When he faced the press again, he had already made his statement; a relentless scream of punches that stopped William Abelyan, the No 1 contender to Harrison’s WBO featherweight belt, in the third round.
The trial held during the build-up to this fight in which he was found not guilty of assault seemed to have further sharpened the focus of a man who has risen to the top of the world behind a ferocious desire. “Everything that has happened has just made me more determined,” he said. “If I defend my title in brilliant fashion then there is nothing that you (the press) can say about me.”
Of course, he was wrong, there is plenty to say about a performance that combined nous with power in less than nine minutes of destructive boxing.
Abelyan, the man to whom Harrison paid a ‘step aside’ fee to ensure a hasty rematch against Manuel Medina after he was temporarily dispossessed of his title, was an opponent that the Harrison camp said they would have rather avoided. His mandatory challenger status made such action impossible.
Instead, Harrison put his opponent to the canvas twice in the third round before unleashing a hurricane of blows that the American-based Armenian could not defend himself against. The second knockdown came from a right hand that sent Abelyan across from one set of ropes to the other.
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“I don’t know if it was the best I’ve ever thrown, but it felt pretty good,” he said. “I knew the fight wouldn’t go the distance but I didn’t know if it would be the third round or the 11th.”
It was Harrison’s fifth win in a world title fight, placing him alongside Jim Watt as the most successful Scottish boxer ever at the top level. There have been some epics in that quintet, but none as explosive.
“I think this is the best of all,” he said afterwards, perhaps feeling that this time he had overcome more than just a man or a division or a piece of history.
Harrison’s promoter, Frank Maloney, was full of the usual hyperbole afterwards. His claim that this win puts Harrison ahead of Joe Calzaghe in the impossible debate over who is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the current bumper crop of British boxers was perhaps a little rash. However, in demanding a unification match against WBC champion Injin Chi, from Korea, he was right on the money. And if the quick talking Londoner can hook that one up, that’s quite a bit of money.
He had seemed far less sure of success in promoting this fight. ‘Risky Business’ was the way it had been sold. In a blistering release of all that had been troubling the champion, Harrison was never in danger. He destroyed Abelyan in the challenger’s first fight outside the US.
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Harrison was expected to come to Abelyan, who had described the champion’s style as typical of most of the myriad of Mexican opponents he had dispatched in a four-year winning streak. The Harrison camp played along, almost conceding the early rounds to the sacrifice of the attritional style of their man.
Yet when it began Harrison did not come and it was Abelyan who had the puzzle to solve. He decided to make the move and was caught by a flurry of punches. A short left ended one uncertain foray forward and still the Scot would not follow up. Abelyan decided to try again and walked onto a straight right; it was as effective an opening as the champion could have hoped for.
Abelyan got what he was expecting in the second round as Harrison cut the ring off and got closer to the shorter challenger. That early success had given Harrison the confidence to fight on his terms, but it also allowed Abelyan to fall back to his original gameplan.
Harrison found his mark with several advances, but was also picked off as Abelyan rocked back on his heels, flicking out right hands and shuffling away.
However, Harrison had moved in close enough to find out what he wanted to know. With the bell that began the third and final round of this fight, he launched forward and Abelyan barely registered a punch in what would follow.
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It began with two quickfire right hands that sent the Armenian to the ropes and down. He was up quickly, but looked vulnerable. As Harrison moved in, so did the referee, to administer a standing eight count. Peter Harrison, Scott’s father and trainer, turned to the front row; “There’s no standing eight count! There’s no standing eight count!” The front row took this in, but could do little to ease the apoplexy of Harrison, senior. The trainer raced around the apron to find someone who could.
As he returned Harrison let go with a right that was even more impressive. Thrown from just inside the ropes, it sent the challenger reeling across the ring, eventually crashing to his backside, his hands flopping to his side.
Braehead erupted, anticipating an early finish from its favourite, but Abelyan rose and, incredibly, the referee intervened again.
Peter Harrison blew up once again, this time along with the recently enlightened occupants of the ringside seats. “No eight count! There’s no eight count!” The coolest head in all of this belonged to the trainer’s son. He waited for the official to step aside and moved in to unleash a devastating and unopposed series of blows. Right after right connected with the head of the challenger, each one lowering a guard that had become little more than a gesture. When the referee stepped in for a third time, his intervention was decisive, and received in jubilation from the Harrison camp. The man himself finally broke into a grin, then a roar, as he saluted every corner of the arena. A champion again, back home.