Vivian Harris
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Ivan Vivian Harris (born June 17, 1978) is a Guyanese former
professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
who competed from 1997 to 2018. He held the WBA super lightweight title from 2002 to 2005.


Amateur career

After Harris arrived in the U.S., he began his amateur boxing career, racking up 45 wins, 5 losses, and 32 KO's. In 1995, Harris won the Metros championship, and the
New York Golden Gloves The New York Golden Gloves boxing tournament was considered by many boxing aficionados as one of the most elite Golden Gloves titles, along with the Chicago Golden Gloves. Named for the small golden gloves given out to the winners of each weigh ...
two years later. Following these successes, Harris turned professional in 1997.


Professional career

Harris made his professional debut on November 4, 1997, when he fought Levi Long and KO'd him in the first minute of the first round. In December of the same year, Harris defeated Adam Salas, forcing the referee to stop the bout prematurely. This pattern of aggressive fighting continued for years. Harris won against several competitors, until he faced Ray Oliveira in early 2000. Harris was not able to match Oliveira's overall punch output, and consequently lost a 10-round decision. Later that year, Harris was matched against Ivan Robinson, a fight that many thought he convincingly won. However, due to
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
's consensus scoring system, Harris was forced to accept a
draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to: Common uses * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anything ...
.


WBA light welterweight champion

On October 19, 2002, Harris defeated Diobelys Hurtado and captured the WBA
junior welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...
title. Harris defended his title twice in the next two years against Souleyman Mbaye and
Oktay Urkal Oktay Urkal (born 15 January 1970) is a Turkish-German former professional boxer. He is a former European super lightweight and welterweight champion, and a multiple time world title challenger. Amateur career As an amateur, Urkal won the silve ...
, respectively. In June 2005 Harris was set to fight Colombian boxer
Carlos Maussa Charles Celindo Maussa Diaz (born September 24, 1971), best known as Carlos Maussa, is a Colombian former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2007, and held the WBA super light welterweight title in 2005. Professional career Turning p ...
as a part of the ''Thunder and Lighting'' Floyd Mayweather Jr. v.
Arturo Gatti Arturo Gatti (April 15, 1972 – July 11, 2009) was an Italian-Canadian professional boxer who competed from 1991 to 2007. A world champion in two weight classes, Gatti held the IBF junior lightweight title from 1995 to 1998, and the WBC supe ...
pay-per-view. Harris started the fight aggressively, and hurt Maussa in the first round. He continued to apply pressure, gunning for a knockout. However Maussa survived, and started to get stronger as the fight went on. At this point, Harris grew visibly tired as he desperately tried to score a knockout. However, in the seventh round, Maussa caught Harris with a left hook that sent Harris to the canvas. As the referee began counting, Maussa delivered another punch to Harris as he was down, although Harris was already hurt by the first blow, and the subsequent late punch did not land cleanly. Harris failed to answer the 10-count and the bout was scored as a knockout for Maussa. Vivian Harris and
Junior Witter Junior Witter (born 10 March 1974) is a British former world champion professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2015. He held the World Boxing Council, WBC light welterweight world title from 2006 to 2008 and challenged once for the IBF ligh ...
met on September 6, 2007, in
Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
, England, fighting for the WBC light welterweight belt. Witter came out more aggressive than usual, winning the first six rounds until knocking Harris out in the seventh with a punishing left hook that caught Harris off-guard. Harris once again fell short of winning a championship, not able to answer the count of 10 in his second straight title fight. Vivian Harris and Mexican Noe Bolanos met on August 14, 2009, in
Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...
, in the main event of ESPN's Friday Night Fights. In Round 2, Harris and Bolanos collided heads. Harris stumbled towards his corner and collapsed while the ringside doctor was talking with him. Harris appeared to be conscious but not entirely alert. He left the ring on a stretcher, was allowed to briefly walk around the fighter area, and was taken to a local hospital as a precaution. The referee stopped the fight officially at 40 seconds of Round 2, declaring the match a No Contest. Six months later he fought against Lucas Martin Matthysse, losing by a controversial fourth-round TKO. In his next fight on the undercard of Mora vs. Mosley against future
welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...
champion
Victor Ortiz Victor Ortiz (born January 31, 1987) is an American professional boxer and film actor. He held the WBC welterweight title in 2011, and was formerly rated as one of the world's top three active welterweights by most sporting news and boxing web ...
, Harris was dropped three times in round two, and was dropped a fourth time in the third round for a KO loss to Ortiz. Returning in 2011 against welterweight Jesse Vargas, Harris was severely battered in the first round, appearing unprepared for the bout, defenseless, and without skills or stamina, and gave up at the end of the round, virtually ending his career with his third consecutive KO loss. It turns out Vivian had only two weeks notice for this fight and had to drop several pounds in a short time, including two pounds on the day of the fight itself. This drained him and caused his performance to suffer. Vivian fought again in July 2011 against Lanardo Tyner, losing a controversial unanimous decision to him. Harris and several ringside reporters felt he won the fight.


Outside of boxing

In 2009, Harris became the subject of an upcoming television reality series produced by John Edmonds Kozma (producer of
Nick Cassavetes Nicholas David Rowland Cassavetes (born May 21, 1959) is an American actor, director, and writer. He has directed such films as '' She's So Lovely'' (1997), '' John Q.'' (2002), '' The Notebook'' (2004), '' Alpha Dog'' (2006), and '' My Sister's ...
's Kentucky Rhapsody") and shot by filmmaker
Richard O'Sullivan Richard O'Sullivan (born 7 May 1944) is an English comedy actor, who is known for his role as Robin Tripp in the 1970s sitcoms ''Man About the House'' (1973–1976) and ''Robin's Nest (TV series), Robin's Nest'' (1977–1981) and as the title c ...
. The unnamed reality series never aired.


Professional boxing record


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Vivian World light-welterweight boxing champions 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Georgetown, Guyana Guyanese male boxers Welterweight boxers Light-middleweight boxers World Boxing Association champions 20th-century Guyanese people