EVER since he first claimed the WBO featherweight championship with a 12-round victory over Julio Pablo Chacon back in October 2002, Scott Harrison has craved a career-defining fight.
Now, ironically enough after experiencing the worst 12 months of his 10-year professional career, Harrison is one fight away from the recognition he has been so desperate to acquire.
Undoubtedly, the level of notoriety that the Glaswegian has acquired outside of the ring will bring an increased focus on his title defence against Nicky Cook on Saturday night, at the ExCel Arena, Docklands, London.
That type of adversity and intense focus is something Harrison tends to thrive upon. It is the fact that awaiting him in early 2007 will be a meeting with Juan Manuel Marquez, the former twin featherweight world title holder, who is now the WBO’S interim title holder and the next mandatory match-up for the winner of Harrison v Cook that really excites the Scot.
Mix into that mouth-watering punch-up pot the name of WBC super featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao, who has broadcast his interest in a battle with Harrison, and it becomes clear that Saturday’s domestic dust-up in the Docklands is merely an aperitif for the big fight feast that could await in the New Year.
Of course, Harrison has been here before – most noticeably when he met the challenge of veteran Mexican Manuel Medina back in 2003 and flopped to a disappointing points defeat.
But, at 29, and having spent a year living dangerously, Harrison knows that if he wants to boast a real ring legacy when the time to hang up his gloves – for all the right reasons – arrives, he must beat Cook and do it well.
The champion admitted: “Cook is the one in the way of the big fights I really want. Obviously this is a massive opportunity for him, he is European champion and unbeaten at that but this is a step up to a level he has not fought at.
I know people are looking for me to fall flat on my face but that isn’t going to happen. Cook is a gateway fight for me. If I win then Juan Manuel Marquez will be my mandatory challenger.
He is the former WBA and IBF featherweight champion and has drawn with Manny Pacquiao, the WBC super-featherweight champion. A fight and a win over him would really make me arrive in 2007 with the Americans and that is something I have always wanted.
Pacquiao has already been quoted as saying that he would love to fight me and that is something I would love. We are both fighters who don’t want to take a step backwards and it would be a war. Pacquiao is rated as one of the three best pound for pound fighters in the game so a fight with him would be massive for me.”
Harrison continued: “So that is why Cook is so important to me. I am 29 now and I just can’t afford any slip-ups. I know what I have got to do against Cook and the bottom line is I need to annihilate him.”
However while Marquez and Pacquiao are names that
Harrison would love one day to have on his ring resume, the name of fallen Mexican great Erik Morales is not one that interests poker-faced Harrison.
The Glaswegian said: “Morales has just been blasted out by Pacquiao in three rounds and has now lost twice to him and has no title. So what does he bring to the table?”
Of course, a meeting with Pacquiao – or Pacman as his soubriquet styles him – would mean a move up to super-featherweight and, for the moment, there is no doubt that Harrison’s full focus is on staying dominant at nine stone.
