Tony Harrison took a small step backward while Bryant Perrella probably moved ahead somewhat. Neither fighter left the ring satisfied on Saturday.
Harrison, the former junior middleweight titleholder, and Perrella fought to a split draw in a 12-round fight that was difficult to score at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in downtown Los Angeles.
The wide disparity in the scoring was evidence of that. Judge Max DeLuca had Harrison winning 116-112, eight rounds to four. Lou Moret scored it for Perrella 117-111. And Zachary Young had it 114-114. Boxing Junkie scored it 115-113 for Perrella.
Harrison (28-3-1, 21 KOs) hadn’t fought since December 2019, when he lost his title by knockout to Jermell Charlo. That was the last time Harrison had in his corner his father/trainer Ali Salaam, who died of COVID-19 a year ago.
And perhaps the layoff and absence of a familiar voice played a role in his performance, which was so-so at best. He threw a lot of jabs but relatively few power shots, only 14 per round, according to CompuBox.
Perrella was the busier fighter overall, outpunching Harrison 692-453 overall and 396-171 in power shots. That obviously impressed Moret. However, Perrella outlanded Harrison only 150-138 and Harrison might’ve landed the cleaner punches, which apparently swayed DeLuca.
Perrella probably had to two biggest rounds in the fight, Nos. 3 and 6, during which the underdog clearly outworked and outlanded Harrison. One could argue that the remainder of the rounds could’ve gone either way.
Thus, the result was anyone’s guess in the period between the final bell and the announcement of the result. The fighters, both of whom hoped to move up in the line for a shot at a major title, were expressionless when they heard the words “split draw.”
No one seemed to object to the result, at least not openly immediately after they learned their fate.
The fighters shared more than a draw after all was said and done: The both are now winless in consecutive fights. Harrison was coming off the setback against Charlo, Perrella from his last-second knockout loss to Abel Ramos in February of last year.
Well, at least they didn’t lose back-to-back fights.