With former titleholder Jermell Charlo (32-1, 16 KOs) set for a chance to recapture his WBC junior middleweight world title against Tony Harrison (28-2, 2 KOs) on December 21st, the two fighters met for a press conference which quickly turned into a heated back-and-forth between the two fighters.
Charlo set the tone when he made his way to the microphone.
“We’re all gonna keep it real one time. We’re gonna keep it real with each other, let’s tell the truth. Let’s keep it 1000. I could’ve came into this fight and got my belt back on the 23rd of June. He wearing boots right now. Look at him. To me, pitiful...You saw what I did to Cota, you know where I was going wit it. You know what you was headed to, you know what I was getting ready to do to your ass.
“Let me talk to you real quick, let me speak this real rap. You faked the injury. Thank you for being honest. And he wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready for what I was getting ready to deliver to him. We boxers, bruh. The sport is rough, it does wear and tear on the body...If an injury come and it’s that devastating, we would definitely see it. You didn’t have surgery...the world of boxing knows you got hurt on your ankle, DeAndre Ware was one of your sparring partners out there in Detroit, he clipped you, dropped you, you was out. Maybe you have to regroup in your mind...
“I don’t need to be in here talking shit about him, I’m only speaking facts. It gets rough in that thing, and regardless if it’s in training camp you gotta do what you gotta do. Like i said, it wasn’t an injury, he just knew. But I’m not gonna slow down, I’m gonna move forward...He cleared himself, he ain’t have to have a doctor clear him his ankle — you cleared yourself but the same injury is still in play. It ain’t about you being a dog, you a pussy because obviously you got out the fight...
“You faked it, keep it real! We understand what it is. You wanted to see what I’m really about, and I showed you before what I was really about when I knocked all the rest of them motherfuckers out when I had fought. So now you get your chance. I’m a better Jermell now...Now it’s time for me to eat, homeboy! So whatchu got right now? You got nothing but talk.
“It’s a reason why they signed these twins, it’s a reason why this twins never really got the chance to persevere when they should have. But you, you bro, you ain’t even on the level of the top top top top. Willie Nelson beat your ass. You really know you ain’t win that fight [against me]. You was hurt all around the ring, buckled knees — you don’t wanna get hurt by me, bro. You don’t wanna get hit by me! You don’t wanna sit there and bang. You gonna try to move around, I know your game plan. And it’s almost like I’m in your camp...
“I’ma risk mine, and I’m talking life. I’m gonna go get what I need, and I’ma have it. And if he knows better, he’ll do better. I’ll sit his ass down. I mean what I say. Lions only, forever.”
Charlo would then step away from the mic, but still stare down and continue barking at Harrison until Harrison finally made his way to the podium:
“Every time I see this man he pretending...ya’ll gotta see the pretending that this boy has [in him], like he’s the ultimate pretender. Like dude really convinced everybody like he the toughest motherfucker in the world, ‘Oh I just do this. Oh, I knocked this out. Oh, I shoot this, I kill that.’ Man, shut up please. He is probably one of the softest I’ve ever seen in my life. Like literally. But he get up here and he bark, he talk, he make excuses ‘oh, you know I won this, you know I won that.’ Come on, man.
“Like, I beat your ass the first time, and I’m here again. I don’t now where they getting this ‘you scared.’ If I was scared I wouldn’t be here right now. I didn’t take no fight in between...I get paid regardless, I don’t care who come...We can fight in this room right now. Wassup?!”
At that point Charlo and Harrison got away from speaking to the microphone and instead just addressed one another with cuss words for a minute with organizers stepping in between to make sure things didn’t spiral out of control.
Cooler heads ultimately prevailed, and Harrison got right back to the microphone to pick up where he left off:
“I want all the smoke. It’s all theatrics for him...He gonna talk his shit and get 5-6 bodyguards to walk around him and say ‘I’ma escort this man’ because they know he can’t fuck with me. I’ma walk out by myself and every time I see him and every time I feel disrespected — shut the fuck up!
“And you parade yourself around this motherfucker like somebody gonna do something to you. Yeah, ‘cause you a hoe!
“I ain’t worried about nobody you got with you...stop it, pussy.”
Charlo would chime-in to tell Harrison he better ‘keep his cool’ to which Harrison responded:
“I ain’t no respect for you, I ain’t no cool for you, boy! What’s next?!...It’s no respect, man. And I’ma keep disrespecting boy...you got the right one to play with. This ain’t Jorge Cota...Nah, you got somebody from Detroit, dog. Whatever you wanna do, we can do it any given moment, Cuz.”
Charlo then made it clear to Harrison to get his gang affiliation straight:
“Ain’t no Cuz over here.”
Harrison replied:
“You can be with 100 of ‘em, Blood, whatever you wanna do, Piru, you can be with all of ‘em! It ain’t gonna stop nothing. Don’t nothin’ shake, bruh! All the money in the world don’t make you a real motherfucker, you a hoe!”
Check out the full video above, courtesy of Fight Hub TV.