Harrison will have his hands full
DARRYL BROADFOOT

The Herald, UK
June 16 2004

June 16 2004

RISKY Business could not have been a more appropriate billing for
Scott Harrison’s World Boxing Organisation featherweight title
defence against William Abelyan.

The Armenian-American arrived in Glasgow’s east end yesterday to
finalise preparations for what he believes will be the fulfilment of
his destiny at the Braehead Arena on Saturday. The credence given to
such boasts is often diluted when the jive-talking stops and the
jabbing begins.

Yet the undercurrent of trepidation spun by Frank Warren to promote
the fight was accentuated at Morrison’s Gym.

Abelyan, the WBO’s mandatory challenger, made little attempt to
disguise his contempt for Harrison. “I can’t believe his fight with
Medina went 11 rounds,” he said of Harrison’s successful rematch with
the Mexican in November.

“He is an old man. I sparred with him before his IBF fight and
dropped him a couple of times. I am coming here to take the belt
home.”

Don House, Abelyan’s trainer, agrees. “William has fought smaller
names in Mexico who are better this guy,” he said.

The 25-year-old Abelyan, who pulled out of the original date in March
with a shoulder injury and replaced by Walter Estrada, did not falter
when invited to explain his grounds for optimism.

Nor was he willing to accept that a year’s inactivity – he has not
fought since his three-round dismantling of Alejandro Estrada in
three rounds in Los Angeles last June – will put paid to the lofty
ambitions of the Abelyan camp.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to fight; nobody wanted to fight me,” he
said, a claim greeted with scepticism by Harrison’s manager, Frank
Maloney. “Scott is a fighter; I am a boxer. He is like a Mexican, he
will just come straight at me and then I will do my business.”

Maloney hopes the former high school tearaway does not wreak havoc on
Saturday and deny Harrison his shot at the big names. “I’m very
concerned about this guy,” he said. “If he loses this, there is no
rematch clause because it is a mandatory defence.”

Mike Tyson is set to make his latest comeback against Irishman Kevin
McBride on July 30. The finishing touches are being put on a deal
which could have the fight staged in Louisville, birthplace of
Muhammad Ali.