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.

Harris was stopped in the 7th round three years ago by Junior Witter. He had problems with Witter’s speed and power in that fight. The bad news for Harris on Saturday is that Ortiz is an even bigger puncher than both Witter and Matthysse, meaning that if Harris wants to win this fight, then he’s going to have to take some big shots from Ortiz to get the win.

The fight probably won’t make it that far unless the 32-year-old Harris’ chin is really good, because the 23-year-old Ortiz is one of the biggest punchers in the light welterweight division and has grown up a lot since his 6th round stoppage loss a year ago to Marcos Maidana. Ortiz is older now, and has won his last three fights against Antonio Diaz, Hector Alatorre and former lightweight champion Nate Campbell. Ortiz is ranked number #1 by the WBA, WBO and number #3 by the IBF. Ortiz is difiniately going to be getting a crack at one of the light welterweight champions, and whoever it is, they’re going to be facing some big power.

At this point, I’m not sure if Ortiz can beat WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, because he’s fighting very well right now and looks to be the best fighter in the division. However, I’d give Ortiz an excellent chance of beating WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan and IBF/WBO champion Devon Alexander. Both of those fighters appear flawed and would likely have problems with Ortiz’s power and speed.

As for this Saturday’s fight, look for Ortiz to roll over Harris with power shots. Harris is a good fighter, but he’s going to have big problems with Ortiz’s power. Ortiz hits too hard and he’s going to hurt Harris very early in this fight and likely get him out of there by the 4th or 5th rounds unless Harris runs.