IT’S the season of Burns Suppers, and the words of the Bard are before us once again. “To see ourselves as ithers see us,” is a Rabbie maxim that particularly springs to mind, and it can even be applied to Scottish boxing.
So how do people outside Scotland judge the man who is unarguably our top individual sportsman of the moment? The trouble with Scott Harrison is that people outwith these borders are not really sure of the status of Scotland’s sole world professional boxing champion.
To some of us who have followed his career since the beginning, the WBO featherweight champion is already the greatest ‘nine-stoner’ Britain has ever produced and his manager Frank Maloney is sure Harrison will be confirmed as the best fighter in British boxing history. It is reassuring that some experts agree.
“Of course Harrison is a legitimate champion,” said Wayne McCullough. The former world bantamweight champion is well placed to judge Harrison’s worth – he has fought seven world title fights at different weights.
McCullough also knows all about Harrison’s power – the challenger was taken to hospital after losing his titanic 12 round battle with Harrison at Braehead in March 2003, and remains a great admirer of the champion, though he advises the Scot to fight one of the champions named.
“Fighters have to leave their home town and fight in the States to get the worldwide recognition,” said McCullough, who long ago moved to Las Vegas. “I think that’s what Harrison needs to do. He should fight guys like Barrera, Morales, Marquez and Pacquaio. Those fights will command a worldwide audience and put Harrison in a bigger spotlight.”
The almost insanely brave McCullough is still a huge draw in the USA. He will fight Oscar Larios for the WBC super-bantamweight title in Lemoore, California, on February 10, and the Pocket Rocket has many admirers in Scotland who will be hoping he can win the title at the third time of asking at the age of 34.
Yet many other people outside Scotland don’t know what to make of Harrison. The London-based Boxing News this week ran a two-page spread asking ‘How Good is Scott Harrison?’ and asked his fellow boxers around the nine stones weight level for their views. They were unanimous in saying how strong Harrison is, but also that he needs to beat one of the big names.
The magazine has also frequently referred to Harrison’s WBO championship as a ‘world’ title, denigrating the belt in a manner which they did not practise when Prince Naseem Hamed held it.
Editor Claude Abrams is happy to explain why the News changed its view of the WBO title between Hamed and Harrison.
“There is one fundamental and important difference,” he said. “Naz was WBO champion, but he cleaned up the division. He defeated IBF champ Tom Johnson (later beaten by Harrison), WBA champ Wilfredo Vazquez and WBC champ Cesar Soto. That’s why we regarded him as a legitimate champ – not because he had the WBO belt.”
Abrams is a big fan of Harrison and unlike many commentators who have only seen Harrison fight in Glasgow and see him as a ‘home crowd’ champion, Abrams knows that the Cambuslang boxer has travelled far and wide in his career – 15 of his first 16 fights were held outside Scotland.
“I happen to think Harrison is an excellent fighter, capable of mixing it with any of the world’s top fighters,” said Abrams. “He’s come up the hard way, taking tough fights on away turf.
“I wouldn’t pick him to beat Pacquiao, Marquez, Morales or Barrera but I think he’d have a decent chance against WBC champ Injin Chi.”
Harrison claims he doesn’t even read Boxing News but says that once he wins the WBC or WBA title they will recognise him.
The other pundits we spoke to are split on whether Harrison is a genuine world champion, but all agree with McCullough that it is time for Harrison to move up a level.
The most respected publication in world boxing is America’s Ring magazine and its editor Nigel Collins told us from across the Pond that Harrison is not their No.1, though he was kind enough to advise the Glasgow man on how to reach that target. “The Ring currently ranks Scott Harrison as the No.2 featherweight contender,” he explained. “We recognise Manny Pacquiao as the world featherweight champion and Juan Manuel Marquez as the No.1 contender.
“Pacquiao’s featherweight belt will not be on the line against Erik Morales as they are fighting at super-featherweight (on March 19 in Las Vegas). Win or lose, we will continue to recognise Pacquiao as featherweight champion unless he moves to 130-pound division permanently.
“In that case, we would then recognise a fight between Marquez and Harrison for the vacant title, providing they still hold the No.1 and No.2 spots in our rankings at the time of the bout.”
The brilliant Mexican Marquez is not currently on the horizon for Harrison, who is most likely to face WBC belt holder Injin Chi once he disposes of Polo. Even beating the Korean would not be enough to satisfy Steve Farhood, a former editor-in-chief of the Ring and now the Showtime channel’s main expert on their numerous broadcasts of boxing across the USA.
“Scott Harrison is surely not a legitimate world champion,” says Farhood, who is nevertheless a huge fan of the Scot, having followed his career since his ShoBox programme first broadcast Harrison’s fights to the USA.
“He is a featherweight titleist, nothing more or less. The 126-pounders Harrison has not fought, including Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny Pacquiao, Erik Morales, and Marco Antonio Barrera, make for an impressive list.
“And making defences against the likes of Samuel Kebede only serves to cheapen Harrison’s accomplishments. But I root for Harrison because he’s been on ShoBox. He’s a good fighter, but until he faces the division’s best, he’s really just a contender.”
All of this disputation leads to one certain conclusion – Harrison must beat Polo on Friday night to get that clinching ‘name’ fight. The champion knows it: “To make that extra step higher, you have to go the Mecca of boxing which is Las Vegas, and to be No.1 I’ve got to go there and win a world title. It’s going to have to be done eventually, but hopefully the fans will come over to support me.”
Polo should be the final stepping stone. At 34, this is surely the tough Colombian’s last chance at a world title. He has already fought three times for various featherweight belts and lost, but is a very credible opponent, as was Manuel Medina – and we know what he did to Harrison in their first fight.
Sadly for Polo, however, he is up against a much improved fighter who is also a man with a mission – Harrison will finish Polo’s career inside nine rounds, and then step to the next level, which is the one called legend.
