For the past couple of months, junior middleweights Tony Harrison and Jarrett Hurd have been gearing up for the biggest fight of their careers - a world title eliminator that would earn the winner a shot at Jermall Charlo's belt. Then, last Thursday, things changed. The stakes got bigger. A lot bigger.
Charlo, coming off a tremendous fifth-round knockout victory of Julian "J Rock" Williams in December but having trouble making weight, elected to vacate his title in order to move up to the middleweight division. That opened the door for Harrison-Hurd to be elevated to a fight for the vacant 154-pound title that Charlo relinquished. The fighters were thrilled to learn of the added significance of their fight.
"This is what all boxers dream of, to fight for the world title. I was super excited," Hurd said of his reaction. "We were jumping around the gym. We knew this day was going to come. It came faster than I expected, but I'm ready."
Harrison and Hurd both found out in telephone calls from Al Haymon, their manager.
"Al called me and makes a guy from Detroit's dream come true," Harrison said. "And I was the happiest guy when I found out. So the wait was worth it. My pop has always told me patience is a virtue, be patient. And I was patient enough."
Said Hurd: "We were sitting down in the gym and we got the call, and Al was telling me like, 'I told you it was going to be here, Jarrett. This is it. This is what you worked for.' I went home and ran a couple of miles that night, thinking about it because I know that sometimes for people it could be a once in-a-lifetime opportunity. So I don't want to take it for granted, man."
Harrison (24-1, 20 KOs) and Hurd (19-0, 13 KOs) will duke it out for that coveted belt on Saturday (Fox, 8 p.m. ET, with additional bouts on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 10 p.m. ET) at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. It's the co-feature of a card headlined by Tuscaloosa, Alabama's Deontay Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs), who will make the fifth defense of his heavyweight world title against Gerald Washington (18-0-1, 12 KOs) of Vallejo, California.
The opening fight, a scheduled 10-rounder, will also feature heavyweights, as 2012 U.S. Olympian and former world title challenger Dominic Breazeale (17-1, 15 KOs) of Los Angeles will meet Poland-born Nigerian Izuagbe Ugonoh (17-0, 14 KOs), who will be making his U.S. debut. All of his previous bouts were in New Zealand and Poland.
Even before the title was on the line, Harrison-Hurd shaped up as an outstanding fight between young, hungry contenders. Promoter Lou DiBella was pleased to have the fight on his card and even happier when it was upgraded.
"All the boxing pundits, all the boxing writers, the fans, they knew that Tony Harrison against Jarrett Hurd is a terrific matchup," DiBella said. "We knew we had a great fight going in. Now we have a much more significant fight going in."
