I’m a kickboxing champion with 50 KOs and nearly followed Canelo Alvarez, Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao by sharing ring with Floyd Mayweather
Kickboxing king Liam Harrison was handed the opportunity of a lifetime, only for his body to get in the way.
The former world champion has 91 wins and 50 knockouts in his own discipline but it was a crossover fight which had his mouth watering in 2023.
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Harrison was offered the chance to fight boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, who retired with an unbeaten record and 50 wins, in an exhibition bout.
In a stellar career that saw him considered to be boxing's pound-for-pound king and win titles in five weight classes, he beat legends such as Canelo Alvarez, Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao in some of the most lucrative fights of all time.
'The Hitman' Harrison was stunned to be next on that iconic list of Mayweather opponents - and almost sacrificed his knee to make it happen.
"I got asked to fight Floyd Mayweather last year and I couldn't believe what was happening!" Harrison told .
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"After one of my fights, I got a bad knee injury. My MCL was torn, my ACL was torn, my knee was just flopping around my leg! They asked me to do the fight and I thought it's only boxing, I don't have to throw any kicks. I thought I'll take it, so I just said yeah.
"For the first couple of days I was training, hitting pads, doing pad work, I thought I'm alright here, I'll get through this.
"Then when I started sparring and I didn't have control of where their movements were going, people started pushing me back, after training I was getting out, unwrapping my leg. It was all just swollen.
"It got to the point where I was training hard for a day then I couldn't walk for three days just because of how badly damaged my leg was."
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Harrison added: "I said to my surgeon this is the chance to fight Floyd Mayweather here, can I get through this camp do you reckon?
"The fight was scheduled for February 17, or something like that, and my surgery was due for January 30. I said: 'Can I push it back and get through the fight?'
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"He said: 'Listen I'm not going to tell you what to do, but you might do some lasting damage here.
"'You might end up walking with a limp, you'll need a knee replacement by the time you're 40.'
"He said: 'Is all that going to be worth it?'"
Harrison was forced to pull out of the fight on the same day it was announced to the public.
Nevertheless, the kickboxer is hopeful he will get his shot at Mayweather one day.
Harrison added: "I thought I'm probably not going to lay a glove on this guy even when I'm at full fitness. I probably won't be able to hit him, let alone if I'm on one leg," he said.
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"I thought: 'Is it going to be worth just getting in there and humiliating myself where I can't move properly?' I had to pull out and I was absolutely devastated.
"But you never know, it might come back around."
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