and undefeated Russian Bakram Murtazariev’s next best contenders. .
Ultimately, though not for the first time in his life, it was the Detroit Tough who came out on top – and now faces Tszyu for the interim WBO super welterweight title in seven weeks.
A shot at Charlo is again guaranteed if the Australian wins.
But lose?
Well, it’s not that pretty.
Considering Harrison was not only the only man to beat Charlo professionally, but he boxed incredibly on one scorecard throughout the 10 rounds of 2019’s hyped rematch. This is important.
But the 11th left hook changed everything.
SuperBad was dropped on the hook, then rose, dropped again, rose again just before, and was punished again shortly after, and the fight was called off.
But since losing that world title and then his father, Harrison has recovered just like you’d expect from a man who started fighting in the streets of Detroit — learning Spain’s Segio Garcia last April. Painting with Bryant Perera before winning the WBC Super Welterweight Silver title.
This continues the story of this third-generation fighter whose boxing pedigree includes not only his father, but his grandfather, Henry Hank, who won 62 championships over nearly two decades as a professional.
Elsewhere, Tszyu’s newest foe, some argue, received the best possible education early in his professional career from legendary US trainer Emmanuel Steward, a Michigan Golden Glove winner. He is also a two-time champion.
In fact, it was the Hall of Fame coach who not only encouraged Harrison to turn pro instead of chasing Olympic glory, but made him one of the last proteges before his death in October 2012.
During the 18 months they spent together, Harrison not only stopped his first eight opponents (including five in the first round), but also took another stewardship charge, heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. On the undercard, I fought four times in Europe.
So fighting outside the United States, or in front of a crowd he hopes to lose, is nothing new.
Return to Tszyu again.
The undefeated Australian, son of Hall of Famer Kostja Tuju, is poised to headline a world title fight in his family’s home country for the first time in 20 years.
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But this story is not about the Tsuju clan.
No, this thread belongs to Harrison, his father, and all the lessons done in the softest of tones.
Importantly, it also belongs to that night on the couch almost 20 years ago. That’s when the pair sat Brett Favre devoting all of his existence to his athletic pursuits.
And my father’s memory.
As a result, Ali Salaam turned around and gave his son the words he never forgot.
“You must get the job done”.
