Bryant Perrella is scheduled to fight in the same ring as Tony Harrison on Saturday night.

Perrella gets the sense, though, that boxing in the bout before Harrison competes in Showtime’s co-feature at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas is as close as he’ll come to sharing the ring with the former WBC super welterweight champion again. Harrison and Perrella fought to a controversial split draw last April 17 at Shrine Auditorium & Exposition Hall in Los Angeles.

Perrella wants a rematch, but the southpaw suspects he’ll have to settle for the approval of one judge and a significant faction of fans that believe he deserved to win a 12-round, 154-pound fight FOX televised.

Detroit’s Harrison (28-3-1, 21 KOs) instead will go up against Spain’s Sergio Garcia (33-1, 14 KOs) in a 10-round junior middleweight match Saturday night. Perrella (17-3-1, 14 KOs), of Fort Myers, Florida, will face undefeated, untested Mexican prospect Kevin Salgado (14-0, 9 KOs) in a 10-round junior middleweight bout that’ll open Showtime’s three-bout broadcast at 10 p.m. ET.

“It is kinda disappointing not just to not get a rematch, but maybe get another contender in the ring with me,” Perrella told krikya360.com. “And also, he’s on the same card. But he didn’t wanna fight me again, and I wouldn’t want to, either. That would just be a nightmare. So, he’s not gonna wanna get back in the ring with me. But at the same time, it’s just a huge blessing to be able to fight on Showtime and have this opportunity. And there’s just a bunch of people in the division, a bunch of players in boxing.

“So, everybody seen the Tony Harrison fight, and that’s OK. There’s other guys out there that I can get in the ring with, who can boost me up the rankings and get my name out there and get me where I need to be at the end of the day. So, it’s OK. Tony’s an excellent fighter and if I were him, I wouldn’t want that rematch, either. You know, I’m looking out for my own career. So, it’s all good.”

Harrison was consistently listed as a 7-1 favorite, but judge Lou Moret scored nine rounds for Perrella, who beat Harrison 117-111 on his scorecard. Judge Max De Luca credited Harrison for winning eight rounds, 116-112. Judge Zachary Taylor scored their fight a draw, 114-114.

A rematch was never presented as an option for the 33-year-old Perrella, who fought at the junior middleweight limit of 154 pounds for the first time when he encountered Harrison.

“I’ve watched interviews with him where he said he’d retire before he fights another Bryant Perrella,” Perrella said. “So, I was like, ‘That says it all right there.’ He’s not looking to do that, you know? He’s not looking to do that.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.