Ronnie Harris

The magazines back in the day used to love running a photo of Ronnie Harris due to his giant afro and he would at times wear a yarmulka (spelling) due to him converting to Judaism and having a nickname of 'Mazel'. But he was very talented. An Olympic gold medalist in '68, he was a southpaw with a real safety-first style. I remember his fight with Alan Minter which was one of his exciting fights - probably due to Minter's speed which really made him fight. Like I said, it was a really good fight and on youtube. He also had a very good win over Sugar Ray Seales and a win over Gratien Tonna (never understood at the time why Tonna's people took that fight. If there was any style Tonna should have stayed away from it would be Ronnie Harris. I felt the same way about David Tua when they signed for Chris Byrd. Why would you do that to yourself?). Anyways, Harris did get a title shot at the equally boring Hugo Corro and Corro won but I shudder to think of anyone sitting there watching that fight for 15 rounds.

 

Ronnie Harris won the 1968 LW Olympic Gold.

Harris was one of two American boxers to win a gold medal; the other was heavyweight George Foreman. Harris said he promised his mother he would make her proud and bring home a gold medal. Won a gold medal in the lightweight division at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

In 1978 he took on WBC and WBA middleweight title holder Hugo Pastor Corro, but lost a decision. He retired in 1982.

https://www.ohio.com/akron/news/olympic-boxing-champ-harris-now-battling-bridgestone

 

Interesting side note. Ronnie Harris won the gold medal in the 68 Mexico Olympic's and the opponent he beat in the 2nd round at LW was Englishman John Stacey. Stacey 7 yrs later went onto win the 147 lb title in Mexico City against Jose Naples.

 

I believe he was managed by Dennis Rappaport and Mike Jones?

 

Despite the Olympic win, his career never took off due to the fact that nobody wanted to fight him (nobody wants to fight a good fighter with a difficult style) and he was considered a boring fighter. After Rappaport and Jones became his managers, his career moved forward a bit and he got the title shot. 1977-78 was the peak of his career, with all of his bigger fights (Seales, Minter, Tonna, Corro) happening within a year and a half.

The "Mazel" thing was always dubious. He claimed he'd converted and become a Jew, but there were suspicions it was a publicity stunt.

 

Have you seen the Corro fight, scar? It's a bit of a head scratcher for me. I've never been able to bring myself to watch it for the reasons you mentioned and not being a fan of Corro in general. Harris was highly talented and a very well-schooled southpaw with tremendous speed, not really at a stylistic disadvantage versus Corro's cute, safety-first technical approach and low work-rate. Just a more talented fighter from what I've seen. The impression I get about that fight from the reports and other accounts I've read is that Harris really choked in front of the hostile Argie home crowd in a very winnable fight. Maybe he'd have won at a neutral venue or with home advantage, who knows. Gifted though he was I get the slight impression that he didn't really have a champion's mentality and wasn't committed to the sport in the required way. Maybe more of a real threat in ten rounders and non-title affairs.

The Minter fight is a great showcase of his talent and a high quality affair in general where Harris always has the edge with Minter never quite coming to terms with Harris' speed despite putting up a good fight and forcing the action.

 

I did not see the fight with Corro. Not sure if they actually televised it. I do remember ABC showing a highlight of Corro as a preview for the Antuofermo fight and they showed like one combination by Corro landing on Harris in the Vito buildup. So the film might be out there in its entirety, I just don't know if anyone is actually looking for it.

 

I'm pretty sure it was televised. I seem to recall watching it on Saturday afternoon TV as an 11 year old and being bored to tears.

 

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1978-08-05 : Hugo Pastor Corro 159 lbs beat Ronnie Harris 159½ lbs by SD in round 15 of 15

• Location: Estadio Luna Park, Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina
• Referee: Waldemar Schmidt 145-143
• Judge: Jose Juan Guerra 146-145
• Judge: Jesus Celis 144-146

• WBA & WBC Middleweight Titles

 

'Glue-drying Grant program'. I love that one. Just watched the first round. Wow, this is going to be a study in tedium if I look at the other 14. I somehow think there will be a lot of even rounds. But you can glean from that first round Harris had speed and was a nice boxer.

 

I was always a fan of Corro's...that may mean that I was a masochist, but I was a fan.
@Boxed Ears

 

What fight was judge Celis watching? Corro clearly won that fight.