
(Dusty Harrison, left, and D.C. based rapper Wale, right; via)
These are flush times for D.C. boxing. This Saturday, two of the top ticketsellers in the Beltway will appear on separate cards: junior welterweight contender Lamont Peterson fights in Atlantic City against Lucas Matthysse, while blue chip welterweight prospect Dusty Hernandez Harrison holds down the home front in Washington, D.C. in a step-up bout.
Acclaimed amateur Harrison made headlines for getting an exemption from local boxing regulators to begin his professional career at the green age of 17. Approximately two years later, he's fighting his first pro opponent with a winning record, Eddie Soto, and in only his second eight-round bout. It's an important moment in Harrison's career, one that in it short life has been wrestling -- and by the testimonials of his team, successfully so far -- with one word: "maturity," both mental and physical.
"I think it's a really good test for me, a perfect step-up fight," Harrison said in an interview with TQBR this week.
Key Harrison team member Jeff Fried said that with Harrison as the headliner of a nine-fight card Saturday at the University of the District of Columbia Sports Complex, they have every expectation of him selling out the 3,000-seat venue, although it's a bigger venue by a factor of three than Harrison has ever headlined.
Harrison is one of the torchbearers for a revival of boxing in the region, led by the Peterson brothers, featherweight Gary Russell, Jr., and heavyweights Seth Mitchell and Tony Thompson. Each are at varying stages of their careers, having suffered setbacks they haven't yet bounced back from (Mitchell/Anthony Peterson), having suffered setbacks subsequently overcome (Lamont Peterson/Thompson) or not having taken off yet at all (Russell). Harrison, all of 18 years old, is somewhere between the second two categories.
In August of last year, Harrison got dropped hard in the 6th and final round by 2-5-0 Marqus Jackson. The video is compelling footage. Fried, who has advised the likes of Riddick Bowe, Shane Mosley and Winky Wright, said he watched it 40 times while trying to decide whether to join forces with Harrison and his trainer father, Buddy. And everyone thinks -- oddly enough -- it was a wonderful occasion.
"I think it was the best thing that has happened to me," Harrison said.