Harrison has big plans

WBO featherweight champion Scott Harrison vowed to make his next opponent William ‘The Conqueror’ Abelyan pay dearly for costing him thousands of pounds.

The American-based Armenian was the mandatory challenger to Manuel Medina after the Mexican took the belt from Cambuslang fighter Harrison last July.

But the Scot forfeited a chunk of his promised purse to persuade Abelyan to stand aside and allow a rematch with the wily South American.

Harrison regained his coveted title in a bruising battle with Medina and now faces Abelyan in a mandatory defence at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena on March 6.

But the tough Scotsman is no mood to forget the perceived financial debt owed to him by Abelyan.

He said: “I’m very motivated for this fight and I’m going to do a job on this guy. It cost me a lot of money to fight Medina and lets put it this way, it was Abelyan who cost me a lot of money so I’m definitely going to take it out on him.

“I’m not going to say how much exactly it cost me but my purse was affected in the last fight against Medina.

“But it was a gamble I had to take. Otherwise I would have had to take a year out before I fought Medina again but I had the confidence that I would beat him and the gamble paid off.

“And now that I’m champion I’m going to make some money again – and I‘m happy about that.

“Obviously the longer you are the champion the more money you make but once I fight one of the other champions in a unification fight then I’ll make really good money.

“But because of all the politics in boxing you can’t just get the unification fights right away, you’ve got to take these mandatory defences.

“That’s what being a champions means, keep defending your title until the unification fights come along.”

Harrison admits he knows next to nothing about Abelyan but the champion is aware of the hunger the Armenian fighter will have when he arrives in Glasgow for his chance of glory.

He said: “I haven’t seen much of this guy and I’ve not seen the tape of his last fight which Frank Maloney has brought up.

“I’ve just seen his record and I’ve been told how he fights but if you’re fighting someone who is the same age as yourself and who hasn’t fought for the world title before, then he will be dangerous.

“Winning the fight can make him rich so it’s going to be a tough fight, I know that for sure.

“It will be a good learning fight for me and a good fight for the fans. But it’s all about me staying champion and then adding other titles on.”