Manuel Medina vs Scott Harrison II

A stoppage after 31 seconds of the 11th round restored Scott Harrison’s WBO featherweight championship at the same arena where Manuel Medina had taken it from him 4 months earlier. Their return at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena on November 29, 2003, ended when Medina went down from a short right hand, and his corner threw in the towel. Referee Manuel Maritxalar halted the contest, confirming a decisive reversal of the Mexican’s points victory in July. Harrison became the first Scottish boxer to regain a world championship.

Medina’s victory in their first meeting had begun his 5th reign as a world featherweight champion. Harrison had originally won the WBO title from Julio Pablo Chacon in October 2002 and defended it against Wayne McCullough before losing to the experienced Mexican. The rematch was Medina’s first defence. Harrison weighed 125¾ pounds and the champion 125½. Having changed his conditioning programme and employed a nutritionist after the defeat, Harrison returned with the task of preventing Medina from controlling the distance and tempo as he had previously.

Harrison imposed himself immediately, putting Medina on the floor in the opening round. The champion recovered, but the early attack established a different pattern from their first contest. Harrison maintained pressure rather than allowing Medina to move freely and pick his moments to punch. His left jab was more effective, and his improved balance helped him close the exits when Medina tried to move away. The Mexican’s ability to recover and continue working prevented the early breakthrough from becoming an immediate finish.

The middle rounds brought difficulties for Harrison despite his command of the fight. A clash of heads cut his left eyebrow in the 4th, and further damage developed around the eye. Cut man Mick Williamson worked between rounds to control the bleeding. Harrison continued to advance through Medina’s punches, forcing the champion to spend much of his time defending and moving away. Medina’s speed and experience prolonged the contest, but he could not reproduce the freedom of movement that had made him so effective in July. Harrison’s sustained pressure was gradually reducing his resistance.

The decisive deterioration came in the 10th. Harrison’s heavier punches repeatedly caught Medina, who went to the floor twice during the round and barely survived until the bell. Although he came out for the 11th, his recovery was insufficient. Harrison resumed his attack, landed the short right and sent him down again. The towel followed, ending the scheduled 12-round contest. Contemporary ringside accounts described Medina reaching the floor 4 times altogether, with the opening round fall followed by the late collapse.

Afterwards, Harrison acknowledged Medina’s persistence and credited Williamson’s work on his cuts. He said the bleeding had not diverted him from looking for his next opportunity to punch. Promoter Frank Warren admitted that he had thought the contest might finish in the opening round, while praising Medina’s recovery and Harrison’s determination to maintain his work. The final result required no scorecards. Harrison had regained the championship by sustaining the pressure that had been absent from their first meeting, overcoming his own facial damage and finally exhausting the veteran champion’s capacity to recover.

We all know the saying about rematches, but I thought Harrison showed great improvement here. Medina had outboxed him in July, and wanting revenge wouldn’t have been enough on its own. This time Harrison used his jab, kept his balance and cut off the ring instead of following Medina around. That gave his strength and right hand somewhere to work.

The early knockdown helped, but I admire the patience afterwards. Medina recovered and made him earn it. Harrison kept pressing despite the cuts, then broke him down late and finished him in the 11th. That’s why his supporters took to him: heavy hands, a strong engine and the willingness to keep working when things got uncomfortable.

Medina deserves respect for his resistance. For me, though, Harrison won because he corrected the faults the first fight exposed. He made his pressure effective by getting his feet into position before throwing.