Vivian Harris' last chance this Friday vs. Jesse Vargas on Solo Boxeo

Vivian Harris was once one of the sport's most promising young fighters, beating Diosbelys Hurtado at age 24 to become WBA 140-pound champion. Little more than five years later he is on the verge of becoming a perennial opponent as he faces undefeated prospect Jesse Vargas, who himself has shown his limitations and stands as a good shot for Harris to try and reignite his career.

This content is protected

Harris looks to right the Vicious Vivian Express
Mark Ortega

It doesn't seem that long ago that “Vicious” Vivian Harris looked to be one of boxing's brightest young emerging talents, having lifted his first world title at just 24 years of age with a resounding second round stoppage of Diosbelys Hurtado to claim the WBA 140-pound championship back in October of 2002. Now Harris [29-5-1, 19 KOs] stands at the crossroads of his career against Golden Boy Promotions prospect Jesse Vargas [14-0, 7 KOs] in the headlining bout of a Telefutura Solo Boxeo televised card from Primm, Nevada this Friday.

Harris' three year title reign would be plagued by inactivity as he was unable to land big name opposition. He made three successful defenses of his title which included two wins abroad against Oktay Urkal in his opponent's stomping grounds of Berlin, Germany. In his first defense, Harris was able to rise off the deck against Souleymane M'baye to earn a wide decision.

He finally looked to be earning some spotlight as his defense against the unheralded awkward human punching bag Carlos Maussa served as one of the chief supporting bouts to Floyd Mayweather, Jr.'s HBO pay-per-view debut against Arturo Gatti. As the main event's result seemed pretty predetermined, Harris had an opportunity to announce his arrival if he were able to score an impressive win. Maussa was a substitute for Arturo Morua, whom Maussa had lost to just two fights prior by twelve round decision.

“Vivian Harris isn't going anywhere, I'm taking it one fight at a time,” voiced Harris prior to his showdown with Maussa. “Everybody will see that Vivian Harris is the best fighter at 140 pounds this Saturday.”

The always bashful Brooklyn, New Yorker by way of Guyana had gotten into a scuffle with Mayweather at the press conference for the card and had long claimed that Floyd was ducking him. Amongst hardcore boxing fans, Harris was perceived by many as a possible threat to Mayweather, and one capable of handing him his first career blemish.

In a division that, at the time featured Mayweather, Gatti, Miguel Cotto, and Ricky Hatton, Harris was easily the most often forgotten.

Against Maussa, it was evident early on that Harris was not quite prepared for his opponent's unorthodox fighting style. Maussa had the oddest of footwork which made his wide and loopy shots harder to avoid than would normally be the case. Harris started off the fight quickly, looking to land something meaningful to end the night early. Maussa ate his best shots and kept pressing forward, which didn't deter Harris much from trying to land the home run.

Click here to read the rest...

 

Yes this is, whats up?