With Tony Harrison officially confirmed to be out of action just weeks before his WBC junior middleweight title rematch against Jermell Charlo, PBC announced a new main event for the June 23 card on Fox.
Harrison suffered an ankle injury during training last week and will no longer be able to fight later this month against Charlo. Harrison's injuries, an inner and outer ankle sprain with torn ligaments in his right ankle, will prevent him from training for the next 10 weeks. As such, PBC announced that Charlo will now take on Jorge Cota in the new main event of the card taking place in Las Vegas.
The fight between Harrison and Charlo was supposed to be a rematch from their December 2018 title bout in Brooklyn that saw Harrison defeat Charlo to win the WBC title. With Harrison out of commission for a while, Charlo’s focus is now on Cota. But the former WBC champion did admit that he is frustrated with the news and will look to take it out on Cota.
"It feels like a heartbreak. I was ready to destroy Tony Harrison and now I'm going to get in there and destroy Cota. I always pray for my opponent to have safe care and make it to the fight healthy. It's unfortunate that Tony Harrison isn't my next victim. I want the best Harrison so I want him healed up and ready to go, because that will only bring out the best in me," Charlo said in a press release.
Cota is coming into the fight with a 28-3 pro record and 25 knockout victories. Cota has faced the likes of Erickson Lubin and Marco Antonio Rubio and is coming off a split decision loss to Jeison Rosario back on April 20.
