It's Going To Be A War - Scott Harrison

The by now ritual pre-big fight war of words stepped up a gear yesterday when Victor Polo promised to make Scott Harrison pay for seeing him as nothing more than a stepping stone towards a fight against Marco Antonio Barrera.

"How can he talk about me as if I'm a nothing?" the 34 year old Columbian challenger was quoted as saying in yesterday's Daily Record. "He is talking about using me to get to Marco Antonio Barrera but I am nobody's stepping stone. And certainly not some big-mouth who can't punch."

The Harrison camp were having none of it however, with Scott's father and trainer, Peter, hitting back. "How could Scott have been disrespectful to anyone when he spent the entire festive season out of the country holed up at his training camp in Spain?"

Harrison returned to the UK at the start of the year in the best physical shape of his life and work in the gym since has been focused on countering Victor Polo's style.

"He likes to throw the jab a lot so I have been working a lot in the gym to combat that," said Scott Harrison. "I throw a lot of punches as well so it should be an action-packed fight. I want to do a good job on him and I can't see it going 12 rounds. I am at my peak right now and I am feeling good to stop him."

Manager Frank Maloney also thinks it will be a classic. "I've watched the tapes on Polo and he stands in front of you. This is going to be one the most explosive fights that Scott has been involved in."

While the Harrison camp are focused on the job in hand, it is Maloney whose job it is to look beyond Polo to a fight with Marco Antonio Barrera, hopefully in May. He has said he wants to "embarrass" Barrera into fighting Scott Harrison, but it's a policy that could well backfire.

The South America boxers, like boxers the world over, crave respect, only more so because of their often humble origins. Insulting them does not make fights, particularly in the case of Barrera who has options galore.

Barrera has already said he respected Scott for being ringside for his last fight, and for the first time talked about the possibility of a bout between himself and the WBO Featherweight champion.

Barrera's the best in the world. Harrison wants to be the best in the world and to be so wants to challenge Barrera. That's all you need to sell this fight, but to resort to insults in a bid to provoke the Mexican is as likely to scupper any chance of a fight as make it.

Tickets to see Harrison v Polo are available from the Braehead Arena on 0870 444 6062

Posted by scottish-boxing at January 14, 2005 11:40 AM