Ronald Woodson Harris (born September 3, 1948), nicknamed "Mazel", is an American former

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

, who won a gold medal in the

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

division at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

Personal

Harris was born in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

Amateur career

Harris won the 1966, 1967, and 1968 National AAU lightweight championship and was the 1968 Olympic gold medalist at 132 pounds.

1968 Olympic results

Below are the results of Ronnie Harris who competed for the United States as a lightweight boxer at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City: * Round of 64: bye * Round of 32: defeated Lee Chang-kyi (South Korea) on points, 5-0 * Round of 16: defeated John Stracey (Great Britain) on points, 4-1 * Quarterfinal: defeated Mohamed Muruli (Uganda) on points, 5-0 * Semifinal: defeated Calistrat Cutov (Romania) on points, 5-0 * Final: defeated Josef Grudzein (Poland) on points, 5-0 (won gold medal)

Professional career

Harris turned professional in 1971 and was undefeated until 1978. In 1978 he took on WBC and WBA middleweight title holder Hugo Pastor Corro for the then undisputed world Middleweight title, but lost a decision. A notably win in his career was when Harris defeated future middleweight world champion Alan Minter. He retired in 1982. He opened his own boxing school in 1981 in New York City on West 32nd street. One of his first students was Warren J. Miller, a twice Navy Seal/DEA Agent. He trained Warren Miller to win the Ohio State Golden Gloves in 1981.

References

External links

Ronnie Harris' profile at databaseOlympics

1948 births Living people Boxers from Ohio Olympic boxers of the United States Boxers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in boxing Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Canton, Ohio American male boxers Pan American Games medalists in boxing Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Boxers at the 1967 Pan American Games Lightweight boxers Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games {{US-boxing-Olympic-medalist-stub