By Jason Kim: In one of the more interesting fights on this Saturday’s Shane Mosley vs. Sergio Mora card at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, top light welterweight contender Victor Ortiz (27-2-1, 21 KO’s) will be facing former World Boxing Association (WBA) light welterweight champion Vivian Harris (29-4-1, 19 KO’s) in a fight that is scheduled for 10 rounds. Harris was beaten in his last fight by a 4th round stoppage to Argentinian slugger Lucas Martin Matthysse in February of this year. The stoppage was controversial, but what isn’t controversial is that Harris was getting hit a lot at the time of the stoppage and was covering up and waiting way too long for the kinds of shots he was getting with.
Vivian Harris
Ortiz vs. Harris on Mora-Mosley undercard on Sep 18th
By Sean McDaniel: Light welterweight contender Victor Ortiz (27-2-1, 21 KO’s) could be fighting on the September 18th undercard of the Sergio Mora vs. Shane Mosley bout at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. ESPN writer Dan Rafael says Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer wants the young 23-year-old Ortiz to fight former WBA light welterweight champion Vivian Harris (29-4-1, 19 KO’s), saying “That is the fight we are working on.”
Wilder Stops Allen, Harris-Bolanos Ends with Head Clash
By Jim Dower: In a night of huge mismatches at the Desert Diamond Casino, Tucson, Arizona, 2008 U.S. Olympic Bronze Medalist Deontay Wilder (7-0, 7 KO’s) destroyed Travis Allen (3-5, 3 KO’s) in the 1st round. The win for Wilder, 23, extended his 1st round knockout string to six consecutive fights and kept his perfect knockout record intact with seven knockouts in seven fights.
Witter vs. Harris
WBC light-welterweight champion Junior Witter (35-1, 20 KOs) defends his title on Saturday, September 7th, against challenger Vivian Harris (28-2-1, 18 KOs) at the Doncaster Dome, in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England. Witter, 33, looks to be in for a real dog fight, considering the mostly soft opposition that he has fought this far in his 10-year career, consisting mostly of European fighters not in the class of Harris, 29. One of the few good opponents that Witter faces in his career, Zab Judah, knocked him out in the 12th round in June 2000, after building a commanding lead up to that point in the fight.
Following that loss, Witter fought exclusively European opponents for the next six years of his career until defeating American DeMarcus Corley last year, in September 2006, by 12-round decision. The win, however, was tarnished somewhat by the fact that Corley had been beaten three out of his last six fights leading up to his fight with Witter, and was thought by many to be over-the-hill. Whatever the case, Witter defeated him to win the vacant WBC light welterweight championship at the age of 32. How, however, Witter finds himself matched against his best opponent since his one-sided beating at the hands of Zab Judah six years ago in having to face the tough Harris.